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^HISTORY 


OF  THE 


STATE    OF    NEW    YO 


BY 


JOHN    ROMEYN   BRODHEAD. 


FIRST    VOLUME. 


REVISED    EDITION. 


NEW     YORK: 

HARPER    &    BROTHERS,    P  U  B  L  I  S  H  E  R  ^5, 

FRANKLIN      SQUARE. 

18  74. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1871,  by 

John    Romeyn   Brodhead, 

In   the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


PREFACE. 


There  are  four  marked  periods  in  the  history  of  the  State  of 
Now  York.  The  first,  opening  with  its  discovery  by  the  Dutch 
in  1609,  and  closing  with  its  seizure  by  the  English  in  1661,  com- 
prises also  the  early  history  of  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  and  Penn- 
sylvania, and,  to  some  extent,  that  of  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Isl- 
and, and  Connecticut.  The  second  begins  with  the  ascendency 
of  the  English  in  1664,  and  ends  with  the  cession  of  Canada  to 
England  in  1763,  by  which  all  the  Northern  colonies  in  America 
became  subject  to  the  British  crown.  The  third  reaches  from  the 
treaty  of  Paris  in  1763,  to  the  inauguration  of  Washington  as 
President  of  the  United  States  in  1789.  The  fourth  embraces 
the  annals  of  the  state  from  the  organization  of  the  Federal  gov  - 
crnment. 

This  volume  contains  a  history  of  the  first  of  these  periods.  Li 
that  period  many  of  the  political,  religious,  and  social  elements 
of  New  York  had  their  origin.  It  ofTers  varied  themes  which  in- 
vite attention : — the  savage  grandeur  of  nature;  the  early  adven- 
ture of  discovery  and  settlement ;  the  struggle  with  barbarism, 
and  the  subjugation  of  a  rude  soil ;  the  contrast  and  blending  of 

European  with  American  life ;  the  transfer  of  old  institutions ;  the 

2 


ii  PREFACE. 

intermingling  of  races ;  the  progress  of  commerce  ;  the  establish- 
ment of  churches  and  schools  ;  the  triumph  of  freedom  of  con- 
science over  bigotry ;  the  development  of  principles  of  self-govern- 
ment within,  and  the  action  of  encroachment  and  conquest  from 
without. 

The  preparation  of  this  book  has  not  been  without  much  cara 
and  labor.  Many  of  its  materials  are  now  employed  for  the  first 
time ;  the  numerous  references  to  others  show  the  extended  re- 
sources which,  under  the  recent  impulse  to  American  historical 
investigation,  have  been  brought  within  reach.  It  is  submitted 
to  the  judgment  of  the  public  in  partial  execution  of  a  purpose 
contemplated  for  many  years ;  with  a  desire  to  aid  in  the  vindi- 
cation of  truth ;  and  with  a  full  consciousness  of  the  importance 
of  the  subject  and  of  the  fidelity  due  to  the  fit  performance  of  the 
work. 

John  Romeyn  Brodhead. 

yew  York,  November,  1852. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 
1492—1609. 


CoLDMBus'  Discovery,  and  Papal  Donation  of  the  New  World  to  Spain,  page  1 ;  Cabot 
and  Verazzano,  2  ;  Cartier  and  Roberval,  3  ;  Frobisher,  4 ;  Gilbert  and  Raleigh, 
5  ;  Virginia,  5,  6  ;  Gosnold  at  Cape  Cod,  7;  Pring  on  Coast  of  Maine,  8  ;  Wey- 
mouth's Voyage,  9;  Virginia  Charter,  10;  Jamestown  founded,  12;  Sagadahoc 
Colony,  13-15;  New  Charter  for  Virginia,  15;  Pont  Grave  and  Champlain  m 
Canada,  16  ;  De  Monts  and  Poutrincourt  at  Port  Royal  and  Saint  Croix,  16,  17, 
Quebec  founded,  18 ;  Lake  Champlain  discovered,  18 ;  Dutch  maritime  Enter- 
prises, 19-22  ;  Dutch  East  India  Company,  23  ;  West  India  Company  proposed. 
24 ;  Hudson  in  Holland,  24 ;  Hudson  sails  from  Amsterdam  in  the  Half  Moon, 
25  ;  At  Penobscot,  26  ;  At  Cape  Cod,  26  ;  At  the  Capes  of  the  Chesapeake,  26  ; 
In  Delaware  Bay,  26  ;  Anchors  in  Sandy  Hook  Bay,  27  ;  Death  of  John  Colman, 
28  ;  Hudson  ascends  the  "  River  of  the  Mountains,"  28-31 ;  Descends  the  River, 
32,  33  ;  At  Hoboken,  34  ;  Arrives  at  Dartmouth,  34  ;  Reports  to  the  Dutch  East 
India  Company,  34,  35  ;  The  River  of  the  Mountains  in  1609,  35-37. 

CHAPTER    II. 

1609—1614. 

The  Dutch  an  independent  Nation  when  Hudson  made  Discoveries  in  their  Service 
38^2  ;  Hudson's  Voyage  to  the  North,  and  Death,  42,  43  ;  The  Half  Moon  returns 
to  Amsterdam,  43 ;  Another  Ship  sent  to  Manhattan,  44 ;  Christiaensen's  and 
Block's  Voyages,  45,  46  ;  Other  Ships  sent,  47 ;  Yacht  built  at  Manhattan,  48  -. 
Virginia  Affairs,  49  ;  Lord  Delawarr,  50  ;  Never  in  Delaware  Bay,  51 ;  Argall  on 
the  Coast  of  Maine,  52  ;  His  alleged  Visit  to  Manhattan,  54 ;  Fort  Nassau  built 
on  Castle  Island,  55  ;  Block  explores  Long  Island  Sound  in  the  Yacht  "  Restless," 
55 ;  Discovers  the  Housatonic  and  Connecticut,  56 ;  Block  Island,  57 ;  Rhode 
Island,  58  ;  Pye  Bay  and  Boston  Harbor,  58  ;  Returns  to  Holland,  59  ;  Amster- 
dam Trading  Company  formed,  60  ;  Deputies  sent  to  the  Hague,  61  ;  New  Neth- 
erland  Charter  of  the  11th  of  October,  1614,  62;  Its  Provisions,  and  the  Views 
of  the  Stales  General,  63,  64 ;  Block  in  the  Arctic  Ocean,  65. 

CHAPTER    III. 

1615—1620. 

New  Netherland  Company,  66  ;  Death  of  Christiaensen,  66,  67 ;  Champlain  discov- 
ers Lake  Huron  and  Lake  Ontario,  68  ;  At  Onondaga  Lake,  69 ;  Onondaga  Fort 


.  CONTENTS. 

attacked,  69-71 ;  Indian  Tribes  along  the  Cahohatatea,  or  North  River,  TS-*;? ; 
Hendricksen  explores  the  South  or  Delaware  River,  78,  79  ;  Returns  to  Holland, 
79  ;  New  Charter  for  South  River  applied  for  and  refused,  80  ;  Fort  Nassau  de- 
stroyed, 80  ;  New  Post  on  the  Tawasentha,  81  ;  The  Konoshioni,  or  Iroquois,  82- 
87;  Treaty  of  the  Tawasentha,  88;  Expiration  of  the  New  Netherland  Charter. 
89  ;  Its  Renewal  refused,  90 ;  Smith  in  New  England,  91  ;  Dermer  passes  through 
Long  Island  Sound  to  Virginia,  92 ;  Dermer  at  Manhattan,  93 ;  Patent  for  New 
England,  94-96  ;  Progress  of  Dutcli  Explorations,  97. 

CHAPTER    IV. 

1620. 

Prosperity  of  Holland,  98  ;  The  Reformation  in  the  Netherlands,  99  ;  First  Preach- 
ins  of  "the  Reformed,"  100  ;  Establishment  of  the  Reformed  Religion,  101 ;  Tol- 
eration of  other  Religions,  102  ;  Calvinism  of  the  Dutch  Clergy,  103  ;  The  Gom- 
arist  and  Armenian  Controversy,  104,  105 ;  The  Remonstrants,  106 ;  Maurice 
and  Barneveldt,  107,  108;  The  Synod  of  Dordrecht,  109,  110;  Death  of  Bame- 
veldt,  111;  The  Church  of  England,  112;  The  Puritans,  113,  114;  Puritans 
emigrate  to  Holland,  115;  The  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  and  the  Church  of 
England,  116-119;  The  Puritans  dissatisfied  in  Holland,  120;  Wish  to  emi- 
grate to  America,  121  ;  Their  Patent  from  the  Virginia  Company,  122 ;  Their 
Condition  in  Holland,  123;  They  propose  to  go  to  New  Netherland,  124;  Memo- 
rial to  the  Dutch  Government,  125;  Its  Prayer  refused  by  the  States  General, 
126;  Tlie  Puritans  leave  Leyden,  127;  Sail  from  Plymouth,  128;  Their  Desti- 
nation, 129  ;  The  Mayflower  at  Cape  Cod,  130  ;  Compact  on  board  the  Mayflower, 
131,  132;  The  Landing  of  the  Pilgrims,  133. 

CHAPTER    V. 

1621—1625. 

The  Dutch  West  India  Company  incorporated,  134 ;  Its  Powers  and  Duties,  135, 
136  ;  Its  Organization  delayed,  137;  Private  Ships  sent  to  New  Netherland,  137, 
138  ;  Parliament  jealous  of  the  New  England  Patent,  139  ;  Plymouth  Company 
complains  of  the  Dutch,  140  ;  James  claims  New  Netherland,  and  sends  Instruc- 
tions to  Carleton  at  the  Hague,  141 ;  Carleton's  Memorial  to  the  States  General, 
142  ;  Dutch  and  English  Titles  considered,  143,  144  ;  Dutch  Traders  in  Long  Isl- 
and Sound,  145;  Walloons  in  Holland,  146,  147;  The  West  India  Company  or- 
ganized, 148 ;  Takes  Possession  of  New  Netherland  as  a  Province,  149 ;  First 
permanent  agricultural  Colonization,  150;  Fort  Orange  built,  151  ;  Fort  Wilhel- 
mus,  152;  Fort  Nassau,  on  the  South  River,  153;  Walloons  at  the  Waal-bogt, 
154;  C.  J.  May  first  Director  of  New  Netherland,  154;  Ship  of  D.  P.  de  Vriea 
seized  at  Hoorn,  155 ;  Dutch  Ship  arrested  at  Plymouth,  156 ;  Publications  of 
Wassenaar,  De  Laet,  and  Purchas,  157 ;  More  Colonists  sent  to  New  Nether- 
land, 158  ;  Cattle  at  Nutten  Island  and  Manhattan,  159 ;  William  Verhulst  suc- 
ceeds May  as  Director,  159  ;  Death  of  Maurice,  160  ;  Of  James  I.,  161 ;  Tieaty  of 
Southampton,  161 ;  Peter  Minuit  appointei'  Director  General  of  New  Nether- 
land, 162. 


CONTENTS  V 

CHAPTERVI. 

1626—1629. 

Provincial  Government  under  Minuit,  163;  Purchase  of  Manhattan  Island,  164; 
Fort  Amsterdam  begun,  165  ;  Murder  of  an  Indian  near  the  Kolck,  166  ;  Descrip- 
tion of  Manhattan,  167;  Affairs  at  Fort  Orange,  168  ;  Krieckebeeck  and  Barent- 
sen,  169  ;  Colonists  removed  from  Fort  Orange  and  the  South  River  to  Manhat- 
tan, 170;  The  Puritans  at  New  Plymouth  annoyed  at  the  commercial  Superior- 
ity of  the  Dutch,  171 ;  Long  Island,  or  Sewan-hacky,  the  chief  Manufactory  of 
Wampum,  172;  Correspondence  between  New  Netherland  and  New  Plymouth, 
173-175  ;  Isaac  de  Rasieres  sent  as  Ambassador,  176  ;  At  New  Plymouth,  177 ; 
Describes  the  Puritan  Settlement,  178,  179;  Mutual  Trade,  180;  The  English 
Objections  to  the  Dutch  Title,  181 ;  Minuit  asks  for  Soldiers  from  Holland,  181 ; 
Charles  I.  favors  the  Dutch  Company,  182  ;  The  first  Clergyman  in  New  Neth- 
erland, 183 ;  Population  of  Manhattan,  183 ;  Heyn  captures  the  Spanish  Silver 
Fleet,  184  ;  Infatuating  Effect  upon  the  West  India  Company,  185  ;  Cost  of  New 
Netherland,  186  ;  Charter  for  Patroons  proposed,  187  ;  Progress  of  the  Coloniza- 
tion of  New  England,  188;  Royal  Charter  for  Massachusetts  Bay,  189;  Church 
organized  at  Salem,  and  religious  Intolerance  established,  190. 

CHAPTER  VII. 
1630—1632. 
The  Golden  Fleece,  191  ;  Dutch  Towns,  and  the  feudal  System  in  Holland,  192, 
193 ;  Charter  for  Patroons  in  New  Netherland,  194-197 ;  Its  Effects,  198  ;  Char- 
ter published,  199 ;  Godyn  and  Blommaert  purchase  on  the  South  River,  200 ; 
Van  Rensselaer  buys  on  the  North  River,  and  begins  to  colonize  Rensselaers- 
wyck,  201 ;  Pauw  purchases  Pavonia  and  Staten  Island,  202 ;  Jealousies  among 
the  Directors  at  Amsterdam,  203  ;  Patroonships  shared,  204  ;  Heyes  sent  to  the 
South  River,  205  ;  Colony  established  at  Swaanendael,  206  ;  No  Dutch  Colonies 
on  the  Connecticut,  207 ;  Winthrop  founds  Boston,  208  ;  Extent  of  the  New  En- 
gland Settlements,  209;  Connecticut  Sachem  at  Boston,  and  Winslow,  of  New 
Plymouth,  visits  the  Connecticut,  210 ;  Lord  Warwick's  Grant  of  Connecticut, 
211 ;  Great  Ship  "New  Netherland"  built  at  Manhattan,  212;  Minuit  recalled, 
213 ;  His  Ship  arrested  at  Plymouth,  and  Negotiation  in  consequence  with  the 
British  Government,  214-216;  Ship  released,  217;  Difficulties  between  the  Di- 
rectors of  the  West  India  Company  and  the  Patroons,  218 ;  Destruction.of  Swaan- 
endael by  the  Savages,  219  ;  De  Vries  sails  for  the  South  River,  visits  the  Ruins, 
and  makes  a  Peace,  219-221. 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

1633—1637. 

Woutcr  van  Twiller  appointed  Director  General  in  Place  of  Minuit,  222 ;  Arrives 
at  Manhattan,  223  ;  Clergyman  and  Schoolmaster,  and  provincial  Officers,  223 ; 
Revenue  and  Expenditures,  224  ;  De  Vries  at  Fort  Nassau,  225  ;  Visits  Govern- 
or Harvey  in  Virginia,  226  ;  Pleasant  Intercourse  opened,  227 ;  De  Vries  at  Man- 
hattan, 228  ;  En^'lish  Ship  sails  up  to  Fort  Orange,  229  ;  Forced  to  return,  229  ; 


yi  CONTENTS. 

\'au  T\viller"s  S-exatious  Conduct,  331  ;  Corssen's  Purchase  on  the  Schuylkill 
232 ;  Affairs  on  the  Connecticut,  233 ;  The  West  India  Company  purchases  Lands 
of  the  Savages  there,  234;  Commissary  Van  Curler  completes  Fort  Good  Hope, 
235 ;  Van  Twillcr's  Conduct  toward  De  Vries  on  his  Return  to  Holland,  236 ; 
Virginia  Ship  and  New  Plymouth  Pinnace  at  Manhattan,  237 ;  Massachusetts 
retuses  to  join  New  Plymouth  in  occupying  Connecticut,  238 ;  John  Oldham's 
overland  Journey,  239 ;  Winthrop  claims  Connecticut,  and  Van  Twiller  replies, 
239,  240 ;  New  Plymouth  Expedition  to  the  Connecticut,  240 ;  Dutch  Protest 
asainst  the  Settlers  at  Windsor,  241  ;  Treaty  between  Massachusetts  and  the 
Pequods,  242 ;  Affairs  at  Manhattan,  243 ;  Pavonia,  Fort  Nassau,  Fort  Orange, 
and  Renssclaerswyck,  244 ;  Van  Twiller  and  Domine  Bogardus,  245 ;  English 
Complaints  against  the  West  India  Company,  and  their  Answer,  245,  246; 
Lubbertus  van  Dincklagen  appointed  Schout  of  New  Netherland,  247 ;  Difficul- 
ties between  the  Patroons  and  the  Directors,  247,  248  ;  Sun-ender  of  Swaanen- 
dael  to  the  Company,  249  ;  Clayborne's  Explorations,  250  ;  Motives  for  the  Em- 
icration  of  Roman  Catholics  from  England,  251 ;  Lord  Baltimore's  Patent  for 
Maryland,  252 ;  Saint  Mary's  founded,  253 ;  Harvey  deposed  and  sent  to  En- 
gland, 254 ;  Fort  Nassau  seized  by  a  Virginian  Party,  254 ;  Retaken  by  the 
Dutch,  and  the  English  Prisoners  sent  back  to  Virginia,  255 ;  Emigration  from 
Massachusetts  to  Connecticut,  256  ;  English  Plantation  Board,  257 ;  Its  Jealousy 
of  the  New  England  Colonists,  258  ;  Long  Island  conveyed  to  Lord  Stirling,  259 ; 
The  New  England  Patent  surrendered,  and  the  younger  Winthrop  appointed 
Governor  of  Connecticut,  259,  260 ;  The  Dutch  Arms  torn  down  at  the  Kievit's 
Hook,  260 ;  Lion  Gardiner  at  Saybrook,  261 ;  William  Pynchon  at  Springfield, 
261 ;  True  European  Title  to  Long  Island  and  Connecticut,  262 ;  Domestic  Af- 
fairs at  Manhattan  and  Pavonia,  263,  264  ;  Lands  taken  up  on  Staten  Island  and 
Long  Island,  265 ;  Van  Dincklagen  sent  back  to  Holland,  266  ;  Beverwyck  and 
Renssclaerswyck,  266,  267 ;  Van  Twiller's  private  Purchases,  267 ;  Bronck's 
Purchase  in  West  Chester,  268  ;  Quotenis,  in  Narragansett  Bay,  and  Dutchman's 
Island  at  the  Pequod  River,  268  ;  Traffic  with  New  England,  269  ;  The  Pequod 
War,  269-272  ;  Complaints  in  Holland  against  Van  Twiller  and  Bogardus,  273 ; 
William  Kieft  appointed  Director  General  in  Place  of  Van  Twiller,  274. 

CHAPTER    IX. 

1638—1641. 

Arrival  of  Kieft  at  Manhattan,  275  ;  Condition  of  Affairs  there,  276  ;  New  Regula- 
tions, 277 ;  Domine  Bogardus  retained,  278 ;  Rensselaerswyck,  Pavonia,  and 
Long  Island,  279  ;  Jansen  Commissary  on  the  South  River,  279  ;  Swedish  West 
India  Company,  280  ;  Minuit  sails  from  Sweden,  and  anchors  at  Jamestown,  281 ; 
Arrives  in  the  South  River,  and  purchases  Land,  282;  Kieft  protests  against 
him,  283 ;  Minuit  builds  Fort  Christina,  284 ;  Swedish  Ship  seized  in  Holland, 
284 ;  The  States  General  inquire  into  the  Condition  of  New  Netherland,  285 ; 
New  Articles  proposed  by  the  Company,  286  ;  By  the  Patroons,  287 ;  Proclama- 
tion of  freer  Trade,  288;  Its  Effects,  288,  289;  De  Vries,  Kuyter,  and  Melyn. 
289 ;  Strangers  attracted  from  New  England  and  Virginia,  290 ;  Captain  John 
Underbill,  291 ;  Obligations  and  Privileges  of  foreign  Settlors  in  New  Netherland, 
201  ;  Grants  of  Land  near  Coney  Island,  Breuckelen,  and  Deutel  Bay,  292;  Do 


CONTE^TS.  yjj 

mestic  Administration,  292 ;  Tribute  proposed  to  be  exacted  from  the  Savages. 
293;  New  Haven,  Stratford,  Greenwich,  and  Hartford,  294;  Aggressions  of  the 
Hartford  People,  295 ;  The  Dutch  purchase  West  Chester  Lands,  296 ;  James 
Farrett,  Lord  Stirling's  Agent  for  Long  Island,  297 ;  Lion  Gardiner  at  Gardiner's 
Island,  298 ;  English  Intruders  at  Schout's  Bay  dislodged,  299 ;  Southamptor 
and  Southold  settled,  300  ;  De  Vries  goes  up  to  Fort  Orange,  301,  302  ;  Affairs 
at  Beverwyck  and  Ilensselaerswyck,  303-305 ;  The  Cohooes,  306 ;  De  Vries' 
Opinion  of  the  North  River,  307 ;  Difficulties  with  the  Savages,  307-309 ;  The 
Dutch  ordered  to  arm,  309  ;  Expedition  against  the  Raritans,  310  ;  The  Tappans 
refuse  to  pay  Tribute,  310;  New  Charter  for  Patroons,  311;  The  Refonned 
Dutch  Church  established  in  New  Netherland,  312 ;  Vriesendael,  Hackinsack 
and  Staten  Island,  313 ;  Provincial  Currency  regulated,  and  Fairs  established, 
314 ;  The  Raritans  attack  Staten  Island,  315 ;  Smits  murdered  at  Deutel  Bay, 
316  ;  The  "  Twelve  Men"  appointed,  317 ;  Kieft  urges  War,  318  ;  The  Twelve 
Men  oppose  and  avert  Hostilities,  319;  Swedes  on  the  South  River,  319;  De 
Bogaerdt,  Powelson,  and  Hollaendare,  320 ;  Death  of  Minuit,  321  ;  Lamberton 
and  Cogswell's  Expedition  from  New  Haven  to  the  Varken's  Kill  and  the  Schuyl- 
kill, 321,  322  ;  Vexatious  Conduct  of  the  Hartford  People,  322  ;  Delegates  sent 
to  England  from  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  323 ;  Hugh  Peters  commission- 
ed to  treat  with  the  West  India  Company,  324 ;  Sir  William  Boswell's  Advice  to 
crowd  out  the  Dutch,  324. 

CHAPTER    X. 

1642—1643. 

The  Twelve  Men  again  convoked,  325 ;  They  demand  Reforms,  326,  327 ;  KieJt  ^ 
Concessions,  328  ;  Dissolves  the  Board  of  Twelve  Men,  329  ;  Expedition  against 
the  Weckquaesgeeks,  and  Treaty  at  the  Bronx  River,  330  ;  Greenwich  submits  to 
the  Dutch,  331 ;  Roger  Williams  founds  Rhode  Island,  332 ;  Emigrations  from 
Massachusetts  to  New  Netherland,  333 ;  Doughty 's  Patent  for  Mespath,  333 , 
Throgmorton  at  Vredeland,  334 ;  Anne  Hutchinson  at  "  Annie's  Hoeck,"  334  ; 
Strangers  at  Manhattan,  335 ;  City  Hotel  for  Travellers,  335 ;  New  Church  at 
Manhattan,  336,  337 ;  George  Baxter  appointed  English  Secretary,  337 ;  Neu 
Haven  Settlements  on  the  South  River  broken  up,  338 ;  The  Hartford  Peopk- 
and  the  Dutch,  339 ;  Threats  in  England  against  the  Dutch,  340 ;  Beginning  of 
the  Civil  War  in  England,  341 ;  Van  der  Donck,  Schout  Fiscal  of  Rensselacrs- 
wyck,  341  ;  Domine  Megapolensis,  342 ;  Church  at  Beverwyck,  343 ;  The  Jes- 
uits in  Canada,  344;  Father  Jogues  captured  by  the  Mohawks,  345  ;  Benevolent 
Efforts  of  Van  Curler,  346  ;  Van  Voorst  murdered  by  an  Indian  at  Hackinsack 
347 ;  The  Savages  offer  an  Atonement,  348  ;  Kieft  demands  the  Murderer,  348  ; 
The  Mohawks  attack  the  River  Indians,  349  ;  Public  Opinion  at  Manhattan,  349 
Kieft  resolves  on  War,  350 ;  Warned  in  vain  against  his  Rashness,  351  ;  Mas. 
sacres  at  Pavonia  and  Corlaer's  Hook,  352 ;  The  Long  Island  Indians  attaokeo, 
353  ;  The  Savages  aroused  to  Vengeance,  354 ;  Vriesendael  invested,  355  ;  Pop- 
ular Indignation  against  Kieft,  and  Proclamation  of  a  Day  of  fasting,  356  ;  Prop- 
osition to  depose  Kieft,  356 ;  Adriaensen  and  the  Director,  357 ;  De  Vries  anci 
Olfertsen  at  Rockaway,  358;  Treaty  with  the  Savagos,  359;  The  Indians  stili 
discontented,  360. 


Viii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XI. 

1643—1644. 

The  United  Colonies  of  New  England,  361 ;  Kieft  addresses  the  Commissioners, 
362 ;  Their  Reply,  363 ;  Murder  of  Miantonomoh,  364 ;  The  North  River  Sav- 
ages attack  a  Dutch  Boat,  364 ;  The  Commonalty  convoked,  364 ;  "  Eight  Men" 
chosen,  365 ;  Warlike  Measures  authorized,  365  ;  English  enrolled,  and  Under- 
hill  taken  into  the  Dutch  Service,  366  ;  Annie's  Hook  and  Vredeland  destroyed, 
366 ;  Lady  Moody's  Settlement  at  Gravesend  attacked,  367 ;  Settlers  driven 
away  from  Mespath,  367 ;  Hackinsack  attacked,  and  Pavonia  surprised,  368 ; 
Alarm  at  Manhattan,  369  ;  The  Eight  Men  again  convoked,  370  ;  Application  to 
New  Haven  for  Aid,  and  its  Result,  370 ;  De  Vries'  parting  Prophecy,  371 ;  Let- 
ter of  the  Eight  Men  to  the  West  India  Company,  371 ;  To  the  States  General, 
372  ;  Father  Jogues  at  Manhattan,  373  ;  Describes  its  Condition,  374 ;  Sails  for 
Europe,  374 ;  Church  at  Beverwyck,  374  ;  Missionary  zeal  of  Megapolensis,  375  ; 
Mercantile  Policy  of  Patroon  of  Rensselaerswyck,  376  ;  Van  der  Donck's  Con- 
duct, 377 ;  Attempts  to  form  a  Settlement  at  Katskill,  and  is  prevented,  378  ; 
John  Printz  appointed  Governor  of  New  Sweden,  378  ;  Arrives  at  Fort  Christina, 
and  builds  Fort  New  Gottenburg,  379  ;  De  Vries  at  the  South  River,  380  ;  Plow- 
den's  Claim  to  New  Albion  disregarded  by  Printz  and  Kieft,  381  ;  Lamberton  ar- 
rested by  Printz,  382 ;  Exploring  Expedition  from  Boston  to  the  South  River, 
383  ;  Failure  of  the  Boston  Enterprises;  384 ;  The  Dutch  and  the  Swedes  oppose 
the  English  on  the  South  River,  385 ;  Expeditions  sent  to  Staten  Island  and 
Greenwich,  386  ;  Captain  Patrick  murdered,  387 ;  Expedition  against  the  Weck- 
quaesgeeks,  387 ;  Stamford  People  settle  at  Heemstede,  387 ;  Patent  for  Heem- 
stede,  388  ;  Hostility  of  the  Indians,  and  Expedition  sent  to  Heemstede,  389  ; 
Atrocities  at  Manhattan,  389  ;  Soldiers  supplied  from  private  Ship  at  Manhattan, 

390  ;  Underhill's  Expedition  to  Stamford,  390,  391  ;  Thanksgiving  at  Manhattan, 

391  ;  Peace  with  West  Chester  and  Long  Island  Tribes,  392 ;  Fence  built  at 
Manhattan,  392  ;  Hostility  of  the  River  Tribes,  393  ;  Bankruptcy  of  the  West 
India  Company,  393 ;  The  Eight  Men  oppose  an  Excise,  393 ;  Kieft's  arbitrary 
Imposition,  394 ;  Excise  enforced,  and  the  Brewers  refuse  to  pay,  395  ;  The  Peo- 
ple side  with  the  Brewers,  396  ;  Kieft's  Misconduct,  396  ;  Expedition  to  the  North, 
397 ;  Memorial  of  the  Eight  Men  to  the  West  India  Company,  398-400  ;  Staple 
Right  claimed  for  Rensselaer's  Stein,  400  ;  Koorn  and  Loockermans,  401 ;  Koorn 
summoned  to  Manhattan,  fined,  and  protests,  401  ;  Father  Bressani  captured  by 
the  Mohawks,  and  ransomed  by  the  Dutch,  402  ;  Affairs  of  New  Netherland  con- 
sidered in  Holland,  403  ;  Provisional  Appointment  of  Van  Dincklagen  to  succeed 
Kieft,  404 ;  Report  of  the  Company's  Bureau  of  Accounts,  404-406. 

CHAPTER  XII. 
1645—1647. 
End  of  the  Indian  War,  407 ;  Treaty  at  Fort  Orange,  408  ;  General  Treaty  at  Fort 
Amsterdam,  409  ;  Condition  of  New  Netherland,  410  ;  Lands  purchased  on  Long 
Island,  410;  Settlement  of  Vlissingen,  or  Flushing,  410 ;  Doughty  at  Mespath, 
411  ;  Lady  Moody's  Patent  for  Gravesande,  or  Gravesend,  411 ;  Mineral  Discov- 
eries near  Fort  Orange  and  among  the  Raritans,  412 ;  Arendt  Corssen  sent  tc 


CONTENTS.  ix 

IloUanil,  and  lost  on  the  Way,  412,  413 ;  Action  of  the  West  India  Company  re- 
specting New  Netherland,  413;  Peter  Stuyvesant — His  early  Life,  413;  Ap- 
pointed Director  in  Place  of  Kieft,  and  Van  Dincklagen  Vice  Director,  414 ;  In- 
structions for  the  Provincial  Council,  414,  415 ;  New  Arrangements,  and  Stuy- 
vesant's  Departure  postponed,  416  ;  Kieft  denies  the  Right  of  Appeal  to  Holland, 
417;  Denounced  by  the  People,  and  reproved  by  Bogardus,  417;  Quarrel  be- 
tween the  Director  and  the  Domine,  418  ;  Restoration  of  Anne  Hutchinson's 
Grand-daughter,  419 ;  Van  Curler  and  Van  der  Donck,  419 ;  Death  of  Kiliaen 
Van  Rensselaer,  and  Appointment  of  Van  Slechtenhorst  as  Director  of  Rensse- 
laerswyck,  420  ;  Van  der  Donck's  Patent  for  Colendonck  or  Yonkers,  421 ;  Van 
Slyck's  Patent  for  Katskill,  421  ;  Breuckelen  incorporated,  422 ;  Father  Jogues 
visits  Andiatarocte,  and  names  it  "  Lac  du  Saint  Sacrement,"  422 ;  Murder  of 
Jogues  by  the  Mohawks,  423 ;  Hudde  Commissary  on  the  South  River,  424 ; 
Negotiates  with  Printz,  425  ;  Purchases  the  Site  of  Philadelphia,  426  ;  Discourt- 
eous Conduct  of  Printz,  427 ;  New  Haven  Trading-post  on  the  Paugussett,  428  ; 
Kieft  protests,  and  negotiates  with  Eaton,  428 ;  With  the  Commissioners,  429, 
430 ;  Instructions  of  the  West  India  Company,  431 ;  Stu3rvesant  commissioned  as 
Director,  and  sworn,  432  ;  Sails  from  the  Texel,  433  ;  Arrives  at  Manhattan,  433. 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

1647—1648. 

Death  of  Frederick  Henry  the  Stadtholder,  434 ;  Treaty  of  Munster,  and  General 
Peace  of  Westphalia,  435  ;  The  House  of  Burgundy,  436  ;  Great  Charter  of  Hol- 
land, 437 ;  Charles  V.  and  Philip  II.,  437,  438 ;  The  Reformation  in  Friesland 
and  Holland,  438  ;  Action  of  the  Spanish  Government,  439  ;  Alliance  of  the  No- 
bles, and  Origin  of  the  "  Gueux,"  440 ;  Iconoclasts,  441 ;  Alva  in  the  Nether- 
lands, 441 ;  Council  of  Blood,  and  Execution  of  Egmont  and  Hoorn,  441  ;  Cap- 
ture of  the  Brielle,  442 ;  The  People  refuse  to  pay  Alva's  Taxes,  442 ;  Haerlem 
and  Alckmaer  besieged,  442  ;  Defense  of  Leyden,  and  Foundation  of  its  Univers- 
ity, 443;  Pacification  of  Ghent,  444;  The  Union  of  Utrecht,  445;  Dutch  Decla- 
ration of  Independence,  446  ;  The  Dutch  a  self-governing  People,  447 ;  Their  re- 
publican System  of  Administration,  448  ;  The  States  General,  449  ;  Council  of 
State,  Chamber  of  Accounts,  Stadtholder,  and  Admiralty,  450 ;  The  Province  of 
Holland,  451  ;  Industrial  and  democratic  Spirit  of  the  Dutch,  452 ;  Municipal 
Governments  of  Holland,  453  ;  Effects  of  the  Dutch  System,  454  ;  Doctrine  of 
State  Rights,  455  ;  Social  and  political  Results,  455,  456 ;  Prosperity  of  the 
Dutch,  456  ;  Extensive  Commerce,  457 ;  Free  Trade ;  Universal  Toleration,  458 ; 
Foreigners  attracted ;  Freedom  of  the  Dutch  Press,  469 ;  Illustrious  Men  and 
Artists  of  the  Netherlands,  460  ;  Party  Spirit ;  the  Hoeks  and  Kabbeljaus,  461  ; 
Economy  and  Frugality ;  Hospitality  and  Benevolence,  462  ;  Establishment  of 
free  Schools,  462 ;  Influence  of  Women,  463 ;  Honesty  of  the  Dutch,  463 ;  Their 
Firmness  and  Patriotism,  464. 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

1647—1648. 

C  nimrnccment  of  Stuyvcsant's  Administration,  465  ;  Organization  of  his  Coin - 
cil.  466 ;  Police  and  Revenue  Regulations,  466,  467 ;   Church  in  Fort  Amstrr- 


X  CONTENTS. 

dam,  467 ;  Domine  Backerus  succeeds  Bogardus,  468 ;  Complaints  against  Kieft, 
468  ,  Dismissed  by  Stuyvesant,  469 ;  Kujter  and  Melyn  accused  by  Kieft,  470  ; 
Convicted  and  sentenced,  471 ;  Right  of  Appeal  again  denied,  472  ;  Shipwreck 
of  the  Princess,  and  Death  of  Kieft,  Bogardus,  and  others,  472  ;  Escape  of  Kuy- 
ter  and  Melyn,  473 ;  Stuj-vesant's  Concessions  to  the  People,  474 ;  The  "  Nine 
Men,"  474 ;  Their  Duties  and  Oath  of  Office,  475  ;  Their  Action  on  Stuyvesant's 
Arst  Communication,  476 ;  Forrester,  Lady  Stirling's  Agent,  arrested  and  ban- 
ished, 477  ;  Correspondence  with  New  England,  478  ;  Stuyvesant  seizes  a  Ship 
at  New  Haven,  479  ;  Eaton's  Retaliation,  480  ;  Stuyvesant's  Vindication,  481 ; 
Insuhs  of  the  Swedes  on  the  South  River,  482  ;  The  Savages  invite  the  Dutch 
to  build  on  the  Schuylkill,  482  ;  Fort  Beversrede,  483  ;  The  Swedes  reproved  by 
the  Savages,  483  ;  Campanius  returns  to  Sweden,  484 ;  Plowden  again  at  Man- 
hattan, 484 ;  Van  Dincklagen  and  La  Montagne  at  the  South  River,  485  ;  Vexa- 
tious Conduct  of  the  Swedes  at  Passayunk,  and  Protests  of  the  Dutch,  486  ,  Mu 
nicipal  Affairs  at  Manhattan,  or  New  Amsterdam,  487 ;  Recommendations  of  the 
Nine  Men  ;  Residence  required  ;  Scotch  Merchants,  or  Peddlers ;  "  Kermis,"  or 
Fair,  489  ;  Contraband  Trade  in  Fire-arms,  490  ;  Van  Slechtenhorst  at  Rensse- 
laerswjck,  491 ;  Stujrvesant  visits  Fort  Orange,  491 ;  Soldiers  sent  there,  492  ; 
Van  Slechtenhorst  summoned  to  Fort  Amsterdam,  493  ;  Megapolensis  and  Back- 
erus, 494 ;  Popular  Discontent  at  New  Amsterdam,  495  ;  Delegation  to  Holland 
proposed  by  the  Nine  Men,  495  ;  Correspondence  with  New  England,  496 ;  Stuv 
vesant's  Explanations  of  the  Dutch  territorial  Rights,  497. 

CHAPTERXV. 

1649—1651. 

Death  of  Charles  L,  498 ;  Threatened  Rupture  between  England  and  the  Nether- 
lands, 499  ;  Death  of  Winthrop,  and  Correspondence  with  New  England,  499  ; 
The  Dutch  and  other  Foreigners  forbidden  to  trade  with  the  New  England  Sav- 
ages, 500 ;  Stuyvesant  and  the  Nine  Men,  501 ;  Proceedings  against  Van  der 
Donck,  502  ;  Case  of  Kuyter  and  Melyn,  503  ;  Memorial  of  the  Nine  Men  to  the 
States  General,  504 ;  Burgher  Government  demanded ;  Remarks  and  Observa- 
tions of  the  Nine  Men,  505 ;  Vertoogh,  or  Remonstrance  of  New  Netherland, 
506  ;  Delegates  sent  to  Holland,  507 ;  Domine  Backerus  succeeded  by  Megapo- 
lensis, 508 ;  Van  Tienhoven  sent  to  Holland  as  Stuyvesant's  Representative, 
509 ;  Katskill,  Claverack,  and  Weckquaesgeek,  510 ;  Lands  purchased  on  the 
South  River,  510,  511  ;  The  popular  Delegates  at  the  Hague,  511 ;  Publication 
of  the  Vertoogh,  512  ;  Letter  of  the  "West  India  Company's  Chamber  at  Amster- 
dam, 512;  Measures  to  promote  Emigration,  513;  Provisional  Order  for  the 
Government  of  New  Netherland,  514 ;  Opposed  by  the  Amsterdam  Chamber, 
ol5  ;  Domine  Grasmeer,  516  ;  Municipal  Affairs  of  New  Amsterdam,  517 ;  Stuy- 
vesant's Opposition  to  Reforms,  517;  The  Director  visits  Hartford,  518  ;  Provis- 
ional Treaty  arranged,  519,  520  ;  Dissatisfaction  of  the  Commonalty  at  New  Am- 
sterdam, 521 ;  Affairs  at  Rensselaersvi-yck,  522  ;  Van  der  Donck  and  Van  Tien- 
hoven in  Holland,  523  ;  Return  of  Van  Tienhoven,  524  ;  Melyn  on  Staten  Island, 
525  ;  Van  Dincklagen  and  Van  Schelluyne  oppressed,  526  ;  Gravesend  and  Heem- 
stede  support  Stuyvesant,  526,  527 ;  Expedition  from  New  Haven  to  the  South 
River  defeated,  527 ;    Van  Slechtenhorst  arrested  at  New  Amsterdam,  528  , 


CONTENTS. 


X] 


Stuyvesant  visits  the  South  River,  529 ;  Fort  Nassau  demoUshed,  and  Fort  Cas- 
Imir  built,  529 ;  Dyckman  appointed  Commissary  at  Fort  Orange  in  Place  of  Lab- 
batie,  530  ;  Proposed  Exploration  of  the  Katskill  Mountains,  531. 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

1652—1653. 

Fiscal  Van  Dyck  superseded,  and  Van  Tienhoven  promoted,  533 ;  Troubles  at  Bev- 
erwyck,  533  ;  Stuyvesant  again  at  Fort  Orange,  534 ;  Annexation  of  Beverwyck 
to  Fort  Orange,  535 ;  John  Baptist  van  Rensselaer  Director,  and  Gerrit  Swart 
Schout  of  Rensselaerswyck,  535  ;  Settlement  at  Atkarkarton,  or  Esopus,  536  ; 
Middelburg  or  Newtown,  and  Midwout  or  Flatbush,  on  Long  Island,  536 ;  Van 
Werckhoven's  Purchases  on  Long  Island  and  New  Jersey,  537 ;  Domine  Dris- 
ius,  537 ;  Domine  Schaats,  538 ;  Opposition  of  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  to  the 
Provisional  Order.  539  ;  Burgher  Government  conceded  to  Manhattan,  540 ;  In- 
structions for  Schout  of  New  Amsterdam,  541 ;  The  States  General  recall  Stuy- 
vesant, 541  ;  His  Recall  revoked,  542 ;  Proposed  Union  between  England  and 
the  Netherlands,  542 ;  English  Act  of  Navigation,  543 ;  Failure  of  proposed 
Treaty,  544 ;  Naval  War  between  the  Dutch  and  English,  545 ;  Precautions  of 
the  States  General  and  the  Amsterdam  Chamber,  546  ;  Maritime  Superiority  of 
Manhattan  predicted,  547 ;  Its  Condition  and  Population,  548  ;  Organization  of 
the  municipal  Government  of  the  City  of  New  Amsterdam,  548,  549 ;  Critical 
Condition  of  the  Province  ;  Preparations  for  Defense,  549 ;  First  City  Debt,  550  ; 
State  of  Feeling  in  New  England  ;  Charges  against  the  Dutch,  550,  551  ;  Agents 
sent  to  New  Netherland,  and  Preparations  for  War,  552 ;  Conduct  of  the  New 
England  Agents,  and  Propositions  of  the  Dutch,  553  ;  Stuyvesant's  Reply  to  the 
Commissioners,  554 ;  Substance  of  the  Charges  against  him,  555 ;  Underbill's 
seditious  Conduct  on  Long  Island,  556  ;  Is  banished,  and  goes  to  Rhode  Island, 
556  ;  Massachusetts  at  Variance  with  the  Commissioners,  557 ;  Prevents  a  Wai 
with  New  England,  558  ;  Fort  Good  Hope  seized  by  Underbill,  558 ;  Stuyvesant 
sends  an  Embassy  to  Virginia,  559  ;  Disagrees  with  the  City  Authorities  of  New 
Amsterdam,  560  ;  Return  of  Van  der  Donck  ;  His  "  Description  of  New  Nether- 
land," 561 ;  De  Sille  appointed  Counselor,  and  Van  Ruyven  Provincial  Secretar}'. 
561  ;  Domine  Drisius  sent  on  an  Embassy  to  Virginia,  562;  Affairs  of  Rensse- 
laerswyck, 562 ;  The  Mohawks  and  the  French,  563 ;  Father  Poncet  restored, 
564 ;  Temper  of  the  New  England  Governments,  564,  565 ;  Piracies  on  Long 
Island  Sound,  565 ;  Libelous  Pamphlet  published  in  London,  566 ;  The  Bound- 
aiy  Question  in  Holland,  567 ;  Stuyvesant  surrenders  the  Excise  to  the  City,  568 ; 
Disaffection  among  the  English  on  Long  Island,  568 ;  Meeting  of  Delegates  al 
New  Amsterdam,  569  ;  "  Landtdag"  or  Convention  called,  570  ;  It  meets  at  New 
Amsterdam,  571 ;  Remonstrance  of  the  Convention,  571  ;  Its  Character,  572  ; 
Stuyvesant's  Reply,  573 ;  Rejoinder  of  the  Convention,  574 ;  The  Convention 
dissolved,  575 ;  Letter  of  Burgomasters  and  Schepens  of  New  Amsterdam  to  the 
West  India  Company,  575  ;  Letter  from  Gravesend,  576 ;  Affairs  on  the  South 
River,  576  ;  Departure  of  Printz,  577  :  John  Rising  appointed  Deputy  Governoi 
-f  New  Sweden,  577. 


xii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

1654—1655. 

New  Amsterdam  Affairs,  578 ;  Precautionary  Measures,  579  ;  Breuckclen,  Amers- 
foort,  and  Midwout  incorporated,  580  ;  Church  at  Midwout  or  Flatbush,  and  Dom- 
ine  Polhcmus  called,  581  ;  Illiberal  Treatment  of  Lutherans  at  New  Amsterdam, 
582 ;  Cromwell's  Expedition  against  New  Netherland,  582 ;  Sequestration  of 
Fort  Good  Hope  by  Connecticut,  583 ;  New  Amsterdam  put  in  a  State  of  Defense, 
584  ;  Warlike  Preparations  in  New  England,  585  ;  Treaty  of  P^ace  between  En- 
gland and  Holland,  and  Countermand  of  hostile  Orders,  586 ;  Thanksgiving  in 
New  Netherland,  587 ;  Letters  of  the  Company  to  Stuyvesant  and  to  the  City 
Authorities,  587 ;  Grant  of  a  City  Hall  and  Seal  to  New  Amsterdam,  588  ;  Kuy- 
ter  murdered,  and  Van  Tienhoven  continued  as  City  Schout,  588  ;  Ferry  at  Man- 
hattan regulated,  589  ;  War  Tax  laid ;  Excise  resumed  by  Stuyvesant,  590 ; 
Troubles  at  Beverwyck,  591 ;  Father  Le  Moyne  discovers  the  Salt  Springs  at 
Onondaga,  592  ;  Rising  at  the  South  River,  593 ;  Captures  Fort  Casimir,  and 
names  it  Fort  Trinity,  593 ;  Swedish  Ship  seized  at  Manhattan,  594 ;  English 
Settlements  at  West  Chester  and  Oyster  Bay,  595 ;  Stuyvesant  visits  Lady 
Moody  at  Gravesend,  596  ;  Delivers  Seal  and  Coat  of  Arms  to  Burgomasters  aC 
New  Amsterdam,  596 ;  Sails  for  the  W^est  Indies,  597 ;  Baxter,  Hubbard,  and 
Grover  at  Gravesend,  597;  Protest  against  the  Settlers  at  West  Chester,  598 ; 
De  Decker  appointed  Commissary  at  Fort  Orange  in  Place  of  Dyckman,  599 ; 
Affairs  at  Gravesend,  599  ;  The  Boundary  Question  in  Holland,  600  ;  Stuy\-esant 
ordered  to  recover  Fort  Casimir,  601 ;  Letter  of  W^est  India  Company  to  Burgo- 
masters of  New  Amsterdam,  602 ;  Stuyvesant  returns  from  the  West  Indies, 
603  ;  Expedition  to  the  South  River,  604  ;  Capitulation  of  the  Swedes,  605 ;  Es- 
tablishment of  the  Dutch  Power  on  the  South  River,  606 ;  Indian  Invasion  of 
New  Amsterdam,  607 ;  Hoboken,  Pavonia,  and  Staten  Island  laid  waste  ;  Eso- 
pus  deserted,  607 ;  Measures  for  Defense  ;  Ransom  of  Prisoners,  608  ;  Jacquet 
appointed  Vice  Director  on  the  South  River,  609 ;  Assistance  asked  from  Hol- 
land, and  Precautions  against  the  Savages  proposed,  610  ;  Stuyvesant  prohibits 
New  Year  and  May  Day  Sports,  611 ;  Father  Le  Moyne  at  Beverwyck,  611 ;  New 
Alliance  between  the  Dutch  and  the  Mohawks,  611  ;  Chaumonot  and  Dablon ; 
Jesuit  Chapel  at  Onondaga,  612. 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
1656—1658. 
Proclamation  to  form  Villages,  613  ;  Stuyvesant  and  the  Municipal  Government  of 
New  Amsterdam,  613;  Religious  Affairs  in  New  Netherland,  614-616;  Procla- 
mation  against  unauthorized  Conventicles,  617  ;  Disapproved  by  the  West  India 
Company,  617 ;  Expedition  sent  to  West  Chester,  618  ;  Oostdorp  or  West  Ches- 
ter, and  Rustdorp  or  Jamaica  incorporated,  619 ;  Baxter  escapes  to  New  En- 
gland, 620  ;  Swedish  Ship  seized  at  the  South  River,  620 ;  Ratification  of  the  Hart- 
ford Treaty  by  the  States  General,  621 ;  Complaints  of  the  Swedish  Government, 
622  ;  Van  Tienhoven  dismissed  from  public  Service,  622  ;  Survey  and  Population 
of  New  Amsterdam,  623  ;  Troubles  at  Beverwyck  about  the  Excise,  623 ;  Van 
Rensselaer  fined  and  ordered  to  give  Bonds,  624 ;  New  Church  at  Bevervvj-ck,  624. 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

625;  La  Montagne  appointed  Vice  Director  at  Fort  Orange  in  Place  of  De  Decker 
625 ;  Unsatisfactory  Correspondence  with  New  England,  625  ;  Lutherans  at  New 
Amsterdam,  and  Baptists  at  Flushing,  626  ;  Affairs  at  Oostdorp,  627  ;  Great  and 
Small  Burgher  Right  established  at  New  Amsterdam,  628,  629  ;  The  West  India 
Company  conveys  Fort  Casimir  and  the  adjacent  Territory  to  the  City  of  Am- 
sterdam, 630  ;  Colony  of  New  Amstel ;  Alrichs  appointed  Director,  630,  631  ; 
Transfer  of  Fort  Casimir,  and  Organization  of  Colony  of  New  Amstel,  632  ;  Fort 
Christina  named  Altona,  and  Jacquet  succeeded  by  Hudde,  633  ;  Domine  \Veliu& 
and  Church  at  New  Amstel,  633 ;  Cromwell's  Letter  to  the  English  on  Long 
Island,  63i ;  Lutheran  Clergyman  at  New  Amsterdam,  635 ;  The  People  called 
Quakers,  635  ;  Penal  Laws  of  Massachusetts,  635  ;  Liberality  of  Rhode  Island, 
636 ;  Quakers  at  New  Amsterdam,  636 ;  Proclamation  against  Quakers,  637 ; 
Remonstrance  of  Flushing,  637;  Its  Charter  modified,  638;  Persecution  of  Quak 
ers,  638,  639 ;  Nomination  of  Magistrates  allowed  to  New  Amsterdam,  640  ;  For- 
eigners ;  Municipal  Affairs ,  Latin  School,  640,  641  ;  New  Haerlem  and  Staten 
Island,  641  ;  Bergen  and  (lamoenepa,  or  Communipa,  642  ;  The  West  India  Com- 
pany enjoins  religious  Moderation,  642,  643 ;  Jesuit  Mission  at  Onondaga ;  Saint 
Wary's  of  Genentaha,  644  ;  Le  Moyne  at  New  Amsterdam,  645  ;  Commerce  be- 
tween New  Netherland  and  Canada,  646 ;  Abandonment  of  the  French  Settle- 
ment at  Onondaga,  646  ;  Outrages  of  the  Indians  at  Esopus,  647 ;  Stuyvesant's 
Conference  with  the  Esopus  Savages,  648  ;  Village  laid  out  at  Esopus,  649  ;  Jer- 
emias  Van  Rensselaer  Director  of  Rensselaerswyck,  649  ;  Mohawks  at  Fort  Or- 
ange, 650;  Dirck  Smit  Commandant  at  Esopus,  651  ;  Stuyvesant  visits  Altona, 
651  ;  Willem  Beeckman  appointed  Vice  Director  on  the  South  River,  652 ;  Af 
fairs  at  New  Amstel,  653  ;  Death  of  Cromwell,  and  Downfall  of  the  Protector- 
ate, 653. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
1659—1660. 
Perritorial  Claims  of  Massachusetts,  654 ;  Exploring  Party  refused  a  Passage  up 
the  North  River,  655  ;  The  West  India  Company  allows  New  Netherland  a  For- 
eign Trade,  656  ;  Curtius  Latin  Schoolmaster  at  New  Amsterdam,  656  ;  Liber 
ality  in  Religion  enjoined,  656 ;  Hermanns  Blom  called  to  Esopus,  657 ;  Fresh 
Troubles  with  the  Savages,  658 ;  Delegation  from  Beverwyck  to  the  Mohawks 
at  Caughnawaga,  659 ;  Expedition  from  New  Amsterdam  to  Esopus,  660  ;  Affairs 
at  New  Amstel,  661 ;  Copper  Mine  at  Minnisinck,  662 ;  Beeckman  purchases 
near  Cape  Hinlopen,  663  ;  Designs  of  the  Maryland  Government,  663  ;  Utie  at 
New  Amstel,  664 ;  Conference  with  the  Dutch  Officers,  665 ;  Heerman's  and 
Waldron's  Embassy  to  Maryland,  666 ;  Negotiations  with  Governor  FendalL 
667-669  ;  Death  of  Domine  Welius  and  of  Director  Alrichs,  670  ;  Southampton, 
Easthampton,  Huntington,  and  Setauket,  on  Long  Island,  671 ;  Letter  of  Com 
missioners  to  Stuyvesant  in  favor  of  the  Massachusetts  Claim,  672 ;  Stuyvesant's 
Reply,  673 ;  His  Dispatches  to  the  Company,  674 ;  Tonneman  Schout  of  New 
Amsterdam ;  Second  Survey  of  the  City,  674 ;  New  Haerlem  incorporated,  674  ; 
Treaty  with  the  Long  Island  and  other  Indians,  675 ;  War  against  the  Esopus 
Savages,  676  ;  Stuyvesant  refuses  to  organize  a  Court  at  Esopus,  677 ;  Opposes 
the  Employment  of  the  Mohawks,  677  ;  Conference  and  Treaty  with  the  Esopu? 
Indians,  678;  "  Bosch-locpers"  at  Fort  Orange,  679;  Stuyvesant's  Confm^nor 


xiv  CONTEMS. 

with  the  Scnecas,  679  ;  Domine  Bloin  settled  at  Esopus,  680  ;  Domine  Selyns  at 
Breuckelen  and  the  Director's  Bouwery,  680,  681  ;  Lutherans  at  BeverMyck, 
681 ;  Hinoyossa  succeeds  Alrichs  at  New  Amstel,  682;  Treaty  between  New 
Netherland  and  Virginia,  683  ;  Sir  Henry  Moody's  Embassy  to  Manhattan,  683  ; 
Berkeley's  Correspondence  with  Stujrvesant,  684 ;  Restoration  of  Charles  II., 
684  ;  Lord  Baltimore  and  the  West  India  Company,  685 ;  The  Company's  Me- 
morial to  the  States  General,  686  ;  English  Council  for  Foreign  Plantations,  686. 

CHAPTER  XX. 
1661—1664. 
English  Jealousy  of  the  Dutch,  687 ;  Liberal  Conditions  offered  by  the  West  India 
Company  to  English  Emigrants  to  New  Netherland,  688  ;  Stuyvesant  again  per- 
secutes Quakers,  689  ;  Charter  of  Wiltwyck,  or  Wildwyck,  at  Esopus  ;  Roelof 
Swartwout  Schout,  690  ;  Purchase  of  "  Schonowe,"  or  Schenectady  Flats,  691 ; 
Bergen  incorporated;  Tielman  van  Vleeck  Schout,  691,  692;  Staten  Island; 
Domine  Drisius  preaches  there  in  French,  692 ;  New  Utrecht  and  Boswyck,  or 
Bushwick,  incorporated,  693 ;  The  "  Five  Dutch  Towns,"  693 ;  Affairs  at  New 
Amsterdam  ;  a  Mint  contemplated  ;  Curtius  succeeded  by  Luyck ;  Reputation  of 
the  Latin  School,  694 ;  Salt-works  on  Coney  Island,  694 ;  Connecticut  petitions 
the  King  for  a  Charter,  695  ;  Winthrop  sails  from  New  Amsterdam,  695 ;  Pro- 
posed Puritan  Settlement  in  New  Netherland  ;  Stuyvesant's  Concessions,  696  ; 
Calvert  on  the  South  River,  697 ;  Mennonists  propose  to  colonize  the  Horekill, 
698  ;  Singular  Articles  of  Association,  698,  699  ;  Plockhoy,  their  Leader,  699  ; 
Beeckman  and  Hinoyossa,  699  ;  Sir  George  Downing,  the  British  Ambassador  at 
the  Hague,  700 ;  Lord  Baltimore's  and  Lord  Stirling's  Claims,  701  ;  Convention 
between  the  United  Provinces  and  Great  Britain,  701 ;  Berkeley  and  Winthrop 
m  London  ;  Royal  Charter  for  Connecticut,  702  ;  Encroaching  Claims  of  the  Con- 
necticut Court,  703 ;  West  Chester  and  Long  Island  Towns  annexed,  703  ;  Le 
Moyne  again  among  the  Iroquois,  704 ;  The  Mohawks  on  the  Kennebeck,  704 ; 
Governor  Breedon's  Complaints,  and  Stuyvesant's  Interposition,  704 ;  Tracy 
Viceroy  of  Canada,  705  ;  Progress  of  Quakerism  on  Long  Island,  705  ;  Banish- 
ment of  Bowne,  706  ;  The  West  India  Company  enjoins  Toleration,  and  Perse- 
cution ceases,  707 ;  Terms  offered  to  Puritans  desiring  to  settle  themselves  on 
the  Raritan,  708 ;  Connecticut  enforces  its  Claims  of  Jurisdiction,  709 ;  Earth- 
quake, 709;  Small-pox  at  Beverwyck,  and  non-intercourse  Regulations  of  Con- 
necticut, 710  ;  New  Village  at  Esopus  ;  "  Ronduit"  on  the  Kill,  710  ;  Wiltwyck 
surprised  by  the  Savages,  711  ;  Expedition  sent  from  New  Amsterdam,  712  ;  In- 
vasion of  the  Esopus  Country,  and  Destruction  of  Indian  Forts  on  the  Shawan- 
gunk  Kill,  712,  713 ;  Party  sent  to  the  Sager's  Kill,  713,  714 ;  The  South  River 
ceded  to  the  City  of  Amsterdam,  714-716  ;  Calvert  at  New  Amstel  and  Altona, 
717;  Hinoyossa  and  Beeckman,  717;  Stuyvesant  visits  Boston,  and  negotiates 
with  the  Commissioners,  718  ;  Difficulties  on  Long  Island,  719  ;  Dutch  Commis- 
sioners sent  to  Hartford,  720  ;  Unsatisfactory  Negotiation,  721 ;  Act  of  Connecti- 
cut respecting  the  West  Chester  and  Long  Island  Towns,  722  ;  Convention  called 
at  New  Amsterdam,  722 ;  Remonstrance  to  the  West  India  Company,  723 ;  Names 
of  English  Villages  on  Long  Island  changed,  723 ;  Stuyvesant  surrenders  them 
and  West  Chester  to  Connecticut,  723  ;  English  Party  on  the  Raritan ;  Purchase 
of  the  Nevesinck  Lands,  724;  Baxter  and  Scott  in  London,  725  ;  Scott  on  Long 


CONTENTS. 


If 


Island,  72G  ;  Combination  of  English  Villages  ;  Scott  chosen  President,  72G  ;  Con- 
ditional Arrangement  at  Jamaica,  727 ;  Agreement  between  Stuyvesant  and  Scott, 
728 ;  General  Provincial  Assembly  at  New  Amsterdam,  729 ;  Charter  of  the  West 
India  Company  explained  and  confirmed  by  the  States  General,  730  ;  Letters  to 
the  Towns,  730  ;  Arrival  of  Huguenots,  730  ;  Treaty  of  Peace  with  the  Esopus 
Savages,  731  ;  Beeckman  Commissary  at  Esopus,  732 ;  Settlement  at  Schaen- 
hechstede,  or  Schenectady,  732  ;  The  Mohawks  and  the  Abenaquis,  732  ;  Ravages 
of  the  Mahicans,  and  Alarm  at  Fort  Orange,  733 ;  Winthrop's  Proceedings  on 
Long  Island,  734 ;  Stuyvesant  still  hopeful,  734 ;  Royal  Patent  to  the  Duke  of 
York  and  Albany,  735  ;  Royal  Commissioners,  736  ;  Colonel  Richard  Nicolls  dis- 
patched with  a  Squadron  to  surprise  New  Netherland,  736  ;  Grant  of  New  Jersey, 
736  ;  Preparations  to  defend  New  Amsterdam,  736  ;  Stuyvesant  goes  to  Fort  Or- 
ange, 737 ;  Royal  Commissioners  at  Boston,  737 ;  Squadron  anchors  in  Nyack 
Bay,  738;  Manhattan  summoned  to  surrender,  739 ;  Stuyvesant  tears  NicoUs's 
Letter,  739  ;  Ships  anchor  before  Fort  Amsterdam,  740  ;  Condition  of  the  City, 
741;  Capitulation  agreed  to,  742 ;  Surrenderof  New  Amsterdam,  742;  Nicolls  pro- 
claimed Governor ;  his  opinion  of  the  City  caUed  "  New  York,"  743  ;  Surrender 
of  Fort  Orange  ;  named  Fort  Albany,  744 ;  Reduction  of  the  South  River,  744 ; 
New  York,  Albania,  and  Yorkshire  named,  745  ;  Review  ;  Character  and  Influ- 
ence of  the  Founders  of  New  York,  745-750. 


APPENDIX. 

Note  A Page  751 

Note  B 752 

Note  C 753 

Note  D 753 

Note  E 754 

Note  F 755 

Note  G 755 

Note  H 75G 

Note  1 757 

Note  K 758 

Note  L 758 

NoteM 759 

Note  N 760 

Note  0 760 

Note  P 760 

Note  Q 761 

Note  R 761 

Note  S : - 7G2 

Additional  Note 7G3 

Index 705 


HISTORY 

OF    THE 

STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 

CHAPTER.  I. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  moment-  chap.i. 
ous  events  which  had  been  agitating  Europe,  led  the  way 

.         .    °  °  ^  -^  Introduc- 

to  the  permanent  colonization  of  the  northern  regions  of  tio" 
America.  The  art  of  printing  had  gradually  diffused  the 
learning  of  the  cloister  through  the  marts  of  commerce ; 
a  venerable  but  abused  faith  no  longer  shackled  emanci- 
pated mind  ;  a  recent  inductive  philosophy  was  teaching 
mankind  to  seek  the  fruits  of  careful  experiment ;  and  an 
irrepressible  spirit  of  adventure,  growing  with  the  prog- 
ress of  knowledge,  prompted  enterprise  in  the  New  World 
which  the  genius  of  Columbus  had  given  to  the  Old. 

The  immortal  Genoese,  who,  in  those  late  years   fore-   1492. 
told  at  Rome,  had  verified  the  sublime  prophecy  of  Sene- 
ca, and  made  the  ocean  reveal  the  long-mysterious  earth 
beyond  the  furthest  Thule,  had  worked  out  his  grand  dem- 
onstration in  the  service  of  Spain.     By  her  the  splendid 
prize  was  claimed.      But  Portugal,  having  already  ex- 
plored the  Azores,  boldly  asserted  a  superior  right.     The 
question  was  referred  to  the  Pope ;  and  Alexander  the  Papai  dona- 
Sixth  decided  that  the  sovereigns  of  Spain  should  hold.  New  woria 
as  a  gift  in  perpetuity,  all  the  heathen  lands  found  or  1493. 
to  be  discovered  to  the  west  of  a  meridian,  one  hundred  ^^^  ^^y 
leagues  westward  of  the  Azores.     The  apostolic  decree  did 

A 


2  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  I.  not  Satisfy  Portugal ;  and  it  was  agreed  that  the  line  of 

\ — partition  should  be  advanced  two  hundred  and  seventy 

leagues  further  to  the  west.  Still,  nearly  all  the  New 
World  remained  actually  included  in  the  papal  donation 
to  Spain.* 

But  the  Pontiff's  sweeping  grant  was  not  universally 
respected.    Leaving  Spain  and  Portugal  to  push  their  con- 
Engiish      quests  in  the  rich  and  sultry  regions  of  the  south,  England 
discoveries,  and  France  commenced  an  early  rivalry  in  exploring  the 
rugged  and  picturesque  territories  of  the  north.     Disre- 
garding the  edict  of  the  Vatican,  almost  simultaneously 
they  began  their  grand  career  of  transatlantic  enterprise. 
Cabot.       AVhile  the  Cabots,  under  commissions  of  Henry  the  Sev- 
enth, after  discovering  Newfoundland,  sailed  along  the 
1497-8.  continent,  from  Labrador  to  the  parallel  of  Gibraltar,  and, 
1517,   in  a  succeeding  reign,  perhaps  entered  the  Arctic  Seas 
westward  of  Greenland,  the  fishermen  of  Normandy  visit- 
1504.   ed  Cape  Breton,  and  made  rude  charts  of  the  great  gulf 
1506.   within ;  and  Verazzano,  under  a  commission  of  Francis 
verazzano. .|.j^g  First,  coastiug  Rorthward  from  the  Carolinas,  explored, 
1524.   with  his  boat,  the  "most  beautiful"  Bay  of  New  York,1 
and  anchored  awhile  iii  the  "very  excellent  harbor"  of 
Newport.     But,  though  plans  of  colonization  were  sug- 
gested in  England  and  France,  permanent  occupation  was 

*  Hazard's  Historical  Collections,  i.,  3-6  ;  Chalmers's  Political  Annals,  10 ;  Herrera, 
i.,  2,  10;  Irving's  Columbus,  i.,  185-200;  Prescott's  Ferd.  and  Isab.,  ii.,  116,  174,  181  ; 
Thome,  in  Hakluyt's  "  Divers  Voyages,"  <fcc.,  43-47,  reprinted  by  the  Ilakluyt  Society 
of  London,  1850. 

t  Verazzano  thus  describes  the  Narrows,  and  the  Bay  of  New  York :  "  After  proceed- 
ing one  hundred  leagues,  we  found  a  very  pleasant  situation  among  some  steep  hills, 
through  which  a  very  large  river,  aeep  at  its  mouth,  forced  its  way  to  the  sea.  From  the 
sea  to  the  estuary  of  the  river,  any  ship  heavily  laden  might  pass,  with  the  help  of  the 
tide,  which  rises  eight  feet.  But  as  we  were  riding  at  anchor  in  a  good  berth,  we  would 
not  venture  up  in  our  vessel,  without  a  knowledge  of  the  mouth ;  therefore  we  took  the 
boat,  and  entering  the  river,  we  found  the  country  on  its  banks  well  peopled,  the  inhab 
itants  not  differing  much  from  the  others,  being  dressed  out  with  the  feathers  of  birds  of 
various  colors.  They  came  towsrd  us  with  evident  delight,  raising  loud  shouts  of  admi- 
ration, and  showing  us  where  we  could  most  securely  land  with  our  boat.  We  passed 
up  this  river  about  half  a  league,  when  we  found  it  formed  a  most  beautiful  lake,  three 
leagues  in  circuit,  upon  which  they  were  rowing  thirty  or  more  of  their  small  boats,  from 
one  shore  to  the  other,  filled  with  multitudes  who  came  to  see  us.  All  of  a  sudden,  as  is 
wont  to  happen  to  navigators,  a  violent  contrary  wind  blew  in  from  the  sea,  and  forced  us 
to  return  to  our  ship,  greatly  regretting  to  leave  this  region,  which  seemed  so  commodious 
and  delightful,  and  which  we  supposed  must  also  contain  great  riches,  as  the  hills  showed 
many  indications  of  minerals."^Letter  to  King  Francis  I.,  of  July  8,  1524,  irar  slated  bj 
Mr.  Cogswell,  in  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.  (second  series),  45,  46. 


THE  FRENCH  IN  CANADA.  3 

delayed.     Not  a  solitary  emigrant  established  his  home  Chap.  1 
along  all  the  indented  line  of  coast.* 

Jacques  Cartier,  an  experienced  mariner  of  Saint  Malo,  cartier  in 
following,  a  few  years  after  Verazzano's  adventurous  voy- 
age, discovered  the  mouth  of  the  "  Great  River  of  Cana-   1534. 
da."     The  next  year,  returning  with  three  well-fitted  ves- 
sels, Cartier  passed  westward  of  Newfoundland  on  the 
festival  of  Saint  Lawrence,  and,  in  honor  of  the  martyr,  1530. 
gave  his  name  to  the  noble  gulf  which  stretched  beyond. '"  ^"^'"■ 
Pursuing  his  way  up  the  great  river,  and  holding  friendly 
intercourse  with  the  Hurons   and  Algonquins  along  its 
banks,  the    enterprising  explorer   visited   the    island   of 
Hochelaga,  the  fertile  hill  on  which,  he  named  "  Mont  soctobei. 
Real."     After  wintering  his  ships  in  the  little  river  just 
north  of  the  present  city  of  Quebec,  Cartier  solemnly  erect-   153P 
ed  a  cross,  and,  claiming  the  surrounding  regions  as  the  ^  '^'^^' 
rightful  possessions  of  his  sovereign  king,  Francis  I.,  set 
sail  once  more  for  Saint  Malo. 

Cartier's  reports  on  his  return  to  France,  though  they 
did  not  arouse  a  general  spirit  of  enterprise  among  his 
countrymen,  stimulated  Francois  de  la  Roque,  lord  of  Ro-  Robervai. 
berval,  a  nobleman  of  Picardy,  to  obtain  from  the  king  a  1540. 
patent  as  viceroy  over  the  newly-discovered  French  ter- ^^•^^"""'' 
ritories  on  the  Saint  Lawrence.     With  Robervai  was  as- 
sociated Cartier,  as  captain  and  pilot-in-chief.     Return- 19  October 
ing  to  the  Saint  Lawrence,  Cartier  built  a  rude  fort,  not 
far  from  the  site  of  Quebec,  and  thus  gave  to  his  country 
the  pre-eminence  of  having  erected  the  first  European  post  1541. 

*  Hazard,  i.,  9,  10 ;  Chalmers,  4,  7,  8  ;  Holmes's  Annals,  i.,  13-54 ;  Bancroft,  i.,  8-17, 
75,  76 ;  Biddle's  "  Memoir  of  Cabot ;"  C.  Robinson's  "  Voyages  to  America ;"  Hakluyt's 
"  Divers  Voyages."  In  1501,  Cortereal,  a  Portuguese,  visited  Newfoundland  and  Labra- 
dor, but  his  voyages  produced  no  practical  results.  Verazzano's  Letter  to  King  Francis 
!.,  of  July  8,  1524,  giving  an  account  of  his  discoveries,  is  the  earliest  original  description 
now  extant,  of  the  Atlantic  coast  of  the  United  States.  Translations  of  that  letter  are  in 
N.  V.  n.  S.  Collections,  i.,  45-<50  (from  Ramusio),  and  in  i.  (second  series),  39-67  (from  the 
Magliabecchian  MSS.).  In  the  Hakluyt  Society's  reprint  of  "  Hakluyt's  Divers  Voyages, "' 
:he  translation  of  Verazzano's  letter  (from  Ramusio)  is  accompanied  by  a  fac-simile  of  the 
rare  map  which  Michael  Lock,  of  London,  made  and  dedv;ated  to  Sir  Philip  Sydney,  in 
1582.  This  map,  it  appears,  was  constructed  partly  from  "an  old  excellent  mappe," 
which  Verazzano  himself  had  given  to  King  Henry  VIII.,  and  which,  when  Hakluyt  pub- 
lished his  work  (in  1582),  was  "yet  in  the  custodie  of  Master  Locke."  The  name  by 
which  the  New  World  is  now  unworthily  known,  was  not,  at  the  time  of  Verazzano's 
voyage,  applied  to  the  Northern  Continent ;  at  all  events,  Verazzano  does  not  use  the 
•erm  "  America"  in  his  letter. 


4  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

chjlp.  I.  in  the  northern  territory  of  America.    But  divided  author 

ity  frustrated  the  discordant  enterprise;  and,  for  a  long 

generation,  no  further  American  discoveries  were  prose- 
cuted by  the  subjects  of  France.* 
Frotiisher's      Forty  years  after  Cartier  first  ascended  the  Saint  Law- 
^"y^ses.    j.gjjpg^  Martin  Frobisher,  "  one  of  the  boldest  men  who  ever 
ventured  upon  the  ocean,"  encouraged  by  the  favor  of  Eliz- 
abeth to  search  for  a  northwest  passage  to  China,  made  his 
1576.  way  to  a  group  of  islands  off  the  coast  of  Labrador.     A 
few  stones  brought  back  to  London,  from  the  desolate 
abode  of  the  Esquimaux,  were  supposed  to  contain  gold ; 
1577-8.  and  new  expeditions  were  sent  to  the  imaginary  Dorado. 
But  Frobisher's  voyages  were  all  unsuccessful.     While 
credulous  avarice  was  signally  disappointed,  the  coasts  of 
North  America  remained  unexplored  by  the  English.! 
With  more  definite  purpose,  and  with  sounder  views, 
ciiherfs     gjf  Humphrey  Gilbert,  a  knight  of  Devonshire,  obtained 
1578.  a  royal  patent,  authorizing  him  to  discover  and  occupy 
iijune.     j^j^y  j-eniote,  heathen,  and  barbarous  lands,  "not  actually 
possessed  of  any  Christian  prince  or  people."     G-ilbert's 
purpose  was  to  begin  that  actual  occupation  of  American 
territory  which  England  had  entirely  neglected  during  the 
eighty  years  that  followed  the  voyage  of  Cabot.    The  pat- 
ent gave  Gilbert  abundant  powers  ;  but  various  obstacles 
postponed  the  execution  of  his  design. $    Meanwhile,  Eliz- 
abeth was  stoutly  denying  the  exclusive  pretensions  of 
1580.   Spain  to  the  New  World,  in  virtue  of  first  visitation,  and 
of  the  Pope's  donation,  and  was  distinctly  affirming  the 
^ess^ion^te  principle  that  discovery  and  prescription,  unless  accom- 
do"fnn'^     panied  by  possession,  are  of  no  avail. '^     Thus  the  Queen 

*  Ilakluyt,  iii.,  250-297  ;  Hazard,  i.,  19-21 ;  Chalmers,  81,  82  ;  Bancroft,  i.,  19-24. 

t  Ilakluyt,  iii.,  29-32,  47-129  ;  Purchas,  v.,  811  ;  Bancroft,  i.,  81-86 ;  Rundall's  Narra- 
tives, &c.,  9-34,  published  by  the  Hakluyt  Society,  1849. 

t  Hazard,  i.,  24-28 ;  Bancroft,  i.,  88,  89. 

<)  "  Prtetefca  i'jiam  non  intelligere,  cur  sui  et  aliorum  Principum  subditi  ab  Indiis  pro- 
hibeantur,  quas  Hispanici  juris  esse  pcrsuadere  sibi  non  posset  ex  Pontificis  Romani  do- 
natione,  ia  quo  prierogativam  in  ejusmodi  caussis  agnovit  nullam,  nedum  auctoritatem  ut 
Principes  obligaret,  qui  nullam  ei  obedientiam  debent ;  aut  Hispanum  novo  illo  orbe  quasi 
in/eudaret,  et  possessione  investiret.  Nee  alio  quopiani  jure  quam  quod  Hispani  hinc  illinc 
appulerint,  casulas  posuerint,  flumen  aut  Promontorium  denominaverint,  quae  proprietaterr 
acquirere  non  possunt.  Ut  hiec  rei  alieiuB  donatio  qunR  ex  jure  nihili  est,  et  imaginaria  ha-j 
proprietas  obstare  non  debeat,  quo  minus  ccteri  Principes  commercia  in  illis  regionihus 
«xerceant,  et  colorias  ubi  Hispani  non  rncoluut,  jure  gentium  nequaquani  violate,  dcdu- 


1580. 


THE  ENGLISH  IN  VIRGINIA. 

of  England,  while  she  refused  to  recognize  the   double 
Spanish  title  by  exploration  and  investiture,  at  the  same ' 
time  virtually  renounced  any  English  claim  founded  sole- 
ly upon  Cabot's  voyage. 

After  a  few  year's  delay,  Grilbert,  aided  by  the  resources 
of  his  half-brother,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  equipped  an  ex- Gilbert  at 
pedition,  and  sailed  directly  to  Newfoundland,  where,  for  land. 
the  first  time,  he  set  up  the  arms  of  England  and  pro-   1583. 
claimed  the  queen.     On  his  return  voyage,  the  intrepid  ^  -^"sust. 
adventurer  perished  at  sea.     But  the  English  right  to  the  9  septcmb. 
island  "  first  seen"  by  Cabot,  was  now  formally  published 
to  the  world  "  by  the  voice  of  a  herald."* 

The  untimely  fate  of  his  kinsman  did  not  dishearten 
Raleigh,  who  readily  procured  from  Elizabeth,  whose  fa-  neu^'^a1|f„, 
vorite  he  had  become,  a  new  patent  to  discover  and  occu- 
py any  remote,  heathen,  and  barbarous  lands,  "not  act-   1584. 
ually  possessed  of  any  Christian  prince,  nor  inhabited  l^y  25  March. 
Christian  people."    Up  to  this  time  the  English  had  lim- 
ited their  views  to  the  bleak  regions  near  the  fisheries  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Saint  Lawrence.     Raleigh's  enterprise 
was  now  directed  to  a  more  genial  climate.     Two  vessels 
were   soon   dispatched  toward   Florida,  under   the   com-27Aprii. 
mand  of  Philip  Amidas  and  Arthur  Barlow.     Sailing  by 
the  circuitous  route  of  the  Canaries  and  the  West  Indies, 
they  safely  reached  the  island  of  Wocockon,  at  the  Ocra- 
coke  inlet  in  North  Carolina,  where  they  took  formal  pos-  n  Juiy.  ' 
session  of  the  country  in  behalf  of  their  sovereign.     On 
their  return  to  England,  the  adventurers  made  such  glow- 
ing reports  of  the  regions  they  had  visited,  that  Elizabeth 
jrave  to  the  wilderness  the  name  of  Yirginia,  to  commem- "^'""s^"'^ 

0  ...  .  named. 

orate  its  occupation  in  the  reign  of  a  maiden  queen. t 

But  the  time  for  permanent  English  settlements  beyond  coioniza- 
the  Atlantic  had  not  yet  fully  come.  The  colonists  whom  tempted, 
Raleigh  sent  to  the  island  of  Roanoke  in  1585,  under  1585. 

cant,  quum  praescriptio  sine  possessione  haud  valeat." — Camden,  Rerum  Ang.  et  Ilib.  Reg. 
Eliz.  Annales,  1580,  edit.  Hearne,  1717,  p.  360. 

*  "Regioncm  illam  [Newfoundland]  Anglici  juiis  esse,  voce  praconis  publicasaet." 
—Camden,  Annales-Eliz.,  1583,  p.  402  ;  Ilakluyt,  i.,  679-699,  iii.,  143-166  :  Purchas,  iij., 
808  ;  Hazard,  i.,  32  ;  Bancroft,  i..  90,  91. 

t  Hazard,  i.,  33-?e  ;  Hakluj  t,  iii.,  246-251  ;  Bancroft,  i.,  92-95  ;  Chalmers,  4,  9. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  ST\Tf]  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1587. 


1590. 


ami  aban- 
doiifd. 


1603. 


1618. 

Raleigh's 
fate. 


1792. 


Gosnold"s 
royage. 


1602. 

20  March. 


Grenville  and  Lane,  returned  the  next  year,  dispirited,  to 
England.  A  second  expedition,  dispatched  in  1587,  un- 
der John  White,  to  found  "  the  "borough  of  Raleigh,  in 
Virf^inia,"  stopped  short  of  the  unexplored  Chesapeake, 
whither  it  was  bound,  and  once  more  occupied  Roanoke. 
In  1590,  the  unfortunate  emigrants  had  wholly  disappear- 
ed ;  and,  with  their  extinction,  all  immediate  attempts  to 
establish  an  English  colony  in  Virginia  were  abandoned.* 
Its  name  alone  survived.  After  impoverishing  himself  in 
unsuccessful  efforts  to  add  an  effective  American  planta- 
tion to  his  native  kingdom,  the  magnanimous  patriot  was 
consigned,  under  an  unjust  judgment,  to  a  lingering  im- 
prisonment in  the  Tower  of  London  ;  to  be  followed,  after 
the  lapse  of  fifteen  years,  by  a  still  more  iniquitous  exe- 
cution. Yet,  returning  justice  has  fully  vindicated  Ra- 
leigh's fame ;  and  nearly  two  centuries  after  his  death, 
the  State  of  North  Carolina  gratefully  named  its  capital 
after  that  extraordinary  man,  "  who  united  in  himself  as 
many  kinds  of  glory  as  were  ever  combined  in  an  indi- 
vidual."! 

The  reign  of  Elizabeth  did  not  terminate  before  anoth- 
er step  had  been  taken  in  the  path  of  American  adventure. 
Shakspeare's  liberal-minded  patron,  the  Earl  of  South- 
ampton, "having  well  weighed  the  greatness  and  good- 
ness of  the  cause,"  contributed  largely  to  fit  out  a  vessel 
under  the  command  of  Captain  Bartholomew  G-osnold  and 
Captain  Bartholomew  Grilbert,  to  discover  a  "convenient 
place  for  a  new  colony"  to  be  sent  to  North  America. 
Early  in  1602,  Gosnold  sailed  from  Falmouth  in  a  Dart- 
mouth bark,  named  the  Concord,  "holding  a  course  for 
the  north  part  of  Virginia."  Rejecting  the  usual  circui- 
tous route  by  the  Canaries  and  the  West  Indies,  G-osnold, 
after  being  driven  by  an  unfavorable  wind  "  as  far  south- 
ward as  the  Azores,"  boldly  steered  his  small  vessel  di- 

*  Hazard,  i,  38-45:;  Hakluyt,  iii.,  251-265,  280-295  ;  Chalmers,  514,  515  ;  Bancroft,  i., 
95-108.  The  attention  of  Europe  was  attracted,  in  1590,  to  the  characteristics  of  the  North 
American  savages,  by  the  beautiful  plates  with  which  Theodoras  de  Bry,  of  Frankfort, 
illustrated  his  collections  of  "  Voyages."  These  were  engraved  froni»the  sketches  made, 
under  Raleigh's  direction,  by  the  draughtsman  Wythe,  who  accompanied  Lane  in  1585 

t  Bancroft,  i..  111. 


GOSNOLD  AT  CAPE  COD.  7 

rectly  across  the  Atlantic,  Ly  which  he  made  the  voyage  chap.  i. 
"shorter  than  heretofore  by  five  hundred  leagues."*     In 
seven  weeks  the  Concord  safely  made  the  land,  about  the  ,^  ^j^^y"" 
latitude  of  4S°,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Portsmouth,  New 
Hampshire.     Here  the  adventurers  were  visited  by  several 
Indians  in  a  French-built  shallop,  with  "  mast  and  sail, 
iron  grapples,  and  kettles  of  copper."    From  their  explana- 
tions, it  appeared  that  some  French  vessels  from  the  Basque 
Provinces  "  had  fished  and  traded  at  this  place."     But 
seeing  no  good  harbor,  Gosnold  stood  again  to  sea  south- 
wardly, and  soon  "  found  himself  imbayed  with  a  mighty 
headland."    Here  he  went  ashore  in  his  shallop,  while  his 
men,  during  the  six  hours  he  was  absent,  caught  so  many 
"  excellent  codfish,  that  they  were   compelled  to  throw 
numbers  of  them  overboard  again."     Naming  this  head- 
land "  Cape  Cod" — a  designation  which  it  has  ever  since  capeCod 
retained — Gosnold  coasted  to  the  southward  as  far  as  the  and  named 
mouth  of  Buzzard's  Bay,  where  he  prepared  to  plant  a 
colony  on  the  westernmost  island,  which  was  called  "  Eliz-  28  May. 
abeth,"  in  honor  of  the  queen.     Three  weeks  were  spent 
in  building  a  house,  where  Grosnold  proposed  to  remain 
during  the  winter,  with  eleven  of  his  men,  and  mean- 
while send  the  Concord  home,  in  charge  of  G-ilbert,  "  for 
new  and  better  preparations."     But  his  men,  filled  with 
"  a  covetous   conceit  of  the   unlooked-for   merchandise" 
which  had  rewarded  their  traffic  with  the  Indians,  "  would 
not  by  any  means  be  treated  with  to  tarry  behind  the 
ship ;"  and  Gosnold  returned  to  England,  after  an  absence 
of  five  months,  with  the  most  favorable  reports  of  "theasjuiy. 
benefit  of  a  plantation  in  those  parts. "t 

Elizabeth's  timid  successor  now  sat  on  the  throne  of  1603. 
Great  Britain.  At  the  time  of  James's  accession,  Spain  ac^sIuIIi 
was  the  only  European  nation  that  possessed  any  fixed  ""^  ■^"'"^* ' 
settlements  in  all  the  northern  continent  to  which  Colum- 


*  Smith's  Hist,  of  Virginia,  i.,  105. 

t  "  History  of  Travail  into  Virginia  Britannia,"  by  William  Strachey,  153-158  ;  Pur- 
chas,  iv.,  1047;  Smith's  Hist,  of  Virginia,  1.,  105-108.  Strachey's  interesting  worlt  has 
just  been  published  (1850)  for  the  first  time,  from  the  original  MS.  in  the  British  Museum, 
by  the  Hakluyt  Society 


S  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  I.  bus  had  led  the  way,  more  than  a  century  before.     South 

of  the  Saint  Lawrence,  not  a  foot  of  American  territory 

had  yet  been  permanently  occupied  by  England  or  France. 
But  the  time  was  now  near  at  hand  when  these  rival  na- 
tions were  to  commence  a  long-enduring  struggle  for  ul- 
timate dominion  over  vast  regions  far  across  the  sea.  Ra- 
leigh's enterprises  and  Gosnold's  successful  voyage  had 
given  a  strong  impulse  to  the  national  spirit  of  G-reat 
Britain ;  for  the  development  of  which  the  anticipated 
termination  of  hostilities  with  Spain,  in  consequence  of 
James's  accession  to  the  throne,  was  soon  to  offer  the  most 
favorable  opportunities.  The  south  of  England  already 
felt  the  pressure  of  a  redundant  population  ;  and  English 
adventurers  foresaw  that  they  would  no  longer  be  allow- 
ed to  despoil,  at  pleasure,  their  enemies'  rich  "West  India 
possessions.  Enterprise  must  soon  pursue  more  honest 
paths,  and  commerce  and  colonization  must  supplant  pi- 
racy and  rapine.  The  thoughts  of  the  intelligent  were 
naturally  turned  toward  the  North  American  Continent, 
where,  between  Mexico  and  Florida  and  the  mouth  of  the 
Saint  Lawrence,  not  a  solitary  European  family  was  yet 
established.  Among  the  foremost  of  these  intelligent  men, 
and  the  one  to  whom  "  England  is  more  indebted  for  its 
American  possessions  than  to  any  man  of  that  age,"*  was 
Richard     the  distinguished  historian  of  maritime  enterprise,  Richard 

Ilakluytthe  »  ^  ' 

tiistorian.  Halvluyt,  a  prebendary  of  Saint  Augustine's  at  Bristol,  and 
afterward  of  Saint  Peter's  at  Westminster.  Influenced  by 
his  enlightened  zeal,  some  Bristol  merchants  fitted  out  two 
small  vessels,  manned  with  experienced  crews,  several  of 
whom  had  accompanied  Gosnold  the  year  before  ;  and,  a 

10  April,     few  days  after  the  death  of  the  queen,  dispatched  them 

v™a|e.  from  Milford  Haven,  under  the  command  of  Martin  Pring, 
to  explore  the  northern  coasts  of  Virginia.  Falling  in  with 
the  land  near  Penobscot  Bay,  Pring  coasted  southerly  along 
the  mouths  of  the  Kennebeck,  Saco,  and  Piscataqua,  un- 
til he  reached  the  waters  of  Massachusetts  Bay.     After 

?  October,  an  abscuce  of  six  months,  he  returned  to  England,  with 

*  Robertson,  ix. 


WEYMOUTH  IN  MAINE.  9 


1603. 


a  valuable  cargo  of  sassafras,  and  a  birch  bark  canoe,  as  a  chap.  i. 
specimen  of  the  ingenuity  of  the  native  savages.* 

Pring's  voyage  stimulated  afresh  the  awakened  enter- 
prise of  England.  James  had,  meanwhile,  signalized  his 
accession  to  the  British  throne  by  declaring  himself  at  ^"ace  wnt 

''.  °  Spain. 

peace  "  with  all  the  princes  of  Christendom,"  and  by  re- 23  June. 
calling  all  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal  against  the  Span- 
iards.! This  step  was  followed  the  next  year  by  a  formal 
treaty  with  Spain,  which  by  degrees  repressed  the  preda-  1604. 
tory  expeditions  that  English  mariners  had  so  long  carried 
on  against  the  American  possessions  of  their  recent  foes. 
The  northern  voyage  across  the  Atlantic  was  now  divested 
of  its  terrors,  and  experience  had  abundantly  demonstrated 
its  advantages  over  the  more  circuitous  route  by  the  "West 
Indies.  The  liberal  Earl  of  Southampton,  "concurrent 
the  second  time  in  a  new  survey  and  dispatch,"  in  concert  wey- 

.  1.  iif  iTr       1  /-I  mouth's 

with  his  brother-in-law,  Lord  Arundel,  of  W  ardour,  fitted  voyage. 
out  a  ship,  in  which  Captain  G-eorge  Weymouth  was  dis- 
patched from  the  Downs  to  visit  the  coast  of  Maine.     In   1605. 
six  weeks  Weymouth  found  himself  near  the  shoals  of  Nan-  ^^  M^i^cn. 
tucket ;  whence,  running  northward  about  fifty  leagues,  jg  j^ay. 
he  landed  upon  an  island  between  the  Penobscot  and  the 
Kennebeck,  which  he   named  Saint  George.      Pursuing 
"  his  search  sixty  miles  up  the  most  excellent  and  bene- 
ficial river  of  Sacadehoc,"  which  he  found  "  capable  of 
shipping  for  traffic  of  the  greatest  burden,"  Weymouth 
set  up  a  cross,  and  took  possession  in  the  name  of  the  king. 
After  four  months  absence,  Weymouth  returned  to  En-  is  luiy. 
gland,  bringing  with  him  five  native  savages,  whom  he 
had  decoyed  on  board  his  ship.     Three  of  these  were  im- 
mediately "seized  upon"  by  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  the 
governor  of  Plymouth,  who  afterward  declared  that  "this 
accident  must  be  acknowledged  the  means,  under  God, 
of  putting  on  foot  and  giving  life  to  all  our  plantations."^ 

*  Purchas,  iv.,  1654.  t  Rymer,  Federa,  xvi.,  516. 

i  Sir  F.  Gorges,  "  Brief  Narration,"  &c.,  in  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  xxvi.,  50,  51 ;  xxviii., 
129-157  ;  Strachey,  159  ;  Purchas,  iv.,  1659  ;  Smith,  i.,  109  ;  Prince,  109.  Some  of  our  his- 
torians have  supposed  that  Weymouth  ascended  the  Penobscot.  But  Strachey's  author* 
ity  seems  to  be  conclusive  in  favor  of  the  Sagadahoc  or  Kennebeck. 


10  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  I.       Upoii  Weymoutli's  return  to  England,  "  his  goodly  re- 
7~  port  joining  with  Captain  Gosnold's,"  and  being  eonfirm- 
A  new  vir-  ^^  ^J  ^hc  accounts  given  by  the  native  Indians  he  had 
firlTrojict-  brought  over,  kindled  the  ambition  of  "  many  firm  and 
**■  hearty"  British  adventurers  to  colonize  domains  in  the  New 

"World.  Next  to  Richard  Hakluyt,  the  most  prominent 
among  these  master  spirits  of  an  enterprising  age  were  Sir 
Jolm  Popham,  the  chief  justice  of  England,  and  Sir  Fer- 
dinando  Gorges,  the  governor  of  Plymouth.  Raleigh  was 
now  lying  attainted  in  the  Tower,  and  his  Virginia  patent 
had  been  forfeited.  But  since  the  grant  of  Raleigh's  pat- 
ent, extensive  discoveries  had  been  made  far  to  the  north- 
ward ;  and  within  the  limits  of  these  new  discoveries  it 
was  proposed  that  English  emigrants  should  now  be  set- 
tled, simultaneously  with  a  renewed  attempt  to  colonize 
Virgmia.  To  accomplish  these  purposes,  a  royal  charter 
was  thought  necessary ;  and  all  questions  of  rivalry,  it  was 
supposed,  could  best  be  avoided  by  combining  both  objects 
in  the  same  instrument.  The  moment  seemed  favorable, 
and  was  improved.  The  world  was  aroused.  A  mighty 
intellectual  revolution  was  just  beginning ;  the  era  of  suc- 
cessful American  colonization  had  come.  About  the  very 
time  that  Bacon  was  putting  forth  his  noble  treatise  on  the 
"Advancement  of  Learning,"  some  of  the  most  influential 
men  of  England,  including  Hakluyt  the  historian,  PtDpham, 
the  chief  justice.  Gorges,  Somers,  Gates,  and  Smith,  went 
to  the  king,  and  besought  him  to  encourage  an  undertak- 
ing whereby  "  God  might  be  abundantly  made  known,  his 
name  enlarged  and  honored,  a  notable  nation  made  fortu- 
nate," and  themselves  famous.* 

Obeying  England's  sublime  destiny,  to  "  make  new  na- 
tions"— 

"  Wherever  the  briglit  sun  of  heaven  shall  shine — "t 

1606.  James  I.  readily  granted  a  new  and  ample  charter  for  the 

chai?er'    colouization  of  "  that  part  of  America  commonly  calbd 

KfriT    ^  Virginia,  and  other  parts  and  territories  in  America  either 

appertaining  unto  us,  or  which  are  not  now  actually  pos- 

*  Strachey,  161 ;  Gorges,  "  Brief  Narration,"  53.        t  Cranmer  in  Henry  MIL,  Act  V. 


KING  JAMES'S  PATENT  OF  1606.  U 

sessed  hy  any  Christian  prince  or  people,"  between  the  chap.  i. 
tliirty-fourth  and  the  forty-fifth  degrees  of  latitude.  The 
grant  included  all  the  North  American  coast  from  Cape 
Fear  to  Nova  Scotia.  Two  separate  companies  were 
named  as  grantees  of  the  patent.  To  the  first  of  these, 
composed  of  G-ates,  Somers,  Hakluyt,  and  Wingfield,  with 
their  associated  adventurers  residing  at  London,  was  grant- !'.""''?''. 
ed  the  privilege  of  occupying  and  governing  a  space  of  one 
hundred  miles  along  the  coast,  in  any  part  of  the  country 
between  the  thirty-fourth  and  the  forty-first  degrees.  The 
second  company,  whose  leading  members,  Hanham,  (Gil- 
bert, Parker,  and  Greorge  Popham,  with  their  associates, 
lived  in  and  near  Plymouth  and  Bristol,  the  chief  com-  Plymouth 

•    1  •!  fT-iiifT-  1  Com;iany. 

mercial  towns  in  the  west  oi  iingland — lor  Liverpool  was 
then  only  an  inconsiderable  village,  and  the  northern  coun- 
ties almost  entirely  pastoral — was  invested  with  similar 
privileges  for  any  part  of  the  territory  between  the  thirty- 
eighth  and  the  forty-fifth  degrees  of  latitude.  Thus  the 
whole  of  the  region  between  the  thirty-eighth  and  the  for- 
ty-first degrees — from  the  sea-coast  of  Maryland  to  Mon- 
tauk  Point — was,  by  the  terms  of  James's  patent,  nomin- 
ally open  to  colonization  by  either  company.  Yet,  to  pre- 
vent collision,  the  charter  expressly  provided  that  the  col- 
ony which  should  be  planted  last  should  not  approach  its 
boundary  within  one  hundred  miles  of  that  of  the  prior 
establishment.*  But  at  the  time  the  patent  was  sealed, 
no  Enoflish  navigator  had  searched  the  American  coast 
further  south  than  Buzzard's  Bay,  nor  further  north  than 
Roanoke.  The  almost  unknown  intermediate  region  was 
entirely  unoccupied  by  Europeans  ;  the  Chesapeake  itself 
was  yet  unexplored,  nor  had  its  Capes  been  discovered  or 
named,  t 

The  summer  passed  away  in  preparations,  on  the  part  of 
the  patentees  of  the  Southern  or  London  Company,  to  or- J^^^^®  ^°^ 
ganize  an  expedition  to  Virginia ;  and,  on  the  part  of  the  P;'"J,i^(^"^| 
pedantic  king,  in  drawing  up  a  code  of  laws  for  the  colony.  Virginia. 

*  See  charter  at  length  in  Hazard,  i.,  51-58 ;  Chalmers,  13  ;  Bancroft,  i.,  117-121. 
t  De  Bry;  Hakluyt,  iii.,  255;  Smith,  i.,  151  ;   C.  Robinson's  "Voyages  to  America," 
483,  484     Cabot's  and  Verazzano's  discoveries  have  already  been  considered. 


12  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

tHAF  I.  Late  in  the  winter,  a  little  squadron  of  three  ships  sailed 
from  England,  under  the  command  of  Cliristopher  New- 

19  Dc?  Pf'''*t;  ^^^'^^  follo^Ying  the  old  roundabout  route  by  the  Can- 
1607.  aries  and  West  Indies,  it  arrived  safely,  the  next  spring 

126  April,  .^yjii^jj^  ^j^g  Chesapeake  Bay.  The  headlands  at  the  mouth 
of  this  bay  were  immediately  named  Cape  Henry  and  Cape 
Charles,  in  honor  of  the  two  sons  of  King  James.  A  few 
days  afterward,  the  colony  of  Virginia — the  '*  Old  Domin- 

jamestown  ^on"  of  the  United  States — was  founded  at  Jamestown ; 

founded. 

13  May.     ^ud,  during  the  two  followmg  years.  Captain  John  Smith, 

"  the  adventurer  of  rare  genius  and  undying  fame,"  un- 
remittingly exerted  the  most  strenuous  efforts  to  sustain, 
amid  constant  discouragements,  an  enterprise  which,  but 
for  his  sagacity  and  devotion,  must  soon  have  utterly  and 
disgracefully  failed.* 
^outh'^'  The  simultaneous  attempt  of  Chief-justice  Popham,  Sir 
Company    Ferdiuando  Grorges,  and  other  members  of  the  Plvmouth 

at  the  Ken-  o      '  j 

uebeck.  qj.  Northern  Company,  to  establish  a  colony  upon  the  Sag- 
adahoc or  Kennebeck,  which  Weymouth  had  visited  in 
1605,  was  unsuccessful.  Soon  after  the  charter  was  seal- 
ed, Gforges  and  some  others  of  the  Plymouth  Company 
1606.  sent  out  a  ship  under  the  command  of  Captain  Henry 

12  August.  Q}-^allons,  to  make  further  discoveries  on  the  coast  of 
Maine.    But  instead  of  taking  the  northern  course,  accord- 

chaiions,    ing  to  his  orders,  Challons  sailed  by  way  of  the  West  In- 

and  Pring.  dies,  whcrc  hc  was  captured  by  a  Spanish  fleet  and  carried 
into  Spain.  Meanwhile,  Chief-justice  Popham  had  dis- 
patched another  ship,  under  the  command  of  Captains 
Thomas  Hanham  and  Martin  Pring,  to  join  Challons  on 
the  coast  of  Maine.  Failing  to  meet  him  there,  Hanham 
and  Pring  carefully  explored  the  shores  and  harbors,  and 
brought  home  w^ith  them  the  most  accurate  descriptions 
of  the  country.  "Upon  whose  relations,"  says  the  mani- 
festo of  the  Plymouth  Company,  "afterward  the  lord  chief 
justice  and  we  all  waxed  so  confident  of  the  business,  that 
the  year  following,  every  man  of  any  worth,  formerly  in- 
terested in  it,  was  willing  to  join  in  the  charge  for  the 

*  Smith,  i.,  114,  151  ,  Bancroft,  i.,  H8-129. 


COLONY  AT  THE  SAGADAHOC.  13 

sending  over  a  competent  number  of  people  to  lay  the  chap.  i. 
ground  of  a  hopeful  plantation."* 

Under  such  auspices,  a  fly-boat,  called  the  "Grift  ofp  j^^^'' 
God,"  commanded  by  George  Popham,  the  brother  of  the^^u^om" 
chief  justice,  and  a  ship  called  the  "  Mary  and  John,"  com-  ^'y"*""'*'- 
manded  by  Raleigh  Gilbert,  a  nephew  of  Sir  Walter  Ra- 
leigh, sailed  from  Plymouth  in  the  summer  of  1607,  with  si  May. 
one  hundred  and  twenty  persons,  to  found  a  colony  on  the 
Kennebeck.     Both  the  commanders  were  patentees  of  the 
new  charter,  and  they  now  carried  home  with  them  two 
of  the  native  savages  whom  Weymouth  had  taken  to  En- 
gland.! 

The  adventurers  arrived  off  Penobscot  Bay  early  in  Au- 7  August. 
gust.     Thence  running  westward,  they  anchored,  a  few  le  August. 
days  afterward,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Sagadahoc.     Popham  the  sagada 
and  Gilbert  then  manned  their  boats  and  "sailed  up  into 
the  I'iver  near  forty  leagues,"  to  find  a  fit  place  for  their 
settlement.     On  the  return  of  the  exploring  party,  "  they  is  August. 
all  went  ashore,  and  made  choice  of  a  place  for  their  plant- 
ation at  the  mouth  or  entry  of  the  river,  on  the  west  side." 
The  next  day,  Richard  Seymour,  their  chaplain,  preached  i9  August 
them  a  sermon;  after  which  the  commission  of  George 
Popham,  their  president,  and  their  colonial  laws,  were  read. 
The  next  two  months  wore  diligently  employed  in  build- 
ing a  fort  and  store-house  ;  while  Gilbert,  with  twenty-two 
of  his  men,  explored  the  adjacent  coasts,  between  the  Pe- 
nobscot and  Casco  Bay.     Before  long,  the  ship  was  sent 
home,  in  charge  of  Captain  Davies,  with  news  of  their  prog- 
ress, and  with  letters  to  Chief-justice  Popham,  asking  for 
a  supply  of  necessaries  to  be  sent  to  them  betimes  the  next 
year.t 

After  the  departure  of  Davies,  the  remaining  colonists 
finished  their  intrenched  fort,  which  they  named  "  Saint 
George,"  and  armed  it  with  twelve  pieces  of  ordnance. 

*  Mass.  Hist.  Col'  ,  xix.,  3,  President  and  Council's  "Brief  Relation,'  !P2?  ,  Purchas, 
IV.,  1827  ;  Prince,  113  ;  Strachcy,  102,  163. 

t  Strachey,  164  ;  F.  Gorges,  Brief  Narration,  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  xxvi. 

t  Strachey,  105-179;  Gorges,  Brief  Narration,  54.  According  to  Gorges  and  Purchas, 
ooth  the  vessels  sailed  for  England  on  the  15th  of  December,  1607,  leaving  forty-five  per- 
sons only  in  ttie  colony.    Prince,  117. 


States. 


14         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  I   Fifty  liouscs,  bcsides  a  church  and  store-house,  were  also 

constructed  within  the  intrenehments  ;   "  and  the  carpen- 

FiTs?vessci  ^^'^^  framed  a  pretty  pinnace  of  about  some  thirty  tons, 
Euro ''cans  "^^'J^ich  they  called  the  Virginia  ;  the  chief  shipwright  be- 
unued  "'*^  i^o  "^"^  Digby,  of  London."     Gilbert,  meanwhile,  endeav- 
ored to  explore  more  fully  the  neighboring  coasts  ;  but  the 
winter  proved  so  very  severe,  that  "  no  boat  could  stir  upon 
any  business."     To  add  to  their  distress,  their  store-house 
took  fire,  and  their  provisions  in  part  were  burned.     Early 
1608,  in  the  new  year,  their  president,  Greorge  Popham,  died. 
5  Feb.        jjj  i\^Q  mean  time,  the  colonists  on  the  Kennebeck  had  not 
been  forgotten  by  their  principals  at  home.     In  the  course 
of  the  next  summer,  Davies  returned  from  England  with  a 
ship  "  laden  full  of  victuals,  arms,  instruments,  and  tools." 
On  his  arrival,  he  found  that,  notwithstanding  the  death 
of  the  president,  the  colony  had  prospered  ;  "all  things  in 
good  forwardness,"  large  quantities  of  furs  obtained,  a  good 
store  of  sarsaparilla  gathered,  and  "  the  new  pinnace  all 
finished."     The  "  Virginia,"  of  Sagadahoc,  was  thus  the 
first  vessel  built  by  Europeans  within  the  limits  of  the 
original  United  States. 

1607.  But  with  welcome  supplies,  the  mournful  intelligence 
Death  of  now  rcachcd  the  colony,  that  its  liberal  patron,  Chief-jus- 
ctaef-jus-   i^^pg  Popham,  had  died  just  after  the  first  ships  left  En- 

opham.  gig^j^d  .*  j^jjjj  Gilbert  also  learned  that,  by  the  decease  of 
his  brother,  he  had  become  heir  to  a  fair  estate  wliich  re- 

1608.  quired  his  presence  in  England.  As  Popham,  their  pres- 
ident, was  dead,  and  Gilbert  was  about  to  leave  them ;  as 
no  mines,  "the  main  intended  benefit  to  uphold  the  charge 
of  this  plantation,"  had  been  discovered ;  and  especially, 
as  they  feared  that  all  the  other  winters  would  prove  like 
the  first,  "the  company  by  no  means  would  stay  any  lon- 
ger in  the  country."    They  therefore  "  all  embarked  in  this 

*  Sir  John  Popham  died  on  the  lOth  of  June,  1607.  He  was  a  "huge,  heavy,  ngly 
man,"  and  in  his  younger  days  had  actually  been  a  highwayman.  In  1592  he  was  made 
Chief  Justice  of  England,  and  in  1603  presided  at  the  trial  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  whom 
he  sentenced  to  death.  Lord  Campbell,  in  his  biography  of  Popham,  entirely  omits  any 
reference  to  his  early  zeal  in  the  cause  of  American  discovery  and  colonization,  which — 
as  much  as  any  other  incident  in  his  life-  gives  lustre  to  his  fame. — Campbell's  Lives  of 
tlie  Chief  Justices,  i.,  226 


NEW  VIRGINIA  CHARTER  OF  1609.  15 


160S. 

Failure  of 


new-arrived  ship,  and  in  the  new  pinnace,  the  Virginia,   chap.  i. 
and  set  sail  for  England."    Thus  ended  the  Northern  En- 
glish colony  upon  the  Sagadahoc.     On  the  return  of  the 
faultering  emigrants  to  England,  their  disappointed  prin-  iVe""oTo"y. 
cipals,  vexed  with  their  pusillanimity,  desisted  for  "  a  long 
time  after"  from  any  further  attempts  at  American  colo-    1608 
nization  ;  though  a  few  vessels  were  still  annually  employ-    iqi^ 
ed  in  the  prosperous  fisheries,  and  in  trafficking  with  the 
Indians  on  the  coast  of  Maine.* 

The  year  after  the  failure  of  the  Plymouth  Company's  gfnia"chlrt- 
colony  at  the  Kennebeck,  the  London  Company  obtained  "•.  p^q 
a  more  ample  charter  from  the  king,  by  which  the  affairs  23  May. 
of  Virginia  were  placed  upon  a  much  better  footing.  The 
new  grant  essentially  modified  the  first  charter  of  1G06, 
"  The  treasurer  and  company  of  adventurers  and  planters 
of  the  city  of  London  for  the  first  colony  in  Virginia"  were 
made  a  corporate  body,  to  which  the  political  powers,  be- 
fore reserved  to  the  king,  were  now  transferred.  An  abso- 
lute title  was  also  vested  in  the  company  to  all  the  terri- 
tory extending  two  hundred  miles  north  from  Point  Com- 
fort, and  the  same  distance  to  the  south,  and  stretching 
from  the  Atlantic  westward  to  the  South  Sea.t  Thus, 
while  the  limits  of  Virginia  were  expanded  westwardly, 
across  the  continent,  to  the  Pacific,  they  were  curtailed  one 
degree  of  latitude  on  the  north.  Their  first  charter  of 
1606  gave  the  Virginia  Company  the  right  to  plant  colo- 
nies as  far  north  as  the  forty-first  degree.  The  second 
charter  of  1609  fixed  their  northern  boundary  at  two  hund- 
red miles  north  of  Point  Comfort,  or  about  the  fortieth  par- 
allel of  latitude.  The  Plymouth  Company  continued  to 
enjoy  a  nominal  existence  for  eleven  years  longer,  under 
their  first  charter ;  but,  though  Smith  and  Gorges  several 
times  during  that  period  endeavored  to  form  new  settle- 
ments, not  a  single  English  colony  was  "permanently  plant- 
ed north  of  Virginia,  until  1620. 

Meanwhile,  France  had  continued  to  look  across  the  At-  ferpHa^e™' 

•  Strachey,  179,  180  ;  Purchas,  iv.,  1628  ;  Gorges,  N.  E.,  19  ;  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  xix.,  4  ; 
Hubbard,  35-40.  t  Stith's  Virg.,  App.  ii.  ;  Chalmers,  25  ;  Hazard,  i.,  58-72. 


IQ  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chip.  I.  lantic.     Nearly  eighty  years  after  Verazzano  had  reported 

to  Francis  I.  the  deep  river  he  had  found  opening  into  "  a 

most  beautiful  lake,"*  within  the  headlands  forming  the 
"  Narrows,"  in  New  York  harhor,  and  nearly  seventy  years 
after  Cartier  had  first  ascended  the  Saint  Lawrence,  a  com- 

1602.  pany  of  merchants  was  organized  at  Rouen,  to  develop  the 
resources  of  Canada.  An  expedition  was  soon  fitted  out, 
under  the  command  of  the  Sieur  du  Pont  Grave,  a  wealthy 
merchant  of  Saint  Malo,  who  had  already  made  several 
voyages  to  Tadoussac,  at  the  mouth  of  the  deep  and  gloomy 

Tnd  cham-^  Sagucnay.     By  command  of  the  king,  Pont  Grave  was 

r'anada      accompanicd  by  Samuel  de  Champlain,  of  Saint  Onge,  a 

captain  in  the  French  navy,  who  had  just  before  return- 

1603.  ed  from  the  "West  Indies.  Early  in  1603,  Pont  Grave  and 
Champlain  reached  Tadoussac,  where  leaving  their  ships 
to  trade  with  the  natives  for  peltries,  they  pushed  boldly 
up  the  Saint  LawTcnce  in  a  small  skiff  with  five  sailors, 
following  the  track  of  Cartier  as  far  as  the  Sault  de  Saint 
Louis  at  Montreal.!    On  their  return  to  France,  they  found 

fi  Novemb.  that  Henry  IV.  had  granted  to  the  Huguenot  Sieur  de 

Monts,  one  of  his  gentlemen  of  the  bedchamber,  who  had 

De  Monts'  rendered  him  s^reat  services  durino^  the  wars,  a  patent  for 

patent  from  ~  d  '        i 

Henry  IV.  planting  a  permanent  colony  in  America,  between  the  for- 
tieth and  the  forty-sixth  degrees  of  north  latitude. t  The 
king  soon  after  granted  to  De  Monts  and  his  associates  a 
monopoly  of  the  fur  trade  in  Acadia  and  the  Gulf  of  Saint 
Lawrence.  § 

1604.  Ill  the  spring  of  the  next  year,  a  new  expedition  was 
r  March,    accordingly  organized  and  dispatched  from  Dieppe.     Pi- 
loted by  Champlain,  and  accompanied  by  the  Sieur  de 
Poutrincourt,  De  Monts  safely  reached  the  shores  of  Aca- 

I'outrin-     dia.     The  beautiful  harbor  of  Port  Royal,  now  Annapolis, 

court's  set-     i         .  i  •'       '  ^     _      ' 

'lement  at  pleasmg  the  taste  of  Poutrincourt,  he  obtained  permission 

to  establish  himself  there.    De  Monts,  however,  by  Cham- 

?o!ony"at^'  pl^-in's  advice,  selecting  for  liis  oa\ti  colony  the  island  of 

Croix.       Saint  Croix,  in  the  river  which  now  divides  Maine  from 

*  "  Bellissimo  Lago  ;"  see  Verazzano's  Letter,  in  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.  (second  series), 
p.  60,  quoted,  ante,  p.  2.  t  Voyages  de  Champlain,  p.  40  (edit.  1632). 

t  Champlain,  42  ;  Hazard,  i.,  45.  ()  Lescarbot,  i. ;  Chalmers,  82. 


1604. 


CHAMPLAIN  IN  CANADA.  17 

New  Brunswick,  built  a  fort,  and  passed  the  winter  there ;   chai>.  i 
and  thus,  "  at  a  time  when  there  existed  no  English  sub- 
jects in  America,  the  first  permanent  settlement  was  made 
in  Canada  during  the  year  1604."* 

But  the  situation  of  Saint  Croix  proving  inconvenient,    1605. 
De  Monts,  the  next  spring,  transferred  his  diminished  col-  pio're''the'' 
ony  to  Port  Royal ;  and,  sailing  along  the  coasts  of  Maine '^gf,^^  "J^^, 
and  Massachusetts,  contemporaneously  with  Weymouth,  ^^tT'*''''" 
he  claimed  for  France  the  sovereignty  of  the  country  as 
far  as  Cape  Malebarre.     The  following  autumn  he  return- septembei . 
ed  to  Europe,  leaving  his  colony  in  charge  of  Pont  Grave, 
as  his  lieutenant,  who,  with  Champlain  and  Champdore, 
received  instructions  to  explore  the  adjacent  territory  more 
accurately,  and  trade  among  the  hostile  savages. t    On  his 
arrival  in  France,  De  Monts  entered  into  a  new  engage- 
ment with  Poutrincourt,  who,  accompanied  by  Marc  Les- 
carbot  the  historian, t  returned  to  Port  Royal  with  welcome    1606. 
supplies,justasthe  dispirited  colonists  were  about  embark- 
ing for  home.     The  French  cabins  remained  at  Acadia ; 
and  under  judicious  management  the  colony  prospered, 
until  it  was  surprised  and  broken  up  by  Samuel  Argall 
with  a  Virginian  force,  in  1613.     Meanwhile,  Henry  IV., 
urged  by  the  complaints  of  the  French  traders  and  jfisher- 
men,  who  were  deprived  of  their  accustomed  privileges  on 
the  coast,  revoked  the  monopoly  which  he  had  conferred  ^*j^°^'^^^ 
on  De  Monts,  to  whom,  however,  he  granted  a  small  in-  ^J^j^f""^ 
demnity  for  his  loss.    But  the  king  soon  afterward  ratified   1607. 
and  confirmed,  by  his  letters  patent,  the  quiet  possession 
of  Port  Royal  to  Poutrincourt.  s^ 

After    four    years    absence,    Champlain    returned    tochampiain 
France,  filled  with  the  ambition  of  founding  a  French  col-  Canada. 
ony  upon  the  River  Saint  Lawrence.     Moved  by  Cham- 
plain's  earnest  representations,  De  Monts  succeeded  in  ob-   1608. 
taining  from  the  king  a  new  commission  to  plant  a  settle- 

*  Chalmers,  82  ;  Champlain,  60.  t  Champlain,  66-93  ;  Lescarbot. 

t  Lescarbot,  who  published,  in  1609,  his  "  Ilistoire  de  la  Nouvelle  France,"  is  described 
by  Charlevoix  (i.,p.  119)  as  "un  avocat  de  Paris,  un  auteur  exact,  et  judicieux,  un  homme 
qui  eflt  (".li  aussi  capable  d'd'tablir  une  colonie,  que  d'en  6crire  I'histoire. " 

t)  Champlain,  99. 

B 


18         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  I.  mciit  ill  Canada,  and  a  monopoly  of  the  fur  trade  for  one 

year.*     Two  ships  were  promptly  equipped  at  Honfleur, 

13  A  ?ii     ^"^  dispatched,  under  the  command  of  Champlain,  to  the 
Saint  Lawrence.     On  the  3d  of  June,  the  expedition  an- 
chored at  Tadoussac.     After  a  short  delay,  Champlain  as- 
cended the  great  river,  examining,  as  he  went  along,  the 
shores  on  both  sides,  for  the  most  appropriate  spot  on  which 
Quebec      to  establish  the  future  capital  of  New  France.     Finding 
3  July.  '    none  "  more  commodious  or  better  situated  than  the  point 
of  Quebec,  so  called  by  the  savages,"  the  rude  founda- 
tions of  a  town  were  laid,  near  the  spot  where  C artier 
had  passed  the  winter  about  three  quarters  of  a  century  be- 
fore.t     For  five  dreary  months  the  secluded  colonists  en- 
dured the  inhospitable  climate,  and  saw  the  face  of  nature 
all  around  continually  covered  with  a  deep  snow\    A  bright 
spring  again  opened  the  streams  ;   and  in  the  following 
summer,  Champlain,  accompanied  by  two  of  his  country- 
men, boldly  ascending  the  River  Richelieu  or  Saurel  Avith 
a  war-party  of  Hurons  and  Algonquins  on  an  expedition 
1609.  against  the  Iroquois,  gave  victory  to  his  allies  by  his  Eu- 
30  July,      ropean  fire-arms,  and  discovered  the  beautiful  lake  on  our 

Discovery        ^  ' 

ofLake      northeastcm  frontier,  w^hicli  will  ever  commemorate  his 

C  hamplain.  ' 

illustrious  name.t 
The  Dutch      Wliilc  England  and  France  were  thus  quietly  appropri- 

hecome  .  °  i  J      i  s       i 

competitors  atiiig,  by  royal  charters,  nearly  all  the  northern  territory 
English     of  the  Ncw  World,  a  fresh  competitor  in  American  discov- 

French. 

*  Champlain,  114.  t  Ibid.,  118-124. 

t  Champlain  (edit.  Paris,  1632),  page  149,  states  that  on  the  night  of  July  29,  1609,  his 
party,  while  passing  up  the  lake  in  their  canoes,  discovered  their  Iroquois  enemies,  "at 
the  point  of  a  cape  which  runs  out  into  the  lake  from  the  west  side."  The  enemy  barri- 
caded themselves  with  trees  on  this  cape  ;  and  the  next  morning,  Champlain,  advancing 
at  the  head  of  the  invaders,  killed  two  of  the  Iroquois  chiefs  with  a  discharge  of  his  arque- 
buse,  and  put  their  frightened  followers  to  flight.  He  adds  (p.  152),  that  "  the  place  where 
this  attack  was  made  is  in  forty-three  degrees  and  some  minutes  of  latitude,  and  I  named 
it  the  Lake  of  Champlain."  On  the  map  which  accompanies  his  work,  Champlain  mark 
the  place  "  where  the  Iroquois  were  defeated,"  as  a  promontory  a  little  to  the  northeast  ol 
"  a  small  lake  by  which  one  goes  to  the  Iroquois,  after  having  passed  that  of  Champlain." 
These  particulars  seem  to  identify  Tieonderoga,  in  Essex  county,  as  the  spot  where  the 
first  encounter  took  place,  between  the  white  man  and  the  red  man,  on  the  soil  of  New 
York.  Champlain  distinctly  states  that  he  "  afterward"  saw  the  "  waterfall"  or  outlet  of 
"  another  lake,  which  is  three  or  four  leagues  long."  This  lake,  now  known  as  Lake 
George,  was  first  named  "  Saint  Sacrenient,"  by  the  Jesuit  Father  Jogues,  in  1646.  Trans- 
lated extracts  of  Champlain's  work  have  just  been  published  in  iii.  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  1-9. 
See  also  Yates  and  Moulton's  History  of  New  York,  i.,  177-161. 


THE  DUTCH  REPUBLIC.  19 


1609. 


ery  suddenly  appeared,  to  divide  with  tliem  the  magnifi- 
cent prize.     The  red  flag  of  England  waved  over  Virginia, ' 
and  the  white  banner  of  France  floated  over  Canada,  as  the 
tricolor  of  a  new  nation  was  first  unexpectedly  displayed 
in  the  unknown  intermediate  region.* 

A  generation  of  men  had  lived  to  see  a  powerful  repub-   1579. 
lie  result  from  the  confederation  at  Utrecht  of  the  North-  pJov^n"!'s'' 
ern  Provinces  of  the  Netherlands  against  the  bigotry  and  edi',!i^'"''' 
despotism  of  Spain.     These  provinces,  whose  whole  popu- 
lation scarcely  exceeded  two  millions  of  souls,  animated 
by  a  spirit  which  Sir  Philip  Sydney  said  to  Queen  Eliz- 
abeth, "  is  the  spirit  of  G-od,  and  is  invincible,"  after  a 
long  and  desperate  conflict  against  a  powerful  adversary, 
finally  triumphed  over  their  vindictive  oppressor,  and  com-   1609. 
pelled  him  to  acknowledge  their  independence  and  sover-  ^  '^f""''- 
eignty. 

The  "  Union  of  Utrecht,"  originally  a  league  which 
bound  the  provinces  together  for  mutual  defense  and  pro- 
tection, became  the  Constitution  of  a  Confederated  Repub-  Their  re- 
lic. This  Constitution,  though  complex  and  not  entirely  constmi- 
popular,  was  nevertheless  a  decided  and  memorable  step 
in  human  progress  ;  and  it  enabled  the  Dutch  to  establish 
and  maintain  a  system  of  universal  toleration,  which,  while 
contributing  materially  to  the  freedom  of  their  own  coun- 
try, made  it  an  inviting  asylum  for  the  oppressed  of  other 
lands.t 

Providence  early  indicated  to  that  singular  country  her  Maritime 
destiny.     Wliile  foreign  despotic  power  inflamed  the  pa-  iioiiarir' 
triotism  of  her  people,  and  forced  them  to  struggle  for  civ- 
il and  religious  freedom,  .the    natural  disadvantages  of 
her  geographical  position  stimulated  their  enterprise,  and 

*  The  national  ensign  of  the  United  Provinces  was  adopted  about  the  year  1582,  at  tlie 
suggestion  of  William  I.,  prince  of  Nassau  and  Orange.  It  was  composed  of  the  prince's 
colors,  orange,  white,  and  blue,  arranged  in  three  equal  horizontal  stripes.  After  the 
death  of  William  11.  (1650),  a  red  stripe  was  substituted  for  the  orange;  and  tlje  Dutch 
ensign,  at  the  present  day,  remains  what  it  was,  as  thus  modified,  two  centuries  ago. — 
J.  C.  de  Jonge,  "Over  den  Oorsprong  der  Nederlandsche  Vlag,"  1831,  26-68. 

t  I  shall  invariably  use  the  term  "  Dutch,"  in  its  legitimate  English  sense,  as  referring 
exclusively  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  Seven  United  Provinces  of  the  Netherlands  and  their 
descendants.  A  blunder  is  frequently  committed  in  applying  the  name  "  Dutch,"  instead 
of  their  proper  denomination  "  Germans,"  to  the  people  of  Germany  in  general. 


20         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

CHAP.  I.  taught  them  continual  lessons  of  perseverance.     A  vast 

~"  morass,  protruding  into  the  sea,  and  formed  by  the  accu- 

^^^^-  mulations  which  the  Rhine  continually  brings  down  from 
the  foot  of  the  Alps,  the  Low  Countries  are  only  saved  from 
the  encroaching  ocean  by  the  ceaseless  and  irrepressible 
energy  of  their  inhabitants.  But  the  very  ocean,  which 
the  untiring  industry  of  the  Dutch  drives  back  from  their 
narrow  shores,  was  destined  to  be  their  widest  scene  of 
triumph,  and  their  open  avenue  to  wealth.  A  few  fisher- 
men's huts  at  the  mouth  of  the  Amstel,  at  a  period  when 
the  cities  of  Flanders  had  attained  celebrity,  soon  became 
the  "Venice  of  the  North ;"  the  sea,  subdued  by  skillful 
toil,  flowed  quietly  through  her  splendid  canals,  and 
brought  treasures  from  the  ends  of  the  earth  to  the  very 
doors  of  her  cosmopolitan  burghers  ;  and  crowded  streets, 
and  rich  warehouses,  and  stately  palaces,  and  magnificent 
churches,  usurped  the  ancient  abode  of  the  stork  and  the 
heron.  Well  might  Fenelon  describe  the  Tyre  of  his  day 
as  the  "  queen  of  all  the  seas."* 

Energetic,  undaunted,  and  persevering  at  home,  the 
Dutch  could  not  fail  to  push  their  enterprising  commerce 
The  way  of  into  cvery  zone.  The  very  legend  on  their  earliest  coin- 
"inuie  age  predicted,  in  holy  words  borrowed  from  the  Vulgate, 
the  maritime  destiny  of  that  people,  whose  "way  is  in  the 
sea,"  and  whose  "paths  are  in  many  waters."t  Accus- 
tomed from  childhood  to  play  fearlessly  with  the  waves, 
the  natives  of  Holland  and  Zealand  were  foremost  in  ad- 
venture ;  and  the  capital  of  the  merchants  of  Amsterdam 
and  Middleburg  found  abundant  employment  for  the  hardy 
crews  which  their  own  cities  readily  furnished.  Even 
when  its  political  existence  was  yet  uncertain,  the  upstart 
republic  "  grasped  the  whole  commerce  of  the  world  as  its 

*  "  Cette  grande  ville  semble  nager  au-dessus  des  eaux,  et  fitre  la  reine  de  tout  la  mer. 
Les  marchands  y  abordent  de  toutes  les  parties  du  monde,  et  ses  habitants  sent  eu.x-mSmes 
les  plus  fameux  marchands  qu'il  y  ait  dans  I'univers.  Quand  on  entre  dans  cette  ville  on 
croit  d'abord  que  ce  n'est  point  une  ville  qui  appartienne  a  un  peuple  particulier,  mais 
qu'elle  est  la  ville  commune  de  tous  les  peuples,  et  le  centre  de  leur  commerce." — T61^- 
maque,  liv.  iii. 

+  In  1562,  the  mint  of  Zealand  issued  a  penny,  stamped  with  the  effigy  of  a  sceptered 
king  riding  a  sea-horse  over  the  waves,  and  surrounded  by  the  words  "  In  mari  via  tiia, 
«t  semitse  tuae  in  aquis  multis."     See  Bizot's  "  Medalische  Historie,"  12 ;  Van  Loon,  i..  53. 


MARITIME  ENTERPRISE  OF  THE  DUTCH.  21 

portion,  and  thus  supplied  itself  with  resources  for  a  strug-    chap.  i. 
gle  which  was  longer  and  more  desperate  than  that  of 
•G-reece  with  Persia."*  1''^^^- 

While  Charles  V.  was  yet  their  sovereign,  the  Dutch  ap- 
pear to  have  become  familiar  with  part  of  the  New  World,  Eariy  voy- 

^  .  ages. 

which  the  Pontiff  had  granted,  as  a  perpetual  donation,  to 
the  kings  of  Spain.     But  the  Revolution,  which  followed 
the  accession  of  Philip  II.,  interrupted  for  a  time  the  dis- 
tant voyages  of  the  insurgent  Batavians.t     The  same  sum- 
mer that  the  United  Provinces  declared  their  independence 
of  Spain,  Thomas  Buts,  an  English  captain,  who  had  five 
times  visited  the  Spanish  American  islands,  proposed  to  1581. 
the  states  of  Holland  to  conduct  an  expedition  to  the  West  '^•'""^■ 
Indies.    Bat  though  the  projected  adventure  seems  to  have 
been  viewed  with  favor,  no  results  are  recorded.    All  the 
while,  commerce  flourished  at  home ;  and  in  spite  of  edicts, 
the  Dutch  maintained  the  command  of  the  nearer  seas.   1585. 
One  thousand  new  vessels  were  annually  built  in  Holland. 
From  the  Cape  de  Verd  Islands  to  the  White  Sea,  a  profit-  Home  com 
able  coasting  trade  was  carried  on  ;  out  of  the  Vlie  alone  the  duuh 
sailed  nearly  six  hundred  ships,  in  one  year,  to  bring  corn  1587. 
from  the  Baltic.    Before  long,  William  Usselincx,  a  native 
of  Antwerp,  who  had  spent  many  years  in  Castile,  Portu- 
gal, and  the  Azores,  suggested  the  advantage  of  an  associ-   1591. 
ation  for  trading  to  the  West  Indies.     The  views  of  Usse- 
lincx were  listened  to  with  respect,  but  his  counsels  were 
not  immediately  followed.     Yet  they  were  not  without 
their  effect.     A  few  years  afterward,  Grerrit  Bicker  Peters- 
zoon,  of  Amsterdam,  and  Jan  Corneliszoon  Leyen,  of  Enck-  voyages  to 
huysen,  under  the  patronage  of  the   States  of  Holland,  indies. 
organized  separate  companies  for  the  West  India  trade.   1597. 
Their  enterprise  was  the  forerunner  of  eventual  success. $ 
Meanwhile,  the  Dutch,  sharing  largely  in  the  carrying 
trade  of  Europe,  had  sought  distant  regions  for  a  more  lu- 
crative traffic.     In  1594,  Cornelius  Houtman,  the  son  of  a 

Heeren.  t  Sir  John  Carr  on  the  Commerce  of  the  Dutch. 

i  Van  Meteren,  xiii.,  200,  261  ;  xiv.,  283,  324  ;  xix.,  419  ;  Wagenaar,  Amst.,  i.,  407,  408, 
416;  Vad.IIist.,  ix.,  152, 153;  Davies's  Holland,  ii.,  181, 182,200, 201  ;  Muilkerk  (Berg  Van 
Dussen),  Bydrageii    ot  de  Gescniedenis  onzer  Kolonizatie  in  Noord  Amerika,  A.,  2-7. 


82         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1594. 


Chap. I.  biewcr  of  Gouila,  returning  from  Liston,  whtre  he  had 
■  spent  the  previous  year,  brought  back  tempting  accounts 
of  the  gorgeous  products  of  the  East,  which  he  had  seen 
crowding  the  quays  of  the  Tagus.  His  glowing  descrip- 
tions provoked  emulation  ;  and  nine  merchants  of  Am- 
sterdam, forming  an  association,  equipped  a  flotilla  of  four 
ships,  equally  fitted  for  war  and  for  trade,  of  which  Hout- 
First  voy-  niau  uudcrtook  the  command.     Following  the  track  of  the 

ages  to  the  o 

Ses' '"'     Portuguese,  he  doubled  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  in  two 
1596.  years  returned  to  Amsterdam  with  rich  cargoes  of  Eastern 
products.*     And  thus  began  the  marvelous  Indian  com- 
merce of  the  Dutch.     The  edicts  of  Philip  could  not  ex- 
clude the  independent  Netherlanders  from  the  free  navi- 
gation of  the  seas.     Thenceforth  they  determined  to  vindi- 
cate, by  force  of  arms,  their  right  to  participate  freely  in 
that  commerce  which  despotic  selfishness  was  vainly  at- 
tempting to  monopolize.     The  privateers  of  the  Batavian 
Provinces  were  every  where  victorious ;    and  the  ware- 
1598.  houses  of  their  owners  were  soon  filled  with  the  choicest 
But" hen-"*^ productions  of  the  Indies,  and  ornamented  with  the  ensigns 
the  East!"  of  the  couqucred  galleons  of  Spain.     And  while  the  cir- 
cuitous voyage  round  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  thus  gave 
ample  returns,  mercantile  enterprise  sought  shorter  ave- 
nues to  the  East.     Under  the  influence  of  the  vigorous 
Balthazar  Moucheron,  of  Middleburg,  expeditions  were  dis- 
1594.  patched  from  Zealand  and  Holland  to  explore  a  more  direct 
g^  ^^^      passage  to  China,  and  Cathay  or  Japan,  by  way  of  Nova 
maVseM^  Zembla  and  the  Polar  Seas.     Again,  and  a  third  time,  un- 
1595-6.  successful  attempts  were  repeated  ;  and  the  daring  enter- 
prise, in  which  Barentsen,  Cornelissen,  and  Heemskerk  en- 
dured almost  unparafleled  trials,  and  won  a  renown  as  last- 
ing as  that  of  Willoughby  or  Davis,  was  at  length  aban- 
doned in  despah.t 
1600.       The  wealth  of  the  East,  which  soon  began  to  pour  into 
Holland,  naturally  produced  competition  among  the  partic- 
ipants in  the  open  traffic.     Influenced  by  the  representa- 

*  Richesse  de  la  Hollande,  i.,  35  ;  Van  Meteren,  xxiii.,  509- 

t  Van  Meteren,  xviii.,  371,  376  ;  xix.,  404,  419  ;  LambrecUtsen,  7,  8  ;  Davies,  ii..  290- 
894,  328 ;  Muilkerk,  A.,  18,  19. 


DUTCH  EAST  INDIA  COMPANY.  23 

tions  of  the  merchants,  who  feared  in  an  unrestrained  rival-  chap.  i. 
ry  a  diminution  of  their  individual  profits,  and  looking  also 
to  the  political  advantages  which  the  republic  itself  might 
gain  in  its  conflict  with  Spain,  the  States  Greneral  now  re- 
solved that  the  various  adventurers  engaged  in  commerce 
with  the  East  should  be  united  in  one  corporate  body.    A 
charter  was  accordingly  granted  in  the  spring  of  1602,  by   1602. 
which  those  merchants  were  incorporated  for  a  period  of " 
twenty-one   years,  under  the   name  of  the  "East  India  The  Dutch 
Company,"  with  a  capital  of  6,600,000  of  livres,  the  ex-  company, 
elusive  privilege  of  trading  in  the  Eastern  Seas   beyond 
the  Cape  of  Gfood  Hope  on  the  one  side  and  the  Straits  of 
]\ragellan  on  the  other,  and  large  powers  for  conquest,  col- 
onization, and  government  within  those  limits.* 

While  this  powerful  commercial  monopoly  was  covering  1607. 
the  Eastern  Ocean  with  its  fleets,  and  returning  to  its  share- 
holders, in  a  single  year,  three  fourths  of  their  invested  cap- 
ital,! men's  minds  had  been  earnestly  considering  whether 
the  "Western  "World  might  not  also  offer  a  tempting  field 
for  Dutch  mercantile  enterprise.  "William  Usselincx,  who 
had  already  suofgested  an  association  to  trade  in  the  "West  a  west  in- 

J  nn  _         dia  Coinpa- 

Indies,  was  again  among  the  most  zealous  to  urge  the  im-nypro- 

'  o  o  o  posed. 

mediate  establishment  of  a  company  in  the  Netherlands, 
modeled  after  the  one  which  had  proved  so  successful  in 
the  East.  He  represented  his  project  as  an  additional 
means  of  humbling  their  arrogant  enemy  on  the  very  seas 
from  which  Philip  was  endeavoring  to  shut  out  the  com- 
merce of  the  republic  ;  and  besides  the  mercantile  advant- 
ages which  would  result  from  securing  the  traffic  with 
those  affluent  regions,  he  pressed  the  higher  motive  of  the 
conversion  of  their  heathen  inhabitants  to  the  Christian 
faith.  The  proposals  which  Usselincx  circulated  won  gen- 
eral assent ;  and,  aided  by  the  influence  of  Plancius,  Lin- 
schoten,  and  other  leading  scholars  and  merchants  of  Hol- 
land and  Zealand,  an  application  was  made  to  the  States 

*  Van  Meteren,  xxiv.,  512.  Cape  Horn  was  not  known  to  Europeans  at  this  period. 
Schouten,  who  named  it  after  his  native  city,  "  Iloorn,"  in  Nortli  Holland,  first  sailed 
round  the  Cape  in  1616;  see  post,  p.  80  note. 

t  In  the  year  1600,  the  East  India  Company  divided  75  per  cent.    Moulton,  194. 


24  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

cuAP.i.   General  for  the  incorporation  of  a  "West  India  Compa- 

TTTT"  nj,"  to  trade  exclusively,  for  thirty-six  years,  to  the  coasts 

luorgani-  of  AfHca  and  America.     But  the  Dutch  government  was 

poued?'"'''  now  engaged  in  negotiations  for  a  peace  with  Spain,  which 

Grotius  and  Barneveldt  feared  the  proposed  charter  might 

prejudice  ;  and  the  truce,  which  was  finally  concluded  in 

1G09,  suspended  for  several  years  any  definite  action  on 

the  subject.* 

Meanwhile,  a  shorter  passage  to  China  and  Cathay,  by 
way  of  the  Northern  Seas,  continued  to  be  a  fa\orite  the- 
ory in  England,  as  well  as  in  Holland  and  Denmark.     A 
company  in  London  sent  out,  in  1607,  a  skillful  and  ex- 
iienry  _     pericnccd  mariner,  Henry  Hudson,  a  native  of  England, 
voyages     aud  a  fricnd  of  Captain  John  Smith,  who  had  just  before 
don  to  the  sailed  with  the  first  colony  for  Virginia.     But  Hudson 
could  get  no  further  than  Spitzbergen,  and  in  the  follow- 

1608.  ing  year  no  further  than  Nova  Zembla,  and  the  London 
company  suspended  further  efforts.f 

Hudson  was  now  invited  to  Holland  by  the  Amster- 
dam directors  of  the  East  India  Company,  to  w^hom  he 
explained  his  theory  of  an  open  sea  near  the  north  pole. 
Without  waiting  for  the  other  chambers,  they  signed  with 

1609.  him  a  written  agreement  to  send  him  out,  early  in  April, 
Hiid^on'T  in  a  small  yacht,  to  search  for  a  passage  by  the  north  of 
wuiuhe  Nova  Zembla,  and  to  provide  for  his  wife  and  children, 
(jomVny.'  upou  Condition  that  he  should  return  as  soon  as  possible 

to  Amsterdam,  and  give  the  directors  a  full  account  of 
his  voyage, "  without  keeping  any  thing  back."  This  con- 
tract was  made  in  haste,  because  the  Amsterdam  chamber 
feared  that  Hudson  might  be  engaged,  through  Isaac  le 
Maire  and  Plancius,  by  the  embassador  Jeannin,  in  the 
service  of  Henry  the  Fourth  of  France.  A  yacht  (which 
has  been  sometimes  called  a  Ylie-boat)  belonging  to  the 
IiTOinuted  company,  named  the  "  Half  Moon,"  of  forty  lasts  or 
out.  eighty  tons  burden,:}:  was  accordingly  equipped  for  the  voy- 

•  Van  Meteren,  527, 52S,  553, 55G,  GOl,  603 ;  Grotius,  721 ;  Bontivoglio,  i.,  37 ;  Bancroft, 
«.,  262-264;  Muilkerk,  A.,  10-17 ;  Davies,  ii.,  404,  405. 

t  Purchas,  iii.,  567 ;  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  61-102 ;  Yates  and  Moulton,  i.,  19S-200 ;  Mur- 
phy's Hudson,  10, 11 ;  Asher's  Hudson  (Hakluyt  Society),  clxxvi.-cxcvi.,  1-44. 

t  "  Ship  book"  found,  in  1841,  in  the  Archives  of  the  old  ICast  India  Company  at  Am- 


THE  HALF  MOON  SAILS  FROM  HOLLAND.  £5 

ag;e,  and  in;  "«'""^cl  by  a  crew  of  twenty  sailors, partly  Dutch  Chap,  l 
and  partly  iilnglisli.     The  command  was  intrusted  to  Ilud-      7: 
son;  a  Dutch  " under-schipper"  or  mate  was  appointed;      "*  '" 
and  instructions  were  given  to  explore  a  passage  to  China 
"  by  the  north  and  northeast,  above  Kova  Zembla."* 

The  Half  Moon  left  Amsterdam  on  the  fourth  of  April, 
1609,  and  on  the  sixth  took  her  departure  from  the  Texel.  e  Apm. 
Doublins:  the  Cape  of  Norway  on  the  fifth  of  May,  Hudson  sails  from 

°  ^  .         ''  .        "^  the  Texfl. 

found  the  sea  so  full  of  ice,  that  he  was  obliged  to  aban- 
don his  purpose  of  penetrating  eastward  of  Nova  Zembla. 
Some  of  his  motley  crew,  who  had  been  used  only  to  the 
East  India  service,  could  ill  endure  the  severity  of  the  cold, 
and  now  began  to  murmur.  Upon  this,  Hudson  proposed 
to  them  two  alternatives.  The  first  was  to  sail  directly 
to  America,  in  about  latitude  40°,  where,  according  to  the 
letters  and  charts  which  Smith  had  sent  him  from  Vir- 
ginia, he  would  find  a  sea  affording  a  passage  to  the  East 
round  the  English  colony.  The  other  proposition  was  to 
penetrate  westward,  through  Davis's  Straits  ;  and  this  be- 
ing generally  approved,  Hudson  sailed  toward  the  island 
of  Faro,  where  he  arrived  on  the  last  of  May,  and  remain-  3i  May 
ed  a  day  to  water.  Thence  he  stretched  westward  across 
the  Atlantic  ;  but  failing  to  see  the  islands  which  Frobish- 
cr's  ships  had  visited  in  1578,  he  shaped  his  course  for 
New^foundland.  After  a  stormy  and  perilous  voyage,  in 
which  he  lost  his  foremast  overboard,  Hudson  arrived,  ear- 
ly in  July,  on  the  Banks,  where  he  was  becalmed  long 
enough  to  catch  more  cod  than  his  "  small  store  of  salt" 
could  cure.     He  then  stood  further  to  the  west,  and  run- 

sterdam.  A  "  Vlie-boat"  is  so  called  from  its  being  built  expressly  for  the  difflc\ilt  navi- 
gation of  the  Vlie  and  the  Texel.  It  is  a  very  fast-sailing  vessel,  with  two  masts,  and 
usually  of  about  one  hundred  tons  burden.  The  name,  as  well  as  the  model  of  this  Dutch 
crafl,  was  soon  adopted  in  other  countries.  The  French  called  it  "  Flibot ;"  the  English, 
"  Fly-boat ;"  and  the  Spaniards,  "  Flibote."  Some  of  our  writers  have,  unfortunately,  al- 
tered the  historical  name  of  the  "  Half  Moon"  to  the  fanciful  name  of  the  "  Crescent." 
Hudson's  vessel  was  really  called  by  her  owners  "de  Ilalve-Maan,"  and  not  "de  Was- 
sende-Maan,"  of  which  latter  phrase  only  is  "  Crescent"  the  proper  English  equivalent. 

•  Van  Meteren,  xxxi.,  CT4;  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Co'.l.,  ii.,  30S-3T0;  Lambrcchtsen,  9,  10,  and 
in  N.  V.  H.  S.  Coll.  1.,  84,  85;  Muilkerk,  18,  1!) ;  Murphy's  Hudson,  11-17,  24-39  ;  Ash- 
er*B  Hudson,  cxcvii.-ccv.,  147,  lS(i,  244-251;  Negociations  du  I'resident  Jeannin,  iii., 
294 ;  Waagenaar's  Amsterdam,  iii.,  219  ;  2>ost  p.  138,  note.  The  name  signed  to  the  con. 
tract  of  the  Sth  of  January,  1009,  is  "  Henry  Hudson,"  and  there  is  no  authority  for  the 
vulgarism  of  Uendrick  Hudson,  so  universal  among  the  half-informed. 


2(3  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  I.  niiig  along  the  coast  of  Nova  Scotia,  arrived  at  Penobscot 

— ; Bay,  where  he  remained  a  week,  cutting  a  new  foremast 

18  j^h*      and  mending  his  tattered  rigging.     While  there,  he  was 
PonobTcot  visited  by  two  French-built  shallops  full  of  Indians,  some 
^^^-         of  whom  even  "  spake  some  words  of  French,"  and  pro- 
posed to  traffic.     But  Hudson,  suspicious  of  his  visitors, 
kept  a  vigilant  watch ;  while  a  part  of  his  ship's  compa- 
ny seized  one  of  the  shallops,  with  which  they  landed,  and 
wantonly  despoiled  the   cabins   of  the   friendly  natives. 
Fearing  that  the  lawless  conduct  of  his  turbulent  crew 
26  July,      might  provoke  retaliation,  Hudson  set  sail  the  next  day  to 
the  southward,  and  kept  at  sea  for  a  week,  until  he  made 
3  August,   the  land  again,  and  sent  his  shallop  in  to  sound  the  shore. 
The  next  morning  he  anchored  at  the  northern  end  of  a 
headland,  where  his  boat's  crew  landed,  and  found  the  na- 
tives rejoicing  to  see  them.     Supposing  it  to  be  an  un- 
known island,  Hudson  named  the  region  Neav  Holland, 
in  honor  of  his  patrons'  fatherland.     But  after  trying  in 
vain  to  find  an  opening  to  the  westward,  he  put  about,  and 
At  Cape     passing  the  southern  headland,  which  he  now  perceived 
was  the  one  which  Gosnold  had  discovered  in  1602   and 
named  "  Cape  Cod,"  he  stood  oft"  to  sea  again  toward  the 
southwest. 
18  August.      In  a  fortnight  Hudson  arrived  oft"  the  mouth  of  the  Ches- 
apeake Bay,  which  he  recognized  as  "  the  entrance  into 
At  the       the  King's  River  in  Virginia,  where  our  Englishmen  are." 
chesa° '  *^  But  the  temptation  to  meet  his  friend  Smith,  who,  disgust- 
^^^  ^'       ed  with  the  distractions  in  the  colony  at  Jamestown,  and 
maimed  by  accidental  wounds,  was  preparing  to  return  to 
England,  did  not  divert  Hudson  from  the  great  object  of 
his  voyage.     Contenting  himself  with  a  few  soundings,  he 
stood  again  to  sea,  and  passing  northward  along  the  coast 
2s  August,  of  Maryland,  he  ran  into  a  "  great  bay  with  rivers" — aft- 
discov"rs    erward  called  the  "  South  River,"  and  "  New  Port  May" 
Delaware^  by  the  Dutch,  and  "  Delaware"  by  the  Endish — where 

Bay  %i  a 

the  Half  Moon  anchored.*^ 

*  Van  der  Donck,  p .  7,  adds,  and  "took  the  first  possession."    This  bay  and  river  the 
Dutch  called  the  South  River,  to  distinguish  it  from  the  North  or  Hudson  River    and  also 


HUDSON  AT  SANDY  HOOK.  27 

Finding  the  navigation  so  difficult,  that  "  he  that  will  chap.  i. 
thoroughly  discover  this  great  bay  must  have  a  small  pin- 
nace  that  must  draw  but  four  or  five  feet  water,  to  sound 
before  him,"  Hudson  stood  out  to  sea  again,  and,  running 
northward  several  days    along  a  low  sandy  coast,  with 
"  broken  islands,"  arrived,  on  the  evening  of  the  second  of  2  sepi. 
September,  in  sight  of  the  "high  hills"  of  Navesinck,  then, 
as  now,  "  a  very  good  land  to  fall  in  with,  and  a  pleasant 
land  to  see."     The  next  morning  he  sailed  onward  until  3  Sept. 
he  came  to  "  three  great  rivers,"  the  most  northerly  of 
which  he  attempted  to  enter,  but  was  prevented  by  the 
"very  shoal  bar  before  it."*     So,  sending  his  boat  before 
him  to  sound  the  way,  he  went  in  past  Sandy  Hook,  and 
on  the  evening  of  the  third  of  September,  1609,  anchored  Anchors m 

°     .  ^  Sandy 

the  Half  Moon  in  the  bay,  where  the  waters  were  alive  nook  nij. 
with  fish.t 

For  a  week  Hudson  lingered  in  the  lower  bay,  admiring  Hudson  m 
the  "  goodly  oaks"  which  garnished  the  neighboring  shores,  sey. 
and  holding  frequent  intercourse  with  the  native  savages 
of  Monmouth,  in  New  Jersey.     The  Half  Moon  was  visit- 
ed in  return  by  the  wondering  Indians,  who  flocked  on 
board   the  strange  vessel,  clothed  with  mantles  of  feath- 
ers and  robes  of  fur,  and  adorned  with  rude  copper  neck- 
laces.    Meanwhile,  a  boat's  crew  was  sent  to  sound  the  6  sept 
river,  v/hich  opened  to  the  northward.     Passing  through 
the  Narrows,  they  found  a  noble  harbor,  with  "very  good 
riding  for  ships."     A  little  further  on,  they  came  to  "  the 
Kills,"  between  Staten  Island  and  Bergen  Neck,  "  a  narrow 
river  to  the  westward,  between  two  islands."     The  lands 

New  Port  May,  after  Cornells  .Tacobsen  May,  of  Hoorn.  Many  of  our  writers  assert  that 
Lord  Delawarr  touched  at  this  bay,  on  his  way  to  Virginia  in  1610.  But  this  is  an  error. 
On  that  occasion  Lord  Delawarr  sailed  by  way  of  the  West  Indies,  and  approached  Vir- 
ginia from  the  southward.  Indeed,  there  is  no  evidence  that  Lord  Delawarr  ever  saw  tlie 
waters  which  now  bear  his  name,  as  will  be  shown  in  a  note  (D)  in  the  Appendix. 

*  Two  of  these  were,  no  doubt,  the  Raritan  and  the  Narrows  ;  and  the  third  one,  to  the 
northward,  with  the  shoal  bar  before  it,  probably  Rockaway  Inlet. 

t  "  So  we  weighed  and  went  in,  and  rode  in  five  fathoms  ooze  ground,  and  saw  many 
salmons,  and  mullets,  and  rays  very  great.  The  height  is  forty  degrees  thirty  minutes  " 
This  statement  in  Juet's  Journal  agrees,  very  nearly,  with  the  actual  latitude  of  Sandy 
Hook,  which  is  forty  degrees  twenty-eight  minutes.  Doctor  Mitchill,  in  N.  Y.  H  S.  Coll.,  i., 
41,  however  doubts  the  correctness  of  the  accounts  in  the  Journal  respecting  the  abund 
ance  of  salmon  in  the  North  River  when  first  visited  by  Hudson,  though  ho  admits  that 
tliat  fish  has  been  taken  there. 


28         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  I  Oil  both  sidcs  wero  "  as  pleasant  with  grass,  and  flo\yers, 
'  and  goodly  trees,  as  ever  they  had  seen,  and  very  sweet 
smells  came  from  them."  Six  miles  up  this  river  they 
saw  "  an  open  sea,"  now  known  as  Newark  Bay.  In  the 
evening,  as  the  boat  was  returning  to  the  ship,  the  explor- 
ing party  was  set  upon  by  two  canoes  full  of  savages  ;  and 
Deaiii  of  one  of  the  English  sailors,  John  Colman,  was  killed  by  an 
John  ooi-   g^j.j.Q^  g]^Q^  jj^  j^jg  throat.     The  next  day  Hudson  buried. 


man. 


T  scjii       upon  the  adjacent  beach,  the  comrade  who  had  shared  the 
dangers  of  his  polar  adventures,  to  become  the  first  Eu- 
ropean victim  of  an  Indian  weapon  in  the  placid  waters  he 
had  now  reached.     To   commemorate  the   event,  Sandy 
9  Sept.       Hook  was  named  "  Colman's  Point."     The  ship  was  soon 
visited  by  canoes  full  of  native  warriors  ;  but  Hudson,  sus- 
pecting their  good  faith,  took  two  of  the  savages  and  "  put 
red  coats  upon  them,"  while  the  rest  were  not  suffered  to 
approach. 
The  Half        Cautiously  sounding  her  way  through  the  lower  bay, 
e^sTeNar^the  Half  Moou  at  length  "went  into  the  river"  past  the 
n^sept.      Narrows,  and  anchored  near  the  mouth  of  the  Kills  in  "a 
very  good  harbor  for  all  winds."     The  native  savages  came 
at  once  on  board,  "  making  show  of  love  ;"  but  Hudson, 
remembering  Colman's  fate,  "durst  not  trust  them."    The 
12 Sept.     next  morning  twenty-eight  canoes,  "made  of  single  hol- 
lowed trees,"  and  crowded  with  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren, visited  the  yacht.     But  none  were  suffered  to  come 
on  board,  though  their  oysters  and  beans  were  gladly  pur- 
chased.    In  the  afternoon  the  Half  Moon  ran  six  miles 
further  up ;  and  the  crew  were  enraptured  by  the  loveli- 
ness of  the  surrounding  country.     "It  is  as  beautiful  a 
land  as  the  foot  of  man  can  tread  upon,"  said  Hudson, 
"  and  abounds  in  all  kinds  of  excellent  ship  timber."* 
Hudson  be-      The  first  of  Europeans,  Hudson  now  began  to  explore 
cendthe     the  great  river  which  stretched  before  him  to  the  north, 
er.  opening,  as  he  hoped,  the  way  to  the  Eastern  Seas.     Slow- 

13  Sept.     ly  drifting  upward  with  the  flood  tide,  he  anchored  over 
night  just  above  Yonkers,  in  sight  of  "a  high  point  of 

*  "  Is  SCO  schoonen  landt  als  men  met  voeten  betrcden  mach,  overvloedigh  van  aller- 
hande  houdt  om  schcpen  tc  bouwcn."— Hudson's  Report,  quoted  by  De  Laet,  cap.  x. 


HUDSON  EXPLORES  THE  NORTH  RIVER.  29 

land,  wliich  showed  out"  five  leagues  off  to  the  north.*  chap.  i. 
The  next  day,  a  southeast  wind  carrying  him  rapidly  up 
Tappan  and  Haverstraw  Bays,  and  beyond  the  "  strait"  j^  g^pj  ' 
between  Stony  and  Verplanck's  Points,  Hudson  sailed  on- 
ward through  the  majestic  pass  guarded  by  the  frowning 
Donderberg,  and  at  nightfall  anchored  his  yacht  near 
West  Point,  in  the  midst  of  the  sublimest  scenery  of  the 
"  Matteawan"!  Mountains. 

The  next  morning  was  misty  until  the  sun  arose,  and  is  sepi. 
the  grandeur  of  the  overhanging  highlands  was  again  re- 
vealed. A  fair  south  wind  sprung  up  as  the  weather  be- 
came clear ;  and  while  the  Half  Moon  was  getting  under 
way,  the  two  savages  who  had  been  detained  captives  on 
board  at  Sandy  Hook,  watching  their  opportunity,  leaped 
out  of  a  port-hole  and  swam  ashore,  scornfully  deriding 
the  crew  as  the  yacht  sailed  onward.  A  bright  autumnal 
day  succeeded  the  misty  morning.  Running  sixty  miles 
up  along  the  varied  shores  which  lined  the  deep  channel, 
and  delighted  every  moment  with  the  ever-changing  scen- 
ery, and  the  magnificent  virgin  forests  which  clothed  the 
river  banks  with  their  gorgeous  autumnal  hues,  Hudson 
arrived,  toward  evening,  opposite  the  loftier  "  mountains  The  iiair 
which  lie  from  the  river's  side,"1:  and  anchored  the  Half  catski;; 
Moon  near  Catskill  landing,  where  he  found  a  "  very  lov- 
ing people  and  very  old  men." 

The  friendly  natives  flocked  on  board  the  yacht,  as  she  i6  sept 
remained  lazily  at  anchor  the  next  morning,  and  brought 
the  crew  "  ears  of  Indian  corn,  and  pumpkins,  and  tobac- 
co," which  were  readily  bought  "  for  trifles."     In  the  aft- 

*  The  North  River  schippers  afterward  named  this  well-known  landmark,  just  north 
of  Nyack,  in  Rockland  county,  "  Verdrietig  Hook,'"  or  Tedious  Point.  It  is  about  seven 
hundred  feet  high,  and  obtained  its  name  because  it  was  generally  so  long  in  sight  of  the 
slow-sailing  sloops  of  former  days.  The  name,  formerly  so  expressive,  is  still  retained  ; 
though  our  flitting  modern  conveyances  hardly  allow  it  now  to  tire  the  eye. 

t  The  Indian  name  for  the  Highlands,  according  to  SpafTord,  and  Moulton,  i.,  p.  240. 

t  The  "  Kaatsbergs,"  or  Catskill  Mountains,  the  most  elevated  range  along  the  river, 
are  about  eight  miles  inland  from  the  west  bank,  and  extend  northward  from  back  of 
the  town  of  Saugerties,  in  Ulster  county,  to  the  town  of  Durham,  in  Greene  county.  Ac- 
cording to  Captain  Partridge's  measurement,  in  1818,  "  Round  Top,"  the  highest  point  in 
the  chain,  is  3804  feet  above  tide  water ;  "High  Peak,"  the  next  in  altitude,  is  3718  feet. 
"  Pine  Orchard,"  the  famous  summer  resort  of  tourists,  is  a  level  tract  of  about  seven 
acres,  on  the  edge  of  a  precipice  about  2214  feet  above  the  river,  of  which  it  commands  a 
magnificent  view  for  sixty  miles. 


;jO         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1609. 


Chap.  I.  crnooii,  Hudsoii  went  six  miles  further  up  the  river,  and 
anchored  over  night  near  the  marshes  which  divide  the 
channel,  opposite  the  flourishing  city  which  now  hears  his 

17  Sept.     name.     Early  the  next  morning  he  set  sail  again,  and 

slowly  working  his  way  through  the  shoaling  channel  and 
among  the  "  small  islands"  which  embarrassed  navigation, 
anchored,  toward  evening,  about  eighteen  miles  further 
up,  between  Schodac  and  Gastleton. 

18  Sept.  Here  the  Half  Moon  remained  at  anchor  all  the  next 
Hudson  day.  In  the  afternoon,  Hudson  went  ashore  "with  an  old 
s^cliodac     savage,  a  governor  of  the  country,  who  carried  him  to  his 

house  and  made  him  good  cheer."  The  visit  is  graphic- 
ally described  in  the  original  Journal  preserved  by  De 
Laet.  "I  sailed  to  the  shore,"  says  Hudson,  "in  one  of 
their  canoes,  with  an -old  man  who  was  the  chief  of  a  tribe 
consisting  of  forty  men  and  seventeen  women.  These  I 
saw  there,  in  a  house  well  constructed  of  oak  bark,  and  cir- 
cular in  shape,  so  that  it  had  the  appearance  of  being  built 
with  an  arched  roof.  It  contained  a  great  quantity  of 
maize  or  Indian  corn,  and  beans  of  the  last  year's  growth ; 
and  there  lay  near  the  house,  for  the  purpose  of  drying, 
enough  to  load  three  ships,  besides  what  was  growing  in 
the  fields.  On  our  coming  into  the  house,  two  mats  were 
spread  out  to  sit  upon,  and  some  food  was  immediately 
served  in  well-made  red  wooden  bowls.  Two  men  were 
also  dispatched  at  once,  with  bows  and  arrows,  in  quest  of 
game,  who  soon  brought  in  a  pair  of  pigeons  which  they 
had  shot.  They  likewise  killed  a  fat  dog,  and  skinned  it 
in  great  haste,  with  shells  which  they  had  got  out  of  the 
water.  They  supposed  that  I  would  remain  with  them 
for  the  night ;  but  I  returned,  after  a  short  time,  on  board 
the  ship.  The  land  is  the  finest  for  cultivation  that  I  ever 
in  my  life  set  foot  upon,  and  it  also  abounds  in  trees  of  ev- 
ery description.  These  natives  are  a  very  good  people ; 
for  when  they  saw  that  I  would  not  remain,  they  supposed 
that  I  was  afraid  of  their  bows  ;  and,  taking  their  arrows, 
they  broke  them  in  pieces  and  threw  them  into  the  fire."* 

'  Juet,  in  his  account  of  the  voyage,  says  that  the  person  who  went  ashore  with  the 


THE  HALF  MOON  AT  ALBANY.  31 

With  the  early  flood-tide  on  the  following  morning,  the  cha>'.  i. 
Half  Moon  "  ran  higher  up,  two  leagues  above  the  shoals," 
and  anchored  in  deep  water,  near  the  site  of  the  present  jg  g  ^_ 
city  of  Albany.     The  people  of  the  country  came  flocking  Moon  at  ai 
on  board,  and  brought  grapes  and  pumpkins,  and  beaver ''^"^^ 
and  otter  skins,  which  were  purchased  for  beads,  knives, 
and  hatchets.    Here  the  yacht  lingered  several  days.    The 
carpenter  went  ashore,  and  made  a  new  foreyard  ;  while  21  Sept. 
Hudson  and  his  mate,  "  determined  to  try  some  of  the 
chief  men  of  the  country,  whether  they  had  any  treachery 
in  them,"  took  them  down  into  the  Half  Moon's  cabin,  and 
"  gave  them  so  much  wine  and  aqua  vitcc  that  they  were 
all  merry."     An  old  Indian,  stupefied  with  drink,  remain- 
ed on  board  to  the  amazement  of  his  simple  countrymen, 
who  "could  not  tell  how  to  take  it."     The  traditions  of  Reveion 
the  aborigines  yet  preserve  the  memory  of  this  first  revel,* 
which  was  followed,  the  next  day,  by  another  visit  from 
the  reassured  savages,  one  of  whose  chiefs,  addressing  Hud- 
son, "made  an  oration,  and  showed  him  all  the  country 
round  about." 

Every  thing  now  seemed  to  indicate  that  the  Half  Moon  End  of  ths 
had  reached  the  head  of  ship  navigation.     The  downward  voyage. 
current  was  fresh  and  clear,  the  shoaling  channel  was  nar- 
row and  obstructed  ;  yet  Hudson,  unwilling,  perhaps,  to 
abandon  his  long-cherished  hope,  dispatched  the  mate,  with  22  sept 
a  boat's  crew,  to  sound  the  river  higher  up.     After  going 
"  eight  or  nine  leagues"  further — probably  to  some  dis- 
tance above  Waterford — and  finding  "  but  seven  feet  wa- 

"old  savage,"  was  the  "master's  mate,"  or  onder  schipper,  who,  according  to  Van  Mete- 
ren,  was  a  Dutchman.  On  the  other  hand,  Dc  Laet  expressly  states  that  it  was  Hudson 
himself,  and  he  quotes,  from  Hudson's  own  Journal,  the  passage  which  I  have  inserted 
in  the  text.  The  place  where  Hudson  landed  is  stated  by  De  Laet  to  have  been  in  lati- 
tude 42°  18'.  This  would  seem  to  fix  the  scene  of  the  event  at  about  five  or  six  miles 
above  the  present  city  of  Hudson,  which  is  in  42°  14'.  But  latitudes  were  not  as  accurately 
determined  in  those  days  as  they  are  now  ;  and  a  careful  computation  of  the  distances  run 
by  the  Half  Moon,  as  recorded  in  Juel's  log-book,  shows  that  on  the  ISth  of  September, 
when  the  landing  occurred,  she  must  have  been  "  up  six  leagues  higher"  than  Hudson,  or 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Schodac  and  Castleton. 

*  "  It  is  very  remarkable  that,  among  the  Iroquois  or  Six  Nations,  there  is  a  tradition, 
still  very  distinctly  preserved,  of  a  scene  of  intoxication  which  occurred  whh  a  company 
of  the  natives  when  the  first  ship  arrived." — Rev.  Dr.  Miller's  Discourse,  in  N.  Y.  H.  S. 
Coll.,  i.,  p.  35 ;  Heckewclder,  in  Moulton's  N.  Y.,  i.,  p.  551-254 ,  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i., 
71-73.    See  Note  A,  Appendix. 


32  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch/ip.  1.  ter,  and  inconstant  soundings,"  the  exploring  party  return- 

ed  late  at  night,  and  reported  that  they  had  "  found  it  to 

be  at  an  end  for  shipping  to  go  in."* 

Hudson  re-      Hudson  now  reluctantly  prepared  to  return.    His  ascent 

the  river,    of  the  rivcr  had  occupied  eleven  days  ;  his  descent  con- 

23  Sept.      sumed  as  many  more.     Bidding  adieu  to  the  friendly  sav- 

ages among  w^hom  he  had  tarried  so  pleasantly,  and  slow- 
ly descending  the  difficult  channel  for  nine  or  ten  leagues, 

24  Sept.     he  ran  aground  again,  the  next  afternoon,  on  the  "  bank 

of  ooze  in  the  middle  of  the  river,"  opposite  the  present  city 
of  Hudson.  Here  he  remained  wind-bound  for  two  days, 
which  were  occupied  in  wooding  the  vessel,  and  in  visit- 

26  Sept.  ing  the  neighboring  shores.  While  the  yacht  was  lying  at 
anchor,  two  canoes  full  of  savages  came  up  the  river  six 
miles  from  Catskill,  where  the  crew  had  "  first  found  lov- 
ing people"  on  their  upward  voyage.  In  one  of  these  ca- 
noes was  the  old  man  who  had  reveled  on  board  the  Half 
Moon  "  at  the  other  place,"  and  who  had  followed  by  land 
the  yacht's  progress  down  the  river.  He  now  brought 
"another  old  man  with  him,"  who  gave  "stropes  of  beads" 
to  Hudson,  and  "showed  him  all  the  country  thereabout, 
as  though  it  were  at  his  conmiand."  The  visitors  were 
kindly  entertained  ;  and  as  they  departed,  made  signs  that 
the  Europeans,  who  were  now  within  two  leagues  of  their 
dwelling-place,  "  should  come  down  to  them." 

But  the  persuasions  of  the  friendly  old  chief  were  of  no 

57  Sept.  avail.  Weighing  anchor  the  next  day  with  a  fair  north 
wind,  Hudson  ran  down  the  river  eighteen  miles,  past  the 
wigwams  of  the  "  loving  people"  at  Catskill,  who  were 
"very  sorrowful"  for  his  departure,  and  toward  evening 
anchored  in  deep  water  near  Red  Hook,  where  part  of  the 

»  Sept.  crew  went  on  shore  to  fish.  The  next  two  days  were  con- 
sumed in  slowly  working  down  to  the  "  lower  end  of  the 
long  reach"  below  Pokeepsie,  where  the  yacht  was  again 
visited  by  friendly  Indians  ;   and  then  proceeding  onward, 

*  De  Laet,  in  cap.  vii.,  states  that  Hudson  explored  the  river  "  to  nearly  43°  of  north 
latitude,  where  it  became  so  narrow  and  of  so  little  depth,  that  he  found  it  necessary  tc 
return."  As  Albany  is  in  42°  39',  the  boat  must,  therefore,  have  gone  above  that  plact 
"  eight  or  nine  leagues"  further — ^the  distance  given  in  Juet's  Journal. 


RETURN  OF  THE  HALF  MOON.  33 

Hudson  anchored  in  the  evening  under  the  northern  edge  chap.  i. 
of  the  Highlands.     Here  he  lay  wind-Lound  for  a  day,  in 
a  very  good  roadstead,  admiring  the  magnificent  mount-  30  g^pj 
ains,  which  looked  to  him  "as  if  some  metal  or  mineral 
were  in  them." 

Early  the  next  morning  a  fair  wind  sprung  up,  and  the  1  October. 
Half  Moon,  sailing  rapidly  through  the  winding  Highlands, 
anchored,  at  noon,  near  Stony  Point.  Here  some  of  the 
"  people  of  the  mountains"  came  on  board,  wondering  at 
the  "ship  and  weapons."  The  same  afternoon,  a  thievish 
native,  detected  in  pilfering  some  articles  through  the  cab- 
in windows,  was  shot  without  mercy  by  the  mate ;  and  Indians 

,  -  killed  near 

the  stolen  things  were  promptly  recovered  irom  the  canoes  stony 
of  the  frightened  savages,  who  lost  another  life  in  their 
flight.  This  was  the  first  Indian  blood  shed  by  Europeans 
on  the  North  River.  After  this  sanguinary  atonement  had 
been  exacted,  the  yacht  dropped  down  two  leagues  further, 
through  Haverstraw  Bay  to  Teller's  Point,  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Croton. 

The  next  day,  a  brisk  northwest  wind  carried  the  Half  2  October 
Moon  seven  leagues  further  down,  through  Tappan  Sea  to 
the  head  of  Manhattan  Island,  where  one  of  the  captive 
Indians,  who  had  escaped  from  the  yacht  in  the  Highlands, 
on  the  upward  voyage,  came  off  from  the  shore  with  many 
other  savages.  But  Hudson,  "  perceiving  their  intent," 
would  suffer  none  of  them  to  enter  the  vessel.     Two  ca-  The  iiaif 

.  Moon  at- 

noes  full  of  warriors  then  came  under  the  stern,  and  shot  talked  near 

.  FortWash- 

a  flight  of  arrows  into  the  yacht.  A  few  muskets  were'ngton- 
discharged  in  retaliation,  and  two  or  three  of  the  assail- 
ants were  killed.  Some  hundred  Indians  then  assembled 
at  the  point  near  Fort  Washington,  to  attack  the  Half 
Moon  as  she  drifted  slowly  by ;  but  a  falcon-shot  killed 
two  of  them,  "whereupon  the  rest  fled  into  the  woods." 
Again  the  assailants  manned  another  canoe,  and  again  the 
attack  was  repulsed  by  a  falcon  shot,  which  destroyed  their 
frail  bark  ;  and  so  the  savages  "went  their  way,"  mourn- 
ing the  loss  of  nine  of  their  warriors.  The  yacht  then  "  got  Hudson  an- 
down  two  leagues  beyond  that  place,"  and  anchored  over  iio'boken. 

C 


34         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  I.  night  "  Oil  the  other  side  of  the  river,"  in  the  bay  near  Ho- 

— ; boken.     Hard  by  his  anchorage,  and  upon  "that  side  of 

the  river  that  is  called  3Ianna-hata,^^  Hudson  noticed  that 
"  there  was  a  cliff  that  looked  of  the  color  of  a  white 
gi-een."*  Here  he  lay  wind-bound  the  next  day,  and  "saw 
4  October,  no  people  to  trouble"  him.  The  following  morning,  just 
one  month  after  his  arrival  at  Sandy  Hook,  Hudson  weigh- 
ed his  anchor  for  the  last  time,  and  coming  out  of  the 
"  great  mouth  of  the  gi'eat  river"  into  which  he  "had  run 
Sails  from  SO  far,"  lie  set  all  sail,  and  steered  off  again  into  the  main 

Sandy 

Hook.        sea.t 

The  Half  Moon's  company  now  held  a  council,  and  were 
of  various  minds.     They  were  in  want  of  stores,  and  were 
not  on  good  terms  with  each  other,  "  which,  if  they  had 
been,  they  would  have  accomplished  more."     The  Dutch 
mate  wished  to  winter  at  Newfoundland,  and  then  explore 
the  northwest  passage  through  Davis's  Straits.     But  Hud- 
son, fearing  his  mutinous  crew,  who  had  lately  begun  to 
"  threaten  him  savagely,"  opposed  this  proposition,  and 
suggested  their  immediate  return  to  Holland.    At  last  they 
The  Half    all  agreed  to  winter  in  Ireland.     So  they  sailed  eastward 
rives" a^t"^     for  a  moutli,  without  seeing  any  land  by  the  way,  and  on 
7  No^°"  ■  the  seventh  of  November,  1609,  arrived  safely  at  Dart- 
mouth, in  Devonshire. 
Hudson         Thence  Hudson  immediately  sent  over  an  account  of 

sends  a  re-  ,        _^ 

port  to  the  his  voyage  to  the  Dutch  East  India  Company,  at  Amster- 
company.  dam,  proposiug  to  renew  the  search  for  the  northwest  pas- 
sage in  the  following  spring,  after  refitting  the  Half  Moon 
in  England,  and  superseding  several  of  the  most  turbulent 
of  her  crew.  But  contrary  winds  prevented  his  report 
from  reaching  Amsterdam  for  some  time.  When  at  length 
the  East  India  directors  heard  of  Hudson's  arrival  at  Dart- 
mouth, they  instructed  him  to  return  with  his  vessel  to 
Holland  as  soon  as  possible.     As  he  was  about  complying 

*  The  mineralogist  may  spend  an  agreeable  day  in  visiting  this  cliff,  near  the  "  Elysian 
Fields"  at  Hoboken.    Hudson  supposed  it  to  be  a  copper  or  silver  mine. 

t  See  Juefs  Journal  of  Hudson's  third  voyage,  in  Purehas,  and  in  i.  N.  Y.  H.  S  Coll., 
1.,  102-146 ;  and  De  Laet,  in  second  series  of  same  collections,  i.,  259-316.  An  interesting 
analysis  of  the  Half  Moon's  voyage  up  and  down  the  river,  is  in  Yates  and  Moulton's  His- 
tory of  New  York,  vol.  i.,  p.  201-272. 


THE  RIVER  OF  THE  MOUNTAINS,  IN  1609.  35 

with  these  orders  early  in  the  following  year,  he  was  ar-   chap.  i. 

bitrarily  forbidden  to  leave  his  native  countrv  hv  the  En- 

glish   authorities,  who  were  jealous   of  the    advantages  jj;^J|^ 
which  the  Dutch  had  gained  by  reason  of  Hudson's  dis- 
coveries while  in  their  service ;  and  the  Half  Moon  was 
detained  for  several  months,  quietly  at  anchor  in  Dart- 
mouth harbor.*" 

The  American  territory  which  had  thus  been  discover-  The  Dutea 
ed  by  the  agents  of  the  Dutch  East  India  Company,  though  in  Nortu 
included  within  James's  first  Virginia  patent  of  1606,  was 
actually  unoccupied,  and  unpossessed  "by  any  Christian 
prince  or  people."  In  the  south,  John  Smith's  exploring 
parties  were  visiting  the  upper  waters  of  the  Chesapeake, 
and  far  off  in  the  north  the  arquebuses  of  Samuel  Cham- 
plain  were  dealing  death  to  the  aborigines  on  the  "  Lake 
of  the  Iroquois,"  when,  with  extraordinary  coincidence, 
Henry  Hudson  was  about  piloting  the  first  European  ves-  1G09. 
sel  through  the  unknown  "  River  of  the  Mountains"  which 
flowed  between.  No  stranger  but  Verazzano  seems  to  have 
passed  the  "  Narrows"  before  those  wondering  mariners 
who  navigated  the  Half  Moon  of  Amsterdam  up  that  ma- 
jestic stream,  to  which  the  assent  of  the  world  has  given 
the  name  of  its  illustrious  explorer.!  All  above  was  new 
and  undiscovered.  The  lethargy  of  uncivilized  nature 
reigned  throughout  the  undisturbed  solitude.  The  wild 
game  sprung  from  their  familiar  retreats,  startled  by  the 

*  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.  (second  series),  ii.,  370.  "  Et  comme  Hudson  6tait  prSt  de  partir 
avec  la  navire  et  ses  gens,  pour  aller  faire  rapport  de  son  voyage,  il  fut  arrete  en  Angle- 
terre,  et  regut  commandement  de  ne  point  partir,  mais  qu'il  devait  faire  service  4  sa  pa- 
trie  ;  ce  qu'on  commanda  aussi  aux  autres  Anglais  qui  etaient  au  vaisseau.  Ce  que  plu- 
sieurs  trouverent  fort  6trange,  de  ce  qu'on  ne  permettait  pas  au  patron  d'aller  faire 
compte,  et  de  faire  rapport  de  son  voyage  et  de  qu'il  avait  fait,  a  ses  maUres,  qui  I'avaient 
envoy6  en  ce  voyage  ;  puisque  cela  se  faisait  pour  le  bien  comtnun  de  toutes  sortes  de 
navigations.  Ceci  se  fit  en  Janvier.  1610.  On  estimait  que  les  Anglais  le  voulaient  en- 
voyer  avec  quelques  navires,  vers  Virginia,  pour  rechercher  plus  avant  la  susdite  Riviere." 
— Van  Meteren,  xxxi.,  674,  675,  edit.  1618.  Emanuel  Van  Meteren,  the  author  of  this  ex- 
cellent History  of  the  Netherlands,  was  for  many  years  Dutch  consul  in  England,  and 
died  in  London,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven,  on  the  18th  of  April,  1612. 

t  It  is  stated,  indeed,  in  the  "  Report  and  Advice"  presented  by  the  Chamber  of  Ac- 
counts of  the  West  India  Company,  on  the  15th  of  December,  1644,  that  New  Netherland, 
"  stretching  from  the  South  River,  situated  in  thirty-eight  and  a  half  degrees,  to  Cape  Mai 
ebarre,  in  the  latitude  of  forty-one  and  a  half  degrees,  was  first  visited  by  the  inhabitanls 
of  this  country,  in  the  year  1598,  and  especially  by  those  of  the  Greenland  Company,  but 
without  making  fixed  habitations,  and  only  as  a  refuge  in  the  winter." — Holland  Docu- 
ments, ii.,  368.    This  statement,  however,  needs  confirmation.    See  Appendix,  note  A. 


3(3  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  I.  uiiusual  echoGs  which  rolled  through  the  ancient  forests, 

as  the  roar  of  the  first  Dutch  cannon  boomed  over  the  si- 

lent  waters,  and  the  first  Dutch  trumpets  blew  the  inspir- 
ino-  national  airs  of  the  distant  Fatherland.     The  simple 
Indians,  roaming  unquestioned  through  their  native  woods, 
which  no  sounding  axe  had  yet  begun  to  level,  and  pad- 
dling their  rude  canoes  along  the  base  of  the  towering  hills 
which  lined  the  unexplored  river's  side,  paused  in  solemn 
amazement,  as  they  beheld  their  strange  visitor  approach- 
ing from  afar,  and  marveled  whence  the  apparition  came.* 
Thus  the  triumphant  flag  of  Holland  was  the  harbinger 
of  civilization  along  the  banks  of  the  great  river  of  New 
York.     The  original  purpose  of  the  Half  Moon's  voyage 
had  failed  of  accomplishment ;  but  why  need  Hudson  re- 
pine ?     He  had  not,  indeed,  discovered  for  his  employers 
the  long-sought  passage  to  the  Eastern  Seas  ;  but  he  had 
led  the  way  to  the  foundation  of  a  mighty  state.t    The  at- 
tractive region  to  which  accident  had  conducted  the  Am- 
sterdam yacht,  soon  became  a  colony  of  the  Netherlands, 
where,  for  half  a  century,  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Hol- 
land established  themselves  securely  under  the  ensign  of 
the    republic,  transplanted   the  doctrines  of  a  Reformed 
faith,  and  obeyed  the  jurisprudence  which  had  governed 
their  ancestors.    In  the  progress  of  events,  a  superior  pow- 
er took  vmjust  possession  of  the  land ;  and  nearly  two  hund- 
red years  have  rolled  by  since  the  change  came  to  pass. 
Yet  the  hereditary  atti'ibutes  of  its  earliest  settlers  have 
always  happily  influenced  the  destinies  of  its  blended  com- 
munity ;  and  many  of  the  noblest  characteristics  of  its  Ba- 
tavian  pioneers  have  descended  to  the  present  day,  unim- 
paired by  the  long  ascendency  of  the  red  cross  of  Saint 
G-eorge,  and  only  more  brightly  developed  by  the  inter- 
mingling of  the  various  races  which  soon  chose  its  inviting 
territory  for  their  home. 

The  picturesque  shores,  along  which  Hudson  lingered 
with  enthusiastic  delight — and  the  magnificence  of  which 

*  See  Appendix,  note  B. 

t  The  population  of  the  State  of  New  York,  in  1S50,  was  3,097,394  ;  about  equal  to  thai 
pf  the  United  States  when  the  Definitive  Treaty  of  Peace  was  signed  in  1783. 


1G09. 


THE  HUDSON  RIVER.  37 

drew  from  him  the  hold  eulogium,  "  it  is  as  beautiful  a  chap.  i. 
land  as  the  foot  of  man  can  tread  upon" — have  become  the ' 
favorite  seat  of  elegance  and  refinement,  and  have  witness- 
ed the  resistless  rise  of  "  empire  and  of  arts."  The  silent 
River  of  the  Mountains  is  now  the  highway  of  a  hound- 
less  traffic,  and  hears  upon  its  bosom  the  teeming  wealth 
which  grand  artificial  channels,  connecting  it  with  the 
mediterranean  seas  of  a  broad  continent,  bring  down  to  its 
tides,  from  coasts  of  vast  extent  and  illimitable  resources. 
Swift  steamers  now  crowd  those  waters,  where  Fulton's 
native  genius  first 

"by  flame  compelled  the  angry  sea, 

To  vapor  rarefied,  liis  bark  to  drive 

In  triumph  proud,  through  the  loud  sounding  surge  ;" 

while  the  yet  more  "  rapid  car"  rushes  incessantly  along 
the  iron  road  which  science,  obeying  the  call  of  enterprise, 
has  stretched  along  the  river's  bank.  The  rights  and  in- 
terests  of  millions  are  now  secured  by  equal  laws,  ordain- 
ed by  freely  chosen  agents,  and  enforced  by  the  common 
consent.  And  while,  at  the  head  of  tide- water,  the  political 
affahs  of  the  commonwealth  are  watched  and  administer- 
ed, and  the  people  declare  their  sovereign  will,  the  ocean- 
washed  island  of  Manhattan,  at  the  river's  mouth,  is  the 
cosmopolitan  emporium  of  an  eager  commerce  which  whit- 
ens every  sea. 


JJ3  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


CHAPTER  II. 

1609-1614. 

( lur.  II.       At  the  time  of  Hudson's  grand  discovery,  the  United 
Netherlands  had  iust  taken  the  rank  of  an  independent 

The  Dutch  . 

an  inde-     nation.     For  more  than  forty  years  they  had  maintained 

pendent  na-  ,  .  ,     - 

tion  when  ail  unequal  strife  against  the  higotry  and  despotism  of 
made  dis-    Spain.     The  confederation  of  the  Provinces,  in  1579,  had 

coveries  in      J^ 

their  serv-  "been  followcd,  in  1581,  by  the  noblest  political  act  which 
the  world  had  then  ever  witnessed — the  declaration  of  their 
national  independence.  Q,ueen  Elizabeth,  who  had  warm- 
ly espoused  the  cause  of  the  revolted  provinces  the  year  be- 
fore the  Union  of  Utrecht,  formally  opened  diplomatic  re- 
lations with  the  States  General  in  1585,  and  even  sent 
troops  to  their  succor,  under  the  command  of  her  favorite, 
the  Earl  of  Leicester.  In  1604,  James  I.  not  only  re- 
ceived ambassadors  from  the  states,  but,  in  conjunction 
with  Henry  IV.  of  Prance,  agreed  to  use  his  best  efforts  to 
procure  the  recognition  of  their  independence  by  Spain. 
A  large  number  of  the  people  of  England,  at  the  same  time, 
were  warmly  in  favor  of  an  alliance  with  the  Netherlands. 
The  naturally  unambitious  character  of  the  Dutch  and  the 
convenience  of  their  country  for  trading,  rendered  them 
safe  and  profitable  allies  ;  while  the  difficulty  of  securing 
the  English  coast  from  their  attacks,  and  the  English  mer- 
chant vessels  from  their  privateers,  would  have  rendered 
them  equally  mischievous  and  formidable  enemies.  Yet 
James  himself,  though  he  agreed  to  permit  contingents  of 
troops  to  be  raised  within  his  kingdom  for  their  defense, 
heartily  disliked  the  Dutch ;  and  the  more  so,  because  he 
found  that  the  English  soldiers  who  served  in  the  Nether- 


1G09. 


TRUCE  BETWEEN  SPAIN  AND  THE  NETHERLANDS  39 

lands,  returned  home  filled  with  notions  of  popular  rights  chap.  11. 
and  civil  liberty  which  they  had  imbibed  in  the  repub-' 
lican  provinces.*  But  Providence  had  determined  that 
the  soldiery  of  England  were  to  learn  in  Holland,  during 
the  reign  of  James,  lessons  in  human  freedom  and  govern- 
ment, which  were  soon  afterward  to  receive  a  stern  appli- 
cation in  the  reign  of  James's  unfortunate  son. 

Three  years  more  of  varied  war,  in  which  the  success- 
es of  Spinola's  armies  on  land  were  splendidly  overbalanced 
by  the  victories  of  the  Dutch  fleets  at  sea,  and  the  King 
of  Spain,  wearied  with  an  apparently  interminable  contest, 
which  had  baffled  all  his  calculations,  and  nearly  drained 
his  treasury,  sent  ambassadors  to  the  Hague  early  in  1607, 
to  open  negotiations  for  a  peace  with  the  Netherlands. 
But  the  Dutch  were  not  yet  unanimous  for  a  cessation  of 
hostilities.  Since  their  triumphs  over  the  Spaniards,  they 
had  begun  to  imbibe  a  spirit  of  ambition  and  conquest 
alien  to  their  former  sober  national  character ;  and,  from 
being  patient  traders  and  brave  defenders  of  their  country 
against  invasion,  they  had  become  adventurous  and  victo- 
rious aggressors.  Perceiving  these  changes  in  the  habits 
of  the  people,  and  fearing  still  greater  and  more  inconven- 
ient modifications,  Barneveldt,  the  Advocate  of  Holland, 
and  many  other  patriotic  statesmen,  ardently  wished  for 
peace.  But  the  clergy,  who  mistrusted  the  bigotry  of  Phil- 
ip, deemed  an  equitable  treaty  with  Spain  impracticable ; 
and  the  stadtholder.  Prince  Maurice  of  Nassau,  naturally 
opposed  the  termination  of  a  war  in  which  he  was  gaining 
both  laurels  and  emolument  as  general-in-chief.  A  large 
party  sided  with  Maurice,  urging  that  war  was  more  safe 
and  advantageous  for  the  provinces  than  peace,  which 
would,  at  any  rate,  throw  out  of  employment  vast  num- 
bers of  people  ;  and  many  of  the  merchants  feared  that 
with  the  end  of  hostilities  the  trade  and  commerce,  which 
had  been  transferred  to  Amsterdam,  would  return  to  more 
commodiously-situated  Antwerp.  Fortunately  the  coun- 
sels of  peace  prevailed,  and  the  negotiations  which  were 

*  Davies,  ii.,  3S4,  385. 


40  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap,  il  opened  by  the  Spanish  ambassadors,  requesting  a  tempora- 

ry  truce,  received  unexpected  emphasis  from  Heemskerk's 

splendid  victory  over  D'Avila,  before  Gibraltar,  on  the 
twenty-fifth  of  April,  1607.  But  Philip,  though  he  agreed 
to  acknowledge  the  sovereignty  and  independence  of  the 
provinces,  refused  to  grant  them,  by  treaty,  a  freedom  of 
trade  to  India  ;  while  the  states,  on  the  other  hand,  were 
determined,  at  all  hazards,  to  insist  upon  their  right  to  a 
commerce  in  which  they  employed  upward  of  one  hund- 
red and  fifty  ships  and  eight  thousand  men,  and  the  an- 
nual returns  of  which  were  estimated  at  forty-three  mill- 
ions of  guilders.  AVith  the  acknowledgment  of  their  po- 
litical independence,  they  claimed  the  recognition  of  the 
consequence  of  independence — the  free  navigation  of  the 
seas.  Upon  this  tender  point,  the  progress  of  the  negotia- 
tions was  arrested.* 

At  length,  after  two  years  of  discussion  and  vicissitude, 
the  conferences  which  had  kept  Europe  in  suspense  re- 
9  April,  suited  in  the  signing,  at  the  Town  Hall  at  Antwerp,  on 
the  ninth  of  April,  1609,  of  a  truce  for  a  term  of  twelve 
years,  instead  of  a  definitive  peace.  The  fulfillment  of  the 
treaty  was  guaranteed  by  England  and  France ;  the  United 
Netherlands  were  declared  to  be  "  free  countries,  provinces, 
and  states,"  upon  which  Philip  and  the  archdukes  had  no 
claim  ;  mutual  freedom  of  trade  between  the  contracting 
parties  was  established  ;  and,  by  a  secret  article,  the  King 
of  Spain  engaged  to  offer  no  interruption  to  the  commerce 
of  the  Dutch  with  India.  The  truce,  after  being  ratified 
by  the  archdukes  at  Brussels,  and  by  the  States  Greneral, 
who  were  specially  convened  at  Bergen-op-Zoom,  was  pub- 
'5  April,  licly  proclaimed  at  Antwerp  and  the  other  chief  towns  of 
Flanders,  amid  demonstrations  of  universal  joy,  the  ring- 
ing of  bells,  and  salvos  of  artillery.  The  great  bell  at  Ant- 
werp, which  had  not  sounded  for  many  years,  was  rung  by 
twenty-four  men,  and  its  glad  peal  was  heard  twelve  miles 
off,  at  Ordam  and  Lillo.     The  priests  chaunted  "  Te  Deum 

♦  Grotius,  XV.,  T16  ;  Van  Meteren,  xxviii.,  608  ;  xxix.,  626-630 ;  Watson's  Thilip  II.. 
iii.,  217,  241  ;  Davies,  ii.,  405-427. 


INDEPENDENCE  AND  SOVEREIGNTY  OF  THE  DUTCH.  41 

Laudamus  ;"  the  inhabitants  of  the  towns  promenaded  chap.  ii. 
outside  of  the  walls,  like  newly-liberated  prisoners ;  and 
boat-loads  of  passengers  came  through  the  canals,  from 
Zealand  and  Holland,  to  visit  friends  whom  they  had  not 
seen  for  a  long  generation.  But  the  now  martial  people 
of  the  Northern  United  Provinces  tempered  their  triumph 
by  a  recollection  of  the  sufferings  which  they  and  their 
fathers  had  undergone.  The  States  General  proclaimed  a 
solemn  fast ;  and  the  day  was  religiously  celebrated  in  all  o  mmj. 
the  churches  of  the  United  Netherlands  by  hearty  prayers 
"  that  the  Provinces  might  be  maintained  and  preserved  in 
a  firm  union,  amity,  and  correspondence,  under  a  properly 
authorized  government."*" 

By  foreign  nations,  the  publication  of  the  truce  was  re- 
ceived with  astonishment  and  admiration.  They  could 
scarcely  persuade  themselves  that  the  haughty  Spaniard 
could  ever  be  forced  to  acknowledge  the  independence  and 
sovereignty  of  his  rebel  subjects,  and  tacitly  allow  them  a 
free  trade  to  India.  But  no  sooner  had  the  ratifications 
of  the  treaty  been  exchanged,  than  the  powers  of  Europe 
and  Asia  formed  new  estimates  of  the  resources  of  the 
Dutch,  and  of  the  wisdom  and  energy  of  their  counsels, 
and  immediately  began  to  vie  with  each  other  in  courting 
their  alliance  and  invoking  their  support.  Soon  after  the 
signature  of  the  treaty,  the  States  General  sent  the  Sieur 
de  Schoonewalle  on  an  embassy  to  England.  The  king 
received  him  at  once  "as  ambassador  of  a  free  country  12 .\:v. 
and  state,"  and  immediately  commissioned  his  Master  of 
Requests,  Sir  Ralph  "Winwood,  to  reside  in  Holland  as  his 
ordinary  ambassador.  Thenceforward,  the  Dutch  were 
universally  esteemed  "as  a  free  and  independent  people. 
Having  gained  immortal  honor  by  the  magnanimity  which 
they  had  displayed  during  the  continuance  of  the  war, 
they  were  now  considered  as  having  obtained  the  reward 

*  Corps  Dip.,  v.,  99-102  ;  Grotius,  xviii.,  812  ;  Van  Meteren,  xxx.,  658.  The  proclama- 
tion by  government  authority,  in  this  state,  of  days  of  fasting  and  days  of  thanksgiving, 
was  a  custom  derived  from  Holland.  Frequent  instances  in  which  the  directors  of  New 
Netherland  imitated  the  pious  example  of  the  Fatherland,  will  be  found  in  the  following 
nages. 


42  HISTOilY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YOrvK. 

thap.  ii.  which  their  virtue  merited,  and  were  every  where  respect- 
cd  and  admired.  Their  ministers  at  foreis^n  courts  were 
now  received  with  the  same  distinction  as  those  of  other 
sovereign  powers,"*  It  is  a  somewhat  singular  coinci- 
dence, that  the  treaty  was  signed  just  three  days  after 
Hudson  had  sailed  from  the  Texel  on  his  voyage  of  dis- 
covery. So  far,  therefore,  as  England,  France,  and  Spain 
were  concerned,  the  nationality  and  sovereignty  of  the 
United  Provinces  were  recognized  with  sufficient  distinct- 
ness at  the  period  of  Hudson's  voyage ;  and  the  Dutch  were 
certainly,  from  that  time  forward,  abundantly  competent 
to  take  and  enjoy  any  rights  derived  from  discovery  under 
the  law  of  nations.! 
iTiKison-s  Hudson  himself  never  revisited  the  pleasant  lands  he 
lo^he"  '°  had  discovered  and  extolled.  The  hardy  mariner,  still 
Engii'sh     intent  on  solving  the  problem  of  the  northern  passage  to 


service. 


China,  and  prevented  by  the  jealousy  of  English  authority 
from  leaving  his  native  country  to  engage  again  in  enter- 
prises for  the  benefit  of  foreigners,  re-entered  the  service 
of  his  early  London  patrons,  and  sailed  from  the  Thames 
in  "  The  Discovery,"  on  his  last  and  fatal  voyage  to  the 
1610,  north,  in  the  spring  of  1610,  Passing  Iceland,  W'here  he 
17  April,  saw  the  famous  Hecla  "  cast  out  much  fire,"  he  doubled 
the  southern  Cape  of  Crreenland,  and  penetrated  through 
Davis's  Straits  into  the  vast  and  gloomy  waters  beyond. 
While  Hudson's  recent  companions  in  the  Half  Moon  were, 
under  another  chief,  renewing  a  happy  intercourse  with 
the  native  savages  along  the  River  of  the  Mountains,  the 
intrepid  navigator  himself  was  buffeting  with  arctic  tem- 
pests, in  fruitless  efforts  to  explore  the  "labyrinth  without 

*  Van  Meteren,  xxxi.,  662  ;  Watson,  iii.,  278  ;  Davies,  ii.,  427-139. 

t  Chalmers,  Pol.  Ann.,  568,  intimates  doubts  on  this  subject.  But  this  biased  annal- 
ist, though  a  standard  authority  on  many  points,  must  be  read  with  great  caution  in  all 
that  he  writes  with  reference  to  the  early  history  of  New  York.  His  strong  English  prej- 
udices constantly  led  him  into  serious  misstatements  in  regard  to  the  discoveries  of  other 
nations.  The  shores  of  New  Jersey  and  New  Yorlt  had  certainly  not  been  "often  ex- 
plored" before  Hudson's  voyage.  Cabot  can  not  strictly  and  fairly  be  said  to  have  "  ex- 
plored" a  coast  which  he  seems  to  have  seen  only  occasionally.  And  what  is  the  evi- 
dence that  he  took  "  formal  possession"  of  any  part  south  of  Newfoundland  ?  Of  Euro- 
peans, Verazzano  alone,  who  merely  looked  into  the  beautiful  harbor  of  New  York,  was 
really  the  predecessor  of  Hudson.  Holmes,  i.,  135,  136,  follows  Chalmers,  and  repeats 
his  errors. 


THE  FUR  TRADE  OF  HOLLAND.  -  43 

3nd"  in  which  he  had  become  involved.     At  length,  after  chxp.  ii. 
spending  a  dreary  winter  of  suffering  and  privation  on  the 
frozen  coast,  he  was  basely  abandoned  by  his  mutinous 
crew  on  midsummer's  day,  1611,  in  a  forlorn  shallop,  in   1611. 
the  midst  of  fields  of  ice,  to  perish  miserably  in  that  sullen  Hudson's 
and  inhospitable  Bay,  the  undying  name  of  which  perpet- 
uates the  memory  of  his  inflexible  daring.* 

The  Half  Moon  having,  as  we  have  seen,  been  detained  The  iiair 

.  ^  1      *  -,  Moonre- 

eight  months  m  England,  did  not  reach  Amsterdam  until  turns  to 

Amster- 

the  summer  of  1610,  and  the  directors  of  the  East  India  dam. 
Company,  indisposed  to  continue  efforts  in  a  quarter  which  j^  j^^,     ' 
did  not  seem  to  promise  the  coveted  passage  to  Cathay, 
and  which  was  not  strictly  within  the  limits  of  their  char- 
ter, took  no  further  steps  to  make  available  the  discoveries 
which  their  yacht  had  effected.! 

But,  meanwhile,  if  the  glowing  account  of  the  country  Dutch  en- 

..  terprise  e.t- 

he  had  visited,  which  Hudson  sent  from  England  to  his  cited. 
Dutch  patrons,  corroborated  by  his  companions  in  discov- 
ery, on  the  Half  Moon's  return  to  Amsterdam,  did  not  at 
once  induce  active  efforts  to  transfer  to  those  pleasant  re- 
gions permanent  colonies  from  the  over-populated  Father- 
land, it  did  not  fail  to  stimulate  commercial  adventure  in 
a  quarter  which  promised  to  yield  large  returns. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  in  the  midst 
of  their  war  with  Spain,  the  Dutch  had  opened  a  prosper-  Their  fur 
ous  commerce  at  Archangel ;  and,  in  1604,  they  had  ob-  Russia. 
tained  from  the  Czar  concessions  of  such  a  liberal  charac- 
ter as  to  attract  to  that  port  from  sixty  to  eighty  Holland 
ships  every  year.     From  Archangel,  their  traders  had  in-  • 
tercourse  with  Novogorod  and  the  great  inland  towns,  and 
carried  on  a  large  traffic  in  the  furs  of  ancient  Muscovy. 
The  wise  simplicity  of  the  first  Russian  tariff  laid  a  duty 
of  five  per  cent,  on  all  imported  goods,  and  allowed  an 

«  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  146-188. 

t  The  subsequent  career  of  the  Half  Moon  may,  perhaps,  interest  the  curious.  The 
small  "  ship  book,"  before  referred  to,  which  I  found,  in  1641,  in  the  company's  archives 
at  Amsterdam,  besides  recording  tho  return  of  the  yacht  on  the  15th  of  July,  1610,  states 
that  on  the  2d  of  May,  1611,  she  sailed,  in  company  with  other  vessels,  to  the  East  Indies, 
under  the  command  of  Laurens  Reael ;  and  that  on  the  6th  (if  March,  1615,  she  waa 
"  wrecked  and  lost"  on  tho  island  of  Mauritius. 


44         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  XEW  YORK. 

(HAP.  II.  equivalent  amount  to  be  exported  duty  free.    Whoever  ex- 
;^        ported  more  than  he  imported,  paid  a  duty  of  five  per  cent. 
■  on  the  difference.* 

A  new  temptation  was  unexpectedly  offered  to  the  ex- 
panding commerce  of  Holland.  Vast  regions  in  North 
America,  which  Hudson  had  seen  abounding  in  beaver 
and  other  valuable  furs,  and  where  native  hunters,  unre- 
strained by  arbitrary  regulations  of  excise,  furnished  ready 
and  exhaustless  cargoes,  were  now  open  to  Dutch  mercan- 
tile enterprise.  The  tempting  opportunity  was  not  neg- 
Ar.other  lectcd.  Another  vessel  was  immediately  fitted  out,  and 
the  River  of  dispatched  from  the  Texel  in  the  summer  of  1610,  to  the 

fie  Moun-  ^  . 

tains.  great  River  of  the  Mountains,  with  a  cargo  of  goods  suit- 
able for  traffic  with  the  Indians.  The  new  adventure  was 
undertaken  at  the  private  risk  of  some  merchants  of  Am- 
sterdam,! who,  perhaps,  as  directors  of  the  East  India 
Company,  had  read  Hudson's  report  to  liis  Dutch  employ- 
is  July.  ers.  The  Half  Moon  had  now  just  returned  to  Amster- 
dam after  her  long  detention  in  England.  A  part  of  her 
old  crew  manned  the  new  vessel,  the  command  of  which 
was  probably  intrusted  to  Hudson's  Dutch  mate,  who  had 
opposed  his  early  return  ;t  and  the  experienced  mariners 
soon  revisited  the  savages  on  the  great  river,  whom  they 
Tradition    had  left  the  autumn  before.     Tradition  relates,  that  when 

of  the  sav-    ,  ■•        -p,  .        ,  .  ,  ,  , 

ages  re-     the  JjiUropcans  arrived  agam  among  the  red  men,  "they 
her  voyage,  were  mucli  rejoiccd  at  seeing  each  other."s^ 

Meanwhile,  the  occupation  of  Virginia  by  the  English 

had  become  well  known  in  Holland,  and  the  States  Gren- 

eral,  through  Caron,  their  ambassador  at  London,  had  even 

Overtures  made  ovcrturcs  to  the  British  government  "  for  ioininsr 

by  the  .  .    .  J  o 

Dutch  to    with  them  in  that  colony."     A  proposition  had  also  been 

the  English  i  i  p    i 

respecting  made  to  uuitc  the  East  India  trade  of  the  two  countries. 
But  the  statesmen  of  England  would  not  favor  either  of 

*  Richesse  de  la  HoUande,  i.,  51 ;  McCulIagh's  Industrial  History,  ii.,  255. 

t  De  Laet,  book  iii.,  cap.  vii. ;  Albany  Records,  xxiv.,  167.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to 
add,  that  the  statements  in  Smith's  History  of  New  York,  i.,  2,  3,  respecting  Hudson 
having  "  sold  the  country,  or  rather  his  right,  to  the  Dutch,"  &c.,  are  utterly  fabulous. 

t  Muilkerk,  A.,  19. 

I)  Hoi.  Doc,  i.,  211 ;  Heckewelder,  in  ii.  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  p.  73  ;  and  ir  Yates  and 
Moulton,  i.,  p.  254.     See  also  Appendix,  note  C. 


CHRISTIAENSEN  AND  BLOCK  AT  MANHATTAN.  4;' 

the  Dutch  projects.     They  feared,  they  said,  "that  in  casse  chap.  u 
of  joining,  if  it  be  upon  equal  terms,  the  art  and  industry       \ 
of  their  people  will  wear  out  ours."* 

The  theory  of  a  northern  passage  to  China  by  way  of  The  Dutch 
Nova  Zembla  had   continued,  in  the   mean  time,  to  be  again  toex 
warmly    supported  by   many  learned   men   in   Holland,  northern 
Among  these  was  Peter  Plancius,  of  Amsterdam,  who,  like  cwna: 
his  contemporary  Hakluyt,  was  distinguished  no  less  as 
a  clergyman  than  as  a  promoter  of  maritime  enterprise. 
Plancius  insisted  that  Heemskerk  had  failed  in  1596,  be- 
cause he  attempted  to  go  through  the  Straits  of  Weygat, 
instead  of  keeping  to  the  north  of  the  island.     In  compli- 
ance with  Plancius's  opinion,  the  States  General,  early  in 
1611,  directed  that  two  vessels,  the  "Little  Fox"  and  the   1611. 
"  Little  Crane,"  should  be  furnished  with  passports  for  voy-  ^'  ^'^'* 
ages  to  discover  a  northern  passage  to  China.     But  the  ice 
arrested  the  vessels  long  before  they  could  reach  the  80th 
degree  of  latitude,  to  which  they  were  ordered  to  proceed. t 

About  the  same  time,  Hendrick  Christiaensen,  of  Cleef,  chnstiaen 
or  Cleves,  near  Nymegen,  returning  to  Holland  from  a  voy-  voyage  t^L 
age  to  the  West  Indies,  found  himself  in  the  neighborhood ' 
of  the  newly-discovered  river,  which  the  Dutch  had  already 
begun  to  call  the  "Mauritius,"  in  honor  of  their  stadthold- 
er,  Prince  Maurice,  of  Nassau.     But  deterred  by  the  fear 
of  losing  his  heavily-laden  vessel,  and  remembering  that  a 
ship  from  Monichendam,  in  North  Holland,  had  been  cast 
away  on  that  coast,  Christiaensen  did  not  venture  into  the 
river  at  that  time,  reserving  the  enterprise  for  a  future  oc- 
casion.    On  his  arrival  in  Holland,  Christiaensen,  in  com- christiaen 
pany  with  another  "  worthy"  mariner,  Adriaen  Block,  ac-BiocVs 
cordingly  chartered  a  ship,  "witii-the  schipper  Ryssr,  and  age. 

*  Winwood's  Memorial,  iii.,  239  ;  Extract  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  John  More  to  Sir  Ralph 
Winwood  (English  ambassador  at  the  Hague),  dated  London,  15th  December,  1610.  "  So 
soon  as  the  Hector  (now  ready  to  hoist  sail)  shall  be  set  forth  of  this  haven  towards  Vir- 
ginia, Sir  Thomas  Gates  will  hasten  to  the  Hague,  where  he  will  confer  with  the  States 
about  the  overture  that  Sir  Noel  Caron  hath  made  for  joining  with  us  in  that  colony.  Sir 
Noel  hath  also  made  a  motion  to  join  their  East  India  trade  with  ours  ;  but  we  fear  that 
in  case  of  joining,  if  it  be  upon  equal  terms,  the  art  and  industry  of  their  people  will 
wear  out  ours." 

t  Hoi.  Doc,  i.,  12 ;  Van  Meteren,  xxxii.,  715  ;  Davies,  ii.,  294,  743  ;  Nog.  de  Jeannia, 
iu.,  2»4. 


46  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  II.  accomplished  his  voyage  thither,  bringing  back  with  him 
■  two  sons  of  the  chiefs  there."* 


Ifill  -...^..^  ..^ 

The  reports  which  the  comrades  made  on  their  return 
to  Holland,  and  the  personal  presence  of  the  two  >oung 
savages,  named  "  Orson  and  Valentine,"  whom  they  had 
brought  over  as  specimens  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  New 
World,  added  a  fresh  impulse  to  the  awakened  enterprise 

Public  at-   of  the  Dutch  merchants.     Public  attention  in  the  Nether- 

Houand'"  lauds  soou  bccamc  alive  to  the  importance  of  the  newly- 
discovered  regions  in  North  America.  A  memorial  upon 
the  subject  was  presented  to  the  Provincial  States  of  Hol- 

7  sepi  land  and  AVest  Friesland  by  "  several  merchants  and  in- 
habitants of  the  United  Provinces  ;"  and  it  was  judged  of 
sufficient  consequence  to  be  formally  communicated  to 
the  cities  of  Amsterdam,  Rotterdam,  Hoorn,  and  Enck- 
huysen.t 
1613.  The  experience  which  Cliristiaensen  and  Block  had  now 
gained,  naturally  recommended  them  for  further  employ- 
ment.    Three  mfluential  and  enterprising  merchants  of 

Ships  sent  Amsterdam,  Hans  Hongers,  Paulus  Pelgrom,  and  Lam- 

from  Am-  mi  ft  tt  i  • 

Kterdamto  breclit  Van  Tweenhuysen — oi  whom  Hongers  was  a  di- 

Mantiattan  .  ^    \,.       ^  ^    i  •        i 

under       rcctor  m  the  East  India  Company — soon  determmed  tc 

Christiaen-  /-if  ii  -i  rr        ^ 

sen  and      avail  themselvcs  of  the  favorable  opportunity  thus  onered 
Block.  _      .      .  ^  ^         ,•',_, 

to  their  enterprise.     Equipping  two  vessels,  "the  i^ortune  ■ 

and  "  the  Tiger,"  they  intrusted  the  respective  commands 
to  Cliristiaensen  and  to  Block,  and  dispatched  them  to  the 
island  of  Manhattan,  to  renew  and  continue  their  traffic 
with  the  savages  along  the  Mauritius  River. 

Other  merchants  in  North  Holland  also  joined  in  the 
Other  ships  trade.     The  "Little  Fox,"  under  the  charge  of  Captain 
John  De  "Witt,  and  the  "  Nightingale,"  under  Captain  Thys 
Volckertsen,  were  fitted  out  by  the  Witsens  and  other  prom- 
inent merchants  of  Amsterdam  ;  while  the  owners  of  the 

*  Wassenaar's  "Historische  Verhael,"  <tc.,  viii.,  85  ;  Muilkerk,  A,  21.  Wassenaar's 
work  has  hitherto  been  unknown  to  our  historians.  In  1648, 1  was  fortunate  enough  to 
procure  a  copy  in  London,  from  which  a  short  "  Memoir  of  the  Early  Colonization  of  New 
Netherland"  was  prepared  and  published  in  N.  Y.  11.  S.  Coll.  (second  series),  ii.,  355.  A 
translation  of  some  extracts  from  Wassenaar  has  just  appeared  in  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii., 
27-48.    The  precise  date  of  Christiaensen's  first  voyage  is  not  given. 

t  IIol.  Doc.,  i.,  H     Wassenaar,  ix.,  44. 


CONDITION  OF  MANHATTAN  ISLAND.  47 

Au\)  "  Fortune,"  of  Hoorn — the  city  which  was  soon  to  give  chap.  ii. 
its  immortal  name  to  the  southern  Cape  of  America — (lis- 
patched  their  vessel,  in  charge  of  Captain  Cornells  Jacol)- 
.-en  May,  to  participate  in  the  enterprise  of  their  metropol- 
itan friends.* 

The  admirable  commercial  position  of  Manhattan  Isl-  commer- 

.  ,    .       ,  ,  cial  impot- 

and  early  mdicated  it,  by  common  consent,  as  the  proper  ance  of 

1  ,,  ,    .         ,         .  .  Ill       Manhattan 

point  whence  the  furs  collected  in  the  interior  could  be  perceived. 
most  readily  shipped  to  Holland.  To  secure  the  largest 
advantages  from  the  Indian  traffic,  it  was,  nevertheless, 
perceived  that  inland  depots  would  become  indispensable. 
Thus,  cargoes  of  furs  could  be  collected  during  the  winter, 
so  as  to  be  ready  for  shipment  when  the  vessels  had  been 
refitted,  after  their  arrival  out  in  the  spring.  Manhattan 
Island,  at  this  time,  was  in  a  state  of  nature ;  herbage  was  condition 
wild  and  luxuriant ;  but  no  cattle  browsed  in  its  fertile  and  ^  '^ 
valleys,  and  the  native  deer  had  been  almost  exterminated 
by  the  Indians.  The  careful  kindness  of  the  Dutch  mer- 
chants endeavored  to  remedy,  as  well  as  possible,  the 
want  of  domestic  animals  for  the  use  of  their  solitary  trad- 
ers ;  and  Hendrick  Christiaensen,  by  his  ship-owners'  di- 
rection, took  along  with  him,  in  one  of  his  voyages,  a  few 
goats  and  rabbits  to  multiply  at  Manhattan.  But  these 
animals — the  first  sent  from  Holland  to  New  York — were 
soon  poisoned  by  the  wild  verdure,  to  which  they  were  un- 
accustomed, t 

Up  to  this  time,  the  Dutch  traders  had  pursued  their  xue  Dutch 
lucrative  traffic  in  peltry,  without  question  or  interruption,  quaimed' 
No  European  vessels  but  theirs  had  yet  visited  the  regions  North  o^r 
around  the  Mauritius  River.     Their  ships  returned  to  Hoi-  River. 
land  freighted  with  large  cargoes  of  valuable  furs,  which 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  i.,  39  ;  Muilkerk,  A,  24.  The  "  Little  Fox"  wa.s  probably  the  same  vessel 
which  had  been  sent  to  Nova  Zembla  in  1611. 

t  Wassenaar,  ix.,  44.  It  seems  from  Wassenaar's  account,  that  the  native  species  of 
dogs.  In  New  Netherland,  was  quite  small ;  for  when  Lambrecht  van  Twcenhuysen,  one 
of  the  owners  of  Christiaensen  and  Block's  ships,  gave  one  of  these  captains  a  "  large  dog" 
to  take  out  with  him,  the  Indians,  coming  on  board  the  ship,  were  very  much  afraid  of 
the  animal,  and  called  him  "the  sachem  of  the  dogs,"  because  he  was  one  of  the  largest 
they  had  ever  seen.  The  translation  in  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  ill.,  40,  is  inaccurate.  Van 
Tweenhuysen  gave  the  dog  to  his  schipper ;  he  was  not  a  "  schipper"  himself,  but  t 
'*  feeder,"  or  shi  -owner,  and  he  does  not  appear  ever  to  have  visited  Manhattan. 


48         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORR. 

CHAP.  II.  yielded  enormous  profits  to  tlieir  owners.  From  Manhat- 
tan,  small  trading  shallops  were  dispatched  into  the  neigh- 
boring  creeks  and  bays  of  "  Scheyichbi,'^  or  New  Jersey, 
and  up  the  Mauritius  River,  as  far  as  the  head  of  naviga- 
tion. The  Dutch  had  been  the  first,  and,  hitherto,  the  only 
Europeans  to  visit  the  Indian  tribes  in  these  regions,  with 
all  of  whom  they  had  continued  to  maintain  a  friendly  and 
cordial  intercourse.  But  while  the  Holland  merchants  pro- 
moted new  explorations,  they  do  not  appear,  as  yet,  to  have 
directed  the  construction  of  permanent  defenses ;  although 
it  has  been  said  that,  "  before  the  year  1614,"  one  or  two 
small  forts  were  built  on  the  river  for  the  protection  of  the 
growing  peltry  trade.* 

/.OSS  of  By  accident,  Adriaen  Block's  ship,  the  Tiger,  was  burn- 

Clock's 

ship,  and    ed  at  Manhattan,  while  he  was  preparing  to  return  to  Hol- 

a  yacht  a:  land.    Undismayed  by  his  misfortune,  the  persevering  mar- 
Manhattan.  1      -1  T  /•    1  1-11 

mer  set  about  building  a  small  yacht,  out  of  the  admirable 
ship  timber  with  which  the  island  abounded.  This  work 
occupied  Block  during  the  winter  of  1613,  and  until  the 
spring  of  1614.  .  To  accommodate  himself  and  his  com- 
First  cab-  paiiious  duriug  their  cheerless  solitude,  a  few  huts  were 
the  island,  now  first  crcctod  near  the  southern  point  of  Manhattan 
Island ;  and,  in  the  absence  of  all  succor  from  Holland,  the 
friendly  natives  supplied  the  Dutch,  through  a  dreary  win- 
ter, "with  food  and  all  kinds  of  necessaries."t 

*  In  a  memorial  to  the  States  General,  dated  25th  of  October,  1634,  the  West  India  Com- 
pany say,  that  "under  the  chief  command  of  your  High  Mightinesses,  before  the  year 
1614,  there  were  one  or  two  little  forts  built  there,  and  provided  with  garrisons  for  the 
protection  of  the  trade." — Hoi.  Doc,  ii.,  138.  De  Laet,  however,  who  wrote  in  1624 — ten 
years  before  the  company's  memorial — distinctly  states  that  one  small  fort  was  built  "  in 
the  year  1614,"  upon  an  island  in  the  upper  part  of  the  river.  In  another  place  he  says  it 
was  built  in  1615. — De  Laet,  book  iii.,  cap.  vii.,  ix.  For  various  reasons,  which  will  be 
exhibited  further  on,  I  think  there  was  only  one  fort  built ;  that  it  was  on  "  Castle  Island," 
near  Albany  ;  and  that  it  was  erected  in  1614. 

t  De  Laet,  book  iii.,  cap.  x.  ;  De  Vries,  181  ;  "  Breeden  Raedt  aen  de  Vereeinghde  Ne- 
derlandsche  Provintien,"  &c.,  p.  14,  15.  This  latter  very  rare  tract  (for  the  use  of  which 
I  am  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Campbell,  the  deputy  librarian  at  the  Hague)  is  now 
for  the  first  time  quoted  in  our  history.  The  statement  in  the  Breeden  Raedt,  of  the  In- 
dians themselves,  is  that  "  when  our  people  (the  Dutch)  had  lost  a  certain  ship  there,  and 
were  building  another  new  ship,  they  (the  savages)  assisted  our  people  with  food  and  all 
kinds  of  necessaries,  and  provided  for  them,  through  two  winters,  until  the  ship  was  fin- 
ished." De  Laet,  in  his  later  editions  of  1633  and  1640  (book  iii.,  cap.  vii.),  says,  that  to 
carry  on  trade  with  the  natives,  "  our  people  remained  there  during  winter."  De  Vries, 
p.  181,  repeats  the  same  statement.  The  account  in  the  Breeden  Raedt,  that  Block  built 
his  yacht  during  the  winter,  seems  thus  to  be  fully  confirmed.     That  the  vessel  was  built 


THE  COLONY  OF  VIRGINIA.  49 

The  infant  colony  of  Virginia  had,  meanwhile,  suffered  chap.  ii. 
stranore  vicissitudes.     Under  the  second  charter  of  Kinsr" 
James,  which  passed  the  great  seal  early  in  1609,  Thomas  Virginia  af. 
Lord  Delawarr  was  appointed  governor  for  life ;  Sir  Thomas  23'M'ay. 
Gates,  lieutenant  governor  ;  Sir  George  Somers,  admiral ; 
and  Christopher  Newport,  vice-admiral.     An  expedition, 
consisting  of  nine  vessels,  was  equipped  and  dispatched  for 
Virginia,  with  five  hundred  emigrants,  a  few  days  before 
the  charter  was  actually  sealed.     Lord  Delawarr  himself  15  May. 
did  not  leave  England  with  the  expedition ;  but  he  dele- 
gated the  command,  in  the  interim,  to  Gates,  Somers,  and 
Newport.* 

When  near  the  end  of  their  voyage,  a  hurricane  sepa- 
rated the  ship  in  which  the  three  commissioners  had  em- 
barked from  the  rest  of  the  squadron,  and  wrecked  it  on  shipwreck 
Bermuda.!     The  remnant  of  the  fleet  reached  Virginia  to-  da. 
ward  the  end  of  the  summer  ;  and  to  avoid  anarchy,  John  11  August 
Smith,  who  had  now  been  two  years  in  the  colony,  assumed 
the  chief  command,  in  the  absence  of  the  newly-commis- 
sioned officers,  whose  fate  was  yet  unknown.    But  the  new 
colonists  consisted  of  "  many  unruly  gallants,  packed  hither 
by  their  friends  to  escape  ill  destinies."    Against  every  pos- 
sible discouragement,  Smith  resolutely  maintained  his  au- 
thority, and  his  influence  introduced  something  like  order 
among  the  unruly  emigrants.    At  length,  an  accidental  ex- 
plosion of  gunpowder,  which  mangled  his  person,  disabled 
him  from  duty,  and  obliged  him  to  return  home  for  surgical 
aid.     Disgusted  at  the  opposition  he  had  met  with  in  the  smith  re- 
colony  which  owed  him  so  much,  the  "  Father  of  Virginia"  England. 
delegated  his  authority  to  George  Percy,  and  embarked  for  October. 
England,  a  few  weeks  after  Hudson  had  set  sail  for  Eu- 
rope with  the  news  of  his  grand  discovery.! 

In  the  mean  time.  Gates  and  his  companions,  who  had 
been  cast  away  on  Bermuda,  had  subsisted  upon  the  nat- 

during  the  winter  of  1613,  and  was  finished  and  used  in  the  spring  of  1614,  seems  also  cer- 
tain from  IIol.  Doc,  i.,  47, 53. 

*  Smith,  i.,  233  ;  Purchas,  iv.,  1729. 

t  Stracliey's  account  of  this  shipwreck  in  Purchas,  iv.,  1734,  is  supposed  by  Malone  to 
be  the  foundation  of  Shakspeare's  "  Tempest."  This  opinion,  however,  has  recently  been 
controverted.  t  Smith,  i.,  239 ;  ii.,  102 

D 


50         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

chaf.  II  ural  products  of  that  fertile  island,  the  luxuriance  of  which 
"afterward  won  from  Waller  the  matchless  panegyric, 


1609. 


"  Heaven  sure  has  left  this  spot  of  earth  uncurs'd, 
To  show  how  all  things  were  created  first." 


During  the  autumn  and  winter,  with  admirable  persever- 
ance they  constructed  two  small  pinnaces  out  of  the  wreck 
of  their  old  ship  and  the  cedars  which  they  felled  on  the 
Gates  sails  island.     After  a  nine  months'  soiourn  in  their  delightful 

from  Ber-  •>  " 

niudato     abode,  they  embarked  in  these  vessels,  in  the  spring  of 

1610.  1610,  and  in   a  few  days  arrived  safely  at  Jamestown. 

23  May.      -g^^  instead  of  a  happy  welcome,  they  met  a  scene  of  mis- 

The"starv-  erv,  and  famine,  and  death.     The  four  hundred  and  ninety 

inc  time"  •/  ^  '  •/ 

i.i  Virginia,  persons  whom  Smith  had  left  in  the  colony,  had,  in  six 
months,  tlirough  vice  and  starvation,  d\V'indled  down  to 
sixty.  In  their  extremity  of  distress,  they  all  now  determ- 
ined to  desert  Virginia,  and  seek  safety  and  food  among 
the  English  fishermen  at  Newfoundland.     Embarking  in 

6  Juno  four  pinnaces,  the  colonists  bade  adieu  to  Jamestown. 
"  None  dropped  a  tear,  for  none  had  enjoyed  a  day  of  hap- 
piness."*' 

Arrival  of       But  Unexpected  relief  was  at  hand.     After  nearly  a 

warr.  year's  delay  in  England,  Lord  Delaw^rr  embarked  at 
Cowes  on  the  first  of  April,  1610,  and  set  sail  for  Virginia 
with  three  vessels  laden  with  supplies.  The  squadron  fol- 
lowed the  old  route,  by  the  roundabout  way  of  Terceira  and 
Grratiosa ;  and,  early  in  June,  Lord  Delawarr  first  made  the 
land  "to  the  southward  of  the  Chesapeake  Bay."   Running 

6  June.      in  toward  the  shore,  he  anchored  over  night  at  Cape  Hen- 

'  June.  ry,  where  he  landed  and  set  up  a  cross.  The  next  morn- 
ing he  sailed  up  the  Chesapeake  to  Point  Comfort,  where 
he  heard  the  sorrowful  tale  of  "  the  starving  time."  At 
that  very  moment,  the  pinnaces  conveying  the  remnant  of 
the  dispirited  colony  were  slowly  falling  down  the  James 
River  with  the  tide.  The  governor  instantly  dispatched  a 
boat  with  letters  to  Grates  announcing  his  arrival.     The 

8  June.      next  day,  the  pinnaces  were  met  descending  the  river ;  and 

*  Chalmers,  30  ;  Bancroft,  i.,  137-140. 


ARGALL  AT  DELAWARE  BAY.  51 

G-ates  immediately  patting  about,  relanded  his  men  the  chap.  ii 

same  ni^ht  at  Jamestown.  "T" 

•  1610 

Lord  Delawarr  soon  arrived  before  the  town  with  his  jg  jun^. 

ship;  and,  after  a  sermon  by  the  chaplain,  commenced  the 
task  of  regenerating  the  colony.    A  council  was  sworn  in ; 
"the  evils  of  faction  were  healed  by  the  unity  of  the  ad- 
ministration, and  the  dignity  and  virtues  of  the  governor;" 
and  the  rejoicing  colonists  now  began  to  attend  to  their 
duties  with  energy  and  good-will.     To   supply  pressing  i9  Jur  e 
want,  Sir  G-eorge  Somers  was  promptly  dispatched  withsomcrsanri 
Samuel  Argall,  "a  young  sea-captain  of  coarse  passions pltdieii to 
and  arbitrary  temper,"  in  two  pinnaces,  to  procure  fish  and  *^™"  ^' 
turtle  at  Bermuda.* 

After  being  a  month  at  sea,  the  pinnaces  parted  com- 
pany in  a  fog ;  and  Argall,  despairing  of  rejoining  his  com-  27  juiy. 
rade,  made  the  best  of  his  way  back  to  Virginia.     Falling 
in  with  Cape  Cod,  he  sailed  to  the  southward,  and  in  a  19  August. 
week  found  himself  again  within  twelve  leagues  of  the 
shore.     Early  the  next  morning,  he  anchored  "in  a  very 27 August 
great  bay,"  where  he  found  "a  great  store  of  people  which  ciwrs  in 
were  very  kind."     The  same  evening,  Argall  sailed  for  the  ^arr's 
Chesapeake,  after  naming  the  southern  point  of  the  bay  in 
which  he  had  anchored,  "  Cape  La  Warre."     This  Cape 
is  now  known  as  Cape  Henlopen.     The  bay  itself,  which 
Hudson,  in  the  Half  Moon,  had  discovered  just  one  year 
before,  was  soon  commonly  called  by  the  English  "  Dela- 
warr's  Bay,"  in  honor  of  the  G-overnor  of  Virginia ;  but, 
notwithstanding  received  statements,  there  is  no  evidence  Lord  Deia- 
that  Lord  Delawarr  himself  ever  saw  the  waters  which  there  liim- 
now  bear  his  name.t 

Prosperity  at  length  began  to  smile  on  Virginia.     But 
Lord  Delawarr,  finding  his  health  sinking  under  the  cares 
of  his  office  and  the  effects  of  the  climate,  sailed  for  En-28Mar<:i 
gland  in  the  spring  of  1611 ;  and  Gates  having  previously  returns  >i. 
returned  to  London,  t  the  administration  of  the  colonial  gov- 

*  Lord  Delawarr's  letter  of  7th  of  July,  1610,  in  MS.  Ilarl.  Brit.  Museum,  7009,  fol.  58, 
printed  by  the  Ilakluyt  Society  ;  Purchas,  iv.,  1754  ;  Bancroft,  i.,  141. 

t  Argall's  Journal,  in  Purrhas,  iv.,  1762  ;  Strachey's  Virginia  Britannia,  43  ;  De  Vries, 
109,  110.    See  Appendix,  note  D.  i  Winwooil's  Mfinorisl,  iii.,  239. 


52         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

chxp.  II.  ernment  was  committed,  during  his  absence,  to  Captain 
George  Percy.  Soon  after  Delawarr's  departure,  Sir  Thom- 
as  Dale,  "  a  worthy  and  experienced  soldier  in  the  Low 
Countries,"  to  whom,  at  the  request  of  the  Prince  of  Wales, 

•JO  January,  the  States  Greneral  had  just  granted  a  three  years'  leave 
of  absence  from  their  service  to  go  to  Virginia,*  arrived  at 

20  May.  Jamcstowu,  and  assumed  the  government.  Finding  that 
the  colony  needed  more  assistance,  he  wrote  at  once  to 
England.  Lord  Delawarr,  on  his  return  home,  confirmed 
Dale's  accounts  ;  and,  with  unusual  promptness,  the  coun- 
cil at  London  dispatched  six  ships  to  Virginia,  with  three 
hundred  new  emigrants  and  large  supplies. 

Adminis-        Sir  Thomas  Gates,  who,  like  Dale,  had  served  in  the 

Gates.  Netherlands,  and,  in  1608,  had  been  allowed  by  the  States 
General  to  resign  the  commission  he  held  in  Holland,  "  to 
take  command  in  the  country  of  Virginia,  and  to  colonize 
the  same,"t  was  now  sent  out  with  the  new  expedition, 
invested  with  full  authority  as  lieutenant  governor,  and 

August,  arrived  safely  at  Jamestown  in  August.  Under  his  care- 
ful administration,  the  English  settlements  on  the  Chesa- 
peake rapidly  prospered,  and  soon  appeared  to  be  firmly 
1613.  established.  In  the  summer  of  1613,  Captain  Ar gall,  who 
had  been  sworn  by  Lord  Delawarr  one  of  the  colonial 
council,  while  on  a  fishing  voyage  from  Virginia  to  Nova 

Argaii  on    Scotia,  was  Overtaken  by  a  storm,  and  driven  ashore  on  the 

the  coast  of  . 

Maine.       cottst  of  Mamc.     Here  he  learned  from  the  Indians  that 
some  French  colonists  had  just  arrived  at  the  island  of 
Mount  Desert,  a  little  to  the  eastward  of  the  Penobscot. 
On  this  island,  the  Jesuit  missionaries  in  the  company,  aft- 
er giving  thanks  to  the  Most  High,  had  erected  a  cross,  and 
celebrated  a  solemn  mass.     The  island  itself  they  had 
His inratic named  "Saint  Sauveur."     Ascertaining  the  weakness  of 
a^procee  -  ^^^^  Pjench,  Argall  hastened  to  their  quiet  retreat,  and  soon 
French      overpowercd  them  by  his  superior  force.     De  Thet,  one  of 
aries.        the  Jcsuit  fathers,  was  killed  by  a  musket-ball ;  several 
others  were  wounded  ;   "  the  cross  round  which  the  faith- 
ful had  gathered  was  thrown  down  ;*'  and  Argall  returned 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  i.,  6.  t  Ibid  ,  i.,  5.     See  also  ante,  page  45,  note 


ARGALL  ON  THE  COAST  OF  MAINE.  53 

i-o  Vir:.ji!iia  with  eighteen  prisoners,  and  the  plunder  of  a  chap.  ii. 
|»jae-.fl'ul   eolony,  which   the    pious   zeal   of  Madame   ^e"T~~~ 
iTUcrchoville  had  sent  to  America  to  convert  the  savages 
to  Christianity. 

Gates  no  sooner  received  the  report  of  this  piratical  ad-  Argaii 

'  '  aj!;ain  at 

venture  of  his  subordinate,  than,  by  the  advice  of  his  coun-  Maine  and 

•^  _  ,  Nova  Sco- 

cil,  he  determined  to  undertake  a  new  enterprise  against  tia. 
the  French  in  Acadia,  and  destroy  all  their  settlements 
south  of  the  forty-sixth  degree  of  latitude.  Three  armed 
vessels  were  immediately  dispatched,  under  the  command 
of  Argall ;  who,  returning  to  the  scene  of  his  former  out- 
rage at  Mount  Desert,  set  up  the  arms  of  the  King  of  En- 
gland, in  place  of  the  broken  cross  of  the  Jesuits.  Argall 
next  visited  St.  Croix,  and  destroyed  the  remnants  of  De 
Monts'  former  settlement.  Thence  he  sailed  to  Port  Roy- 
al. Meeting  no  resistance  there,  Argall  loaded  his  ships 
with  the  spoil  of  the  ruined  town ;  and  having  thus  effect-  9  Nov. 
ed  all  his  purposes,  he  returned  to  Virginia  about  the  mid- 
dle of  November.* 

The  pretext  under  which  Argall  had  been  dispatched  to  Pretexisio. 
gather  inglorious  laurels  on  the  coasts  of  Acadia,  was  the  ai  proceed 
alleged  encroachment  of  the  French  settlers  there  upon  the 
territory  comprehended  within  James's  sweeping  grant, 
in  1606,  to  the  London  and  Plymouth  adventurers.  Grates 
naturally  leaned  toward  the  most  grasping  interpretation 
of  an  instrument  in  which  he  was  named  first  among  the 
original  grantees  of  an  enormous  monopoly.  But  James's 
patent,  nevertheless,  distinctly  excepted  from  its  purview 
all  lands  "possessed  by  any  other  Christian  prince  or  peo- 
ple ;"  and  the  French  had  unquestionably  been  in  quiet 
possession  of  the  neighborhood  of  Acadia  two  years  before 
the  first  English  charter  passed  the  great  seal.  By  his 
second  charter  of  1609,  James  had  also  expressly  restrict- 
ed the  Virginia  Company's  northern  boundary  to  a  line 
two  hundred  miles  north  of  Point  Comfort,  or  about  the 
fortieth  parallel  of  latitude.  The  predatory  proceedings 
of  Gates  and  Argall  were,  therefore,  entirely  unwarranta- 

•  Champlain,  101-J09  ;  Lescarbot;  Bancroft,  i.,  148. 


54         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  II.  tie ;  aiid  they  were  promptly  resented  by  the  court  of 

France.     As  soon  as  intelligence  of  the  outrage  reached 

ibid.   gyj-Qpg  i\^Q  French  ambassador  at  London  made  a  formal 

('omplamts  r    ' 

French  am-  complaiut  to  the  English  government.     The  privy  council 

Lom^on"^  ^'  immediately  demanded  explanations  from  the  Virginia 

1614.   Company ;  who  excused  themselves  by  stating  in  reply, 

•:3 January. ^1^^^  they  had  received  no  information  from  Virginia  "of 

any  such  misdemeanors."* 

1613.  On  his  return  voyage  from  Acadia  to  Virginia,  late  in 
November.  Novcmbcr,  Argall  is  said  to  have  "  landed  at  Manhatas 
Alleged  vis- Isle,  in  Hudson's    River,"  where,  finding  "four  houses 
to  Manimt-  built,  and  a  pretended  Dutch  governor,"  he  forced  the  Hol- 
landers to  submit  themselves  to  the  King  of  England  and 
to  the  government  of  Virginia.     But  this  favorite  story  is 
very  suspicious ;  it  is  inconsistent  with  authentic  state 
papers  ;  it  has  been  deliberately  pronounced  to  be  "a  pure 
fiction ;"  and  it  certainly  needs  to  be  sustained  by  better 
authority  than  any  that  has  yet  been  produced,  before  it 
can  be  received  as  an  historical  truth. t 

1614.  In  the  spring  of  1614,  explorations  began  to  be  vigor- 
DiuclTdts-'^o^^sly  prosecuted  around  Manhattan,  by  the  several  trading 
covery.      yesscls  wliich  had  been  dispatched  from  Holland.    De  Witt, 

sailing  up  the  Mauritius  River,  in  the  "  Little  Fox,"  gave 
his  name  to  one  of  the  islands  near  Red  Hook,  May,  in 
the  "  Fortune,"  coasting  eastward,  beyond  the  Visscher's 
Hook,  or  Montauk  Point,  visited  a  large  "white  and  clay- 
ey" island,  around  which  Gosnold  had  sailed  twelve  years 
before.  This  island,  the  Indian  name  of  which  was  Ca- 
packe,  the  Dutch  commonly  called  "  the  Texel ;"  but  it  is 
now  known  as  Martha's  Vineyard. t 

By  this  time,  it  was  perceived  that,  to  secure  the  larg- 
est return  from  the  peltry  trade,  a  factor  should  reside  per- 
manently on  the  Mauritius  River,  among  the  Maquaas, 
or  Mohawks,  and  the  Mahicans,  at  the  head  of  tide-water 

*  Chami«ain,  112;  Lond.  Doc,  i.,  1,  3  ;  N.  Y.  Colonial  Manuscripts,  iii.,  1,  2. 

t  See  Appendix,  note  E. 

t  De  Laet,  book  iii.,  cap.  viii.  On  Vissclier's  ar .'  Van  der  Donck's  maps  of  New  Neth- 
erland,  there  is  an  island  in  the  North  River,  marked  "Jan  de  Witt's  Eylant,"  just  nonli 
of  Magdalen  Island.  Jan  de  Witt's  Island  is  the  small  one  just  south  of  Uppei  Red  Hook 
landing,  or  Tivoli ;  Magdalen  Island  is  the  larger  one  next  below. 


THE  YACHT  RESTLESS,  OF  MANHATTAN  55 

Hendrick  Christiaensen,  who,  after  his  first  experiment  in  chap.  ii 
company  with  Adriaen  Block,  is  stated  to  have  made  "  ten 
voyages"  to  Manhattan,  accordingly  constructed  a  trading  chrisnaeii- 
house  on  "  Castle  Island,"  at  the  west  side  of  the  river,  a  f.''por"Nlis- 
little  below  the  present  -city  of  Albany.     This  building,  upp'e'/pVn^ 
which  was  meant  to  combine  the  double  purposes  of  a  ""^^'"^  "^'"■• 
warehouse  and  a  military  defense  for  the  resident  Dutch 
traders,  was  thirty-six  feet  long,  by  twenty-six  feet  wide, 
inclosed  by  a   stockade  fifty-eight   feet  square,  and  the 
whole  surrounded  by  a  moat  eighteen  feet  in  width.     To 
compliment  the  family  of  the  stadtholder,  the  little  post 
was  immediately  named  "  Fort  Nassau."     It  was  armed 
with  two  large  guns,  and  eleven  swivels  or  patereros,  and 
garrisoned  by  ten  or  twelve  men.     "  Hendrick  Cliristiaen- 
sen  first  commanded  here ;"  and,  in  his  absence,  Jacob 
Eelkens,  formerly  a  clerk  in  the  counting-house  of  an  Am- 
sterdam merchant.* 

It  has  been  confidently  affirmed  that  the  year  after  the  No  fun  at 

.-_,^  /-^iTii  IT  Maiitiattan. 

erection  of  rort  Nassau,  at  Castle  island,  a  redoubt  was 
also  thrown  up  and  fortified  "on  an  elevated  spot,"  near 
the  southern  point  of  Manhattan  Island.  But  the  assertion 
does  not  appear  to  be  confirmed  by  sufficient  authority.! 

Adriaen  Block  had,  meanwhile,  completed  the  building  Block  com- 
of  his  yacht,  which  he  appropriately  named  the   Onrust,  >  aoiu  "  iha 
or  "  Restless."    With  this  small  vessel,  about  sixteen  tons 
in  burden,  and  the  first  ever  constructed  by  Europeans  at 
Manhattan,!  Block  proceeded  to  explore  the  bays  and  riv- 
ers to  the  eastward,  into  which  the  larger  ships  of  the  Dutch 

*  Figurative  Map,  from  the  archives  at  the  Hague  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,27, 38  ;  Wasse- 
naar,  vi.,  144  ;  viii.,  85  ;  De  Laet,  book  iii.,  cap.  ix. ;  De  Vries,  113 ;  Hoi.  Doc,  ii.,  136 ; 
Alb.  Rec,  xxii.,  317  ;  xxiv.,  167  ;  Smith's  Hist.  N.  Y.,  i.,  22.  Castle  Island  was  the  first 
below  Albany,  and,  after  1630,  was  known  as  Van  Rensselaer's,  or  Patroon's  Island. 
The  rapid  progress  of  improvement  has,  however,  now  nearly  obliterated  its  former  insu- 
lar character,  and  "  annexed"  it  to  the  thriving  capital  of  our  state. 

t  See  Appendix,  note  F. 

t  The  "  Restless"  was  forty-four  and  a  half  feet  long,  eleven  and  a  half  feet  wide,  and 
pf  about  eight  lasts  or  sixteen  tons  burden. — De  Laet,  book  iii.,  cap.  x.  ;  IIol.  Doc,  i.,  53. 
Mr.  Cooper,  in  his  Naval  History  (i.,  p.  41),  speaks  of  Block's  yacht  as  "tiie  first  decked 
fessel  built  within  the  old  United  States."  Dut  the  honor  of  precedence  in  American  na- 
val architecture  must,  fairly,  be  yielded  to  Popham's  unfortunate  colony  on  the  Kenne- 
beck.  The  "  Virginia,  of  Sagadahoc,"  was  the  first  European-built  vessel  within  the 
original  Thirteen  States — if  Maine  be  considered  as  part  of  Massachusetts.  The  "  Rest- 
less, of  Manhattan,"  was  the  pioneer  craft  of  New  York 


56         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  II.  traders  had  not  yet  ventured.  Sailing  boldly  through  the 
then  dangerous  strait  of  "  the  Hell-gate,"*  into  "  the  Great 
Sails  I^^^y?"  or  Long  Island  Sound,  he  carefully  "  explored  all  the 
iieiT-^ate  pl^ccs  thereabout,"  as  far  as  Cape  Cod.  Coasting  along 
I'sJaiid""^  the  northern  shore,  inhabited  by  the  Siwanoos,  Block  gave 
sound.  .j^j^g  name  of  "  Archipelagos"  to  the  group  of  islands  oppo- 
Discovers  site  Norwalk.     At  the  present  town  of  Stratford,  he  visit- 

the  Housa-  -r>     i   tt  ii 

tonic.  ed  the  "  River  of  Roodenberg,"  or  Red  Hills,  now  known 
as  the  Housatonic,  which  he  described  as  about  "  a  bow- 
shot wide,"  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  which  dwelt  the 
indolent  tribe  of  Quiripey  Indians.  Passing  eastward 
along  the  bay  at  the  head  of  which  New  Haven  now 
stands,  and  which,  on  account  of  the  red  sandstone  hills 
in  its  neighborhood,  the  Dutch  also  soon  called  the  "Roo- 

Expiores    denbersf,"  Block  came  to  the  mouth  of  a  large  river  run- 

theConnec-  °'  "  _ 

ticui  River,  ning  up  northerly  into  the  land.  At  its  entrance  into  the 
Sound  it  was  "  very  shallow ;"  and  Block,  observing  that 
there  were  but  few  inhabitants  near  its  mouth,  ascended 
the  river  to  the  rapids,  at  the  head  of  navigation.  Near 
Wethersfield,  he  found  the  numerous  Indian  tribe  of  Se- 
quins. At  the  latitude  of  41"  48' — ^between  Hartford  and 
Windsor — he  came  to  a  fortified  village  of  the  Nawaas 
tribe,  who  were  then  governed  by  their  Sagamore  Mora- 
hieck.  Here  he  heard  of  "  another  nation  of  savages,  who 
are  called  Horikans,"  dwelling  "  within  the  land,"  proba- 
bly near  the  lakes  west  of  the  upper  part  of  the  river, 
and  who  navigated  the  waters  "in  canoes  made  of  bark." 
From  the  circumstance  that  a  strong  downward  current 
was  perceived  at  a  short  distance  above  its  mouth,  Block 
immediately  named  this  beautiful  stream  the  "  Versch," 

*  "  Our  people  (the  Dutch)  call  this  Infemi  os,  or  the  Ilelle-gat,"  says  the  accurate  De 
Laet.  According  to  Block's  account,  as  stated  by  De  Laet,  the  Dutch  likewise  originally 
called  the  whole  of  what  was  soon  more  familiarly  known  as  the  "  East  River,"  by  the 
name  of  the  "  Hell-gate  River ;"  and  the  currents  from  that  river  and  from  the  North  Riv- 
er are  described  as  "  meeting  one  another  near  Nutten  (Governor's)  Island."  A  branch 
of  the  Scheldt,  near  Hulst,  in  Zealand,  is  called  the  "Hellegat,"  after  which  Block  proba- 
bly named  the  whirlpool  through  which  he  was  the  first  known  European  pilot.  Mod- 
ern squeamishness  has  endeavored  to  improve  this  expressive  historical  appellation  into 
"Hurl-gate."  But  while  modern  science  has  overcome  the  nautical  terrors  of  old  Ilell- 
gate,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  a  vicious  modern  conceit  will  not  prevail  to  rob  us  of  one  of  tht 
few  remaining  memorial  i  ames  of  early  New  York. 


BLOCK  EXPLORES  LONG  ISLAND  SOUNt».  57 

or  Fresh  Water  River.     By  the  native  .savages  it  was  call-  (hap.  11 
eJ  the  "  Connittecock,"  or  Q,uonehtacut ;  and  the  aborig- 
inal  appellation  survives  to  the  present  day,  in  the  name 
of  the  river  and  the  state  of  Connecticut.* 

Continuing  his  course  eastward  from  the  mouth  of  the  Block  dis. 

T-n  1  Ti  ■  r      1         c  ■  covers  the 

Connecticut,  Block  came  to  the  "River  of  the  biccana- TUamcb 
mos,"  afterward  called  by  the  English  the  Pequod  01; 
Thames  River,  where  he  found  the  powerful  tribe  of  Pe- 
quatoos  or  Pequods,  who  were  "  the  enemies  of  the  Wapa- 
noos,"  in  possession  of  the  country.  From  there,  stretch- 
ing "over  across  the  Sound,"  he  visited  the  " Visscher's 
Hoeck,"  or  "  Cape  de  Baye,"  now  known  as  Montauk 
Point,  which  he  discovered  to  be  the  ea.stern  extremity  of 
"  Sewan-hacky,"  or  Long  Island,  "  on  which  a  nation  of 
savages,  who  are  called  Matouwacks,  have  their  abode." 
A  little  to  the  northeast  of  Montauk  Point,  ho  next  visited  visits 
a  large  island,  to  which  the  Dutch  immediately  gave  the  ana." 
name  of  "  Block's  Island,"  in  honor  of  their  countryman.! 
Thence,  following  the  track  of  Verazzano,  Block  ran 
across  to  Nassau,  or  Narragansett  Bay,  which  he  thorough- 
ly explored.  The  western  entrance  was  named  "  Sloup 
Bay,"  and  the  eastern  "  Anchor  Bay  ;"  while  "  an  island 

*  Dc  Laet,  viii. ;  Hoi.  Doc,  vii.,  72  ;  Verbael  van  Beverninck,  607  ^  Winthrop,  i.,  52. 
Trumbull,  in  his  History  of  Connecticut  (i.,  p.  31),  affirms  that  "  none  of  the  ancient  ad- 
venturers, who  discovered  the  great  continent  of  North  America,  or  New  England,  made 
any  discovery  of  this  river.  It  does  not  appear  that  it  was  known  to  any  civilized  nation 
until  some  years  after  the  settlement  of  the  English  and  Dutch  at  Plymouth  and  New 
Netherland."  Yet  Hubbard  (Mass.  Coll.,  xv.,  18,  170)  distinctly  states  that  the  Dutch 
first  discovered  it ;  and  if  Trumbull  had  consulted  the  accurate  details  of  De  Laet,  he 
would  have  found  the  clearest  evidence  that  Block  explored  not  only  the  river,  but  the 
whole  coast  of  Connecticut,  in  1614,  or  six  years  before  the  first  Puritan  English  colonists 
landed  at  Plymouth  Rock.  Bancroft,  ii.,  273,  following  Hubbard,  says  that  "the  discov- 
ery of  Connecticut  River  is  undoubtedly  due  to  the  Dutch."  It  would  have  been  safe  to 
have  added  that  Clock  was  "  its  first  European  navigator." 

t  It  has  been  usual  to  consider  Block  as  the  first  discoverer  of  the  island  which  still 
bears  his  name.  But  while  we  thus  honor  the  memory  of  the  explorer  of  Jliong  Island 
Sound,  we  should  not  forget  to  do  justice  to  his  predecessor  Verazzano,  who,  in  1524,  after 
Hailing  along  the  Atlantic  coast  of  Long  Island  (which  he  took  to  be  the  main  land),  for 
fifty  leagues  eastward  from  Sandy  Hook,  "  discovered  an  island  of  a  triangular  form, 
about  ten  leagues  from  the  main  land,  in  size  about  equal  to  the  island  of  Rhodes."  This 
island,  which  was  undoubtedly  Block  Island,  Verazzano  named  "  Claudia,"  in  honor  of 
the  mother  of  King  Francis  I.  It  is  so  laid  down  in  Lock's  map  of  1582. — Hakluyt  So- 
ciety's "  Divers  Voyages,"  55,  64  ;  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  53  ;  i.  (second  series),  46,  49.  The 
editor  of  Hakluyt,  however,  though  he  seems  unable  to  reconcile  Verazzano's  account 
with  the  supposition  that  "  Claudia"  was  Martha's  Vineyard,  does  not  appear  to  have 
thougtil  of  Block  Island. 


QS  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  VORK. 

Chap.  I!,  of  a  reddish  appearance"  was  observed  lying  within.    This 
was  soon  known  by  the  Dutch  as  "Roode"  or  Red  Island, 
Explores'  ^^'^m  which  is  derived  the  name  of  the  present  State  of 
cin^uBa'y  E-hodc  Island.     Along  the  western  shore  of  the  bay  dwelt 
ifi'aiui"'"^'^  the  tribe  of  Wapanoos,  whom  Block  described  as  "strong 
of  limb  and  of  moderate  size,"  but  somewhat  shy,  "since 
they  are  not  accustomed  to  trade  with  strangers."     Run- 
ning out  of  the  Narragansett,  he  stood  across  the  mouth 
of  Buzzard's  Bay  to  the  southward  of  the  Elizabeth  Isl- 
ands, formerly  visited  by  Gosnold,  and  sailed  by  the  large 
"white  and  clayey"  island,  commonly  called  ^'  Texel"  by 
the  Dutch,  and  "  Capacke"  by  others,  and  which  is  now 
known  as  Martha's  Vineyard.     South  of  the  Texel,  Block 
Visits  Mar- observed   another    small   island,   which  he   immediately 
yard.  '"^  named  "  Hendrick  Cliristiaensen's  Island,"  in  compliment 
to  his  early  comrade.     This  island,  which  Grosnold  had 
discovered,  and  named  Martha's  Vineyard,  is  now  called 
"  No  Man's  Land ;"  wliile,  with  a  happier  fate,  Block  Isl- 
and, retaming  to  this  day  the  name  which  the  Dutch  first 
gave   it,  preserves  the  memory  of  the  hardy  pioneer  of 
Long  Island  Sound. 

Sailing  onward  through  the  "  Zuyder  Zee,"  to  the  north 
of  the  island  of  "Vlieland,"  or  Nantucket,  Block  passed 
near  the  "  Vlacke  Hoeck,"  or   Cape  Malebarre,  and  ran 
along  the  shore  of  Cape  Cod,  until  he  reached  its  northern 
Block  pass- point,  wliich  he  named  "Cape  Bevechier."     Thence  he 
cod.''''^     coasted  along  the  "  Fuyck,"  or  "  Wyok  Bay,"  or  "  Staten 
Bay" — which  names  the  Dutch  gave  to  the  waters  now 
known  as  Cape  Cod  Bay — and  explored  the  shore  of  Mas- 
sachusetts as  far  north  as  "  Pye  Bay,  as  it  is  called  by  some 
of  our  navigators,  in  latitude  42°  30',  to  which  the  limits 
of  New  Netherland  extend."     This  Pye  Bay  is  now  known 
Visits  Bos-  as  Nahant  Bay,  iust  north  of  Boston  harbor,  and,  at  the 

ton  harbor      .  ^  .    .       ,     .  inii^ 

and Na-  time  Block  first  visited  it,  "a  numerous  people"  dwelt 
there,  who  were  "  extremely  well-looking,  but  timid  and 
shy  of  Christians,"  so  that  it  required  "  some  address  to 
approach  them."* 

*  De  Last,  book  iii.,  cap.  viii. ;  ante,  p.  54;  ii.  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  292-99-.     It  is 


hint. 


BLOCK  RETURNS  TO  HOLLAND.  59 

On  his  return  from  Pye  Bay  to  Cape  Cod,  Block  fell  in  c.up.  ii 
with  the  ship  of  Hendrick  Christiaensen,  which  seems,  ' 

meanwhile,  to  have  been  sent  around  from  Manhattan  to  ^^^^^.^ 
the  northward.     Leaving  there  his  yacht,  the  Restless,  Resuess  at 
which  had  already  done  such  good  service,  in  charge  of  andretunls 
Cornells  Hendricksen,  to  make  further  explorations  on  the  ^^  "°"^"'*- 
coast.  Block  embarked  in  his  old  companion's  ship,  the  For- 
tune, and  returned  with  her  to  Holland,  to  report  the  dis- 
coveries which  he  and  his  fellow-navigators  had  made  in 
the  New  World.* 

In  the  mean  time,  the  States  General,  anxious  to  encour- 
age the  foreign  commerce  of  Holland,  had  granted,  early  27  Januar 
in  1614,  a  liberal  charter  to  an  association  of  merchants.  The 
for  prosecuting  the  whale  fishery  in  the  neighborhood  of  company 

,  1      ,  1  .  r  organized 

Nova  Zembla   and  the  exploration  of  a  new  passage  to  by  the 

.       .  ,  .    ,  \       J?  States  (Jen 

Chnia.  Of  this  association,  which  was  named  "  the  North-  erai. 
ern  Company,"  Lambrecht  van  Tweenhuysen,  one  of  the 
owners  of  Block's  ship,  was  an  original  director ;  and 
among  his  subsequent  associates  were  Samuel  Godyn, 
Nicholas  Jacobsen  Haringcarspel,  and  Thymen  Jacobsen 
Hinlopen,  whose  names  have  also  become  historical  in  our 
annals. t 

The  importance  of  a  similar  concession  of  privileges  in 
favor  of  the  merchants  at  whose  expense  new  avenues  of 
trade  were  now  being  explored  in  the  neighborhood  of  Man- 
hattan, was  soon  perceived  ;  and  the  States  of  Holland  20  Mai ch 
were  petitioned  to  recommend  the  general  government  to 
pass  an  ordinance  which  should  assure  to  all  enterprising 
adventurers  a  monopoly,  for  a  limited  time,  of  the  trade 

clear  that  Block  sailed  beyond  Cape  Cod  to  Pye  Bay,  as  he  gives  its  distance  from  the 
Lizard  by  his  observations.  See  also  the  "  Figurative  Map,"  or  chart,  found  in  the  archives 
at  tlie  Hague  (no  doubt  the  one  to  which  De  Laet  refers  on  page  294),  upon  which  Plym- 
outh harbor  is  marked  as  "  Crane  Bay,"  and  Boston  harbor  as  "Fox  Haven,"  while 
Salem  Bay  is  called  "  Count  Ilendrick's  Bay"  (Appendix,  note  G).  The  same  designa- 
tions are  retained  upon  Visscher's  and  Montanus's  maps,  which  also  lay  down  "  Pye  Bay" 
as  near  Nahant.  The  latitude  of  Nahant  is  42''  30',  which  corresponds  precisely  with 
that  of  "  Pye  Bay,"  as  given  by  De  Laet. 

*  De  Laet,  book  iii.,  cap.  x. ;  IIol.  Doc,  i.,  53-59.  De  Laet,  after  stating  Block's  ex- 
ploration of  the  neighborhood  of  Cape  Cod,  in  the  Restless,  adds,  "  whence  he  returned 
home  with  the  ship  of  Hendrick  Christiaensen,  and  left  the  yacht  there  on  the  coast  for 
further  use."  The  translation  in  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.  (second  series),  i.,  301,  is  inexact. 
Muilkerk,  A,  23,  suggests  that  Cornells  Hendricksen  was  a  son  of  Hendrick  Chrisliaensea, 

t  Groot  Placaatbook,  i.,  670  ;  Wassenaar,  vii.,  9o  ;  viii.,  95  ;  ix.,  124. 


(50         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  II.  witli  the  laiicls  they  might  discover.  The  States  Greneral 
accordingly  passed  the  desired  ordinance,  declaring  it  to 
27  March  ^®  "  honorable,  useful,  and  profitable,"  that  the  people  of 
General  the  Netherlands  should  be  encouraged  to  adventure  them- 
lortheen-  selves  in  discoveriug  unknown  countries  ;  and,  for  the  pur- 
mentof      posc  of  making  the  inducement  "  free  and  common  to  ev- 

new  dis-       i  ■— ^ 

coveries.  ery  oue  of  the  inhabitants,"  gi-anting  and  conceding  that 
"  whosoever  shall  from  this  time  forward  discover  any  new 
passages,  havens,  lands,  or  places,  shall  have  the  exclusive 
right  of  navigating  to  the  same  for  four  voyages."  The 
ordinance  also  required  that  reports  of  such  discoveries 
should  be  made  to  the  States  Greneral  within  fourteen  days 
after  the  return  of  the  exploring  vessels,  in  order  that  the 
promised  specific  trading  privileges  should  be  formally  pass- 
ed, in  each  case,  to  the  adventurers  appearing  to  be  enti- 
tled to  them  ;  and  that  if  simultaneous  discoveries  should 
be  made  by  different  parties,  the  promised  monopoly  should 
be  enjoyed  by  them  in  common.* 

September.  Upou  Block's  arrival  at  Amsterdam  with  the  details  of 
the  Dutch  explorations  on  the  coast  of  America,  the  mer- 
chants of  North  Holland,  whose  enterprise  had  been  re- 
warded by  such  interesting  results,  hastened  to  appropriate 
to  themselves  the  advantageous  trade  opened  to  them  there, 
and  to  exclude  all  other  rivalry.     Uniting  themselves  into 

Amsterdam  a  Company,  they  took  the  necessary  steps  to  obtain  the 

Company  spccial  privileges  which  were  promised  in  the  General  Or- 
dinance of  the  27th  of  March.  A  skillful  draughtsman 
was  employed  to  construct  an  elaborately  finished  "  Fig- 
urative Map"  of  their  transatlantic  discoveries,  which  was 
probably  prepared  under  Block's  immediate  supervision, 
and  from  the  data  that  he  furnished.!  The  associates 
then  deputed  some  of  their  number  to  go  to  the  Hague, 
and  lay  before  the  States  G-eneral  an  account  of  their  dis- 
coveries in  America,  and  to  obtain  the  desired  special  and 
exclusive  license  to  trade  to  those  regions. 

The  deputies,  probably  accompanied  by  Block,  accord- 

*  Hoi.  Doc.  i.,  15,  19  ;  Groot  Placaatbook,  i.,  563. 
t  See  Appendix,  note  G,  for  a  description  of  this  map. 


formed. 


THE  BINNENHOF  AT  THE  HAGUE.  61 

ino'ly  proceeded  to  the  capital.  Unlike  other  Dutch  cit-  chap.  ii. 
ies,  the  Hague  owed  its  importance,  not  to  commerce  or 
manufactures,  but  to  having  early  been  made  the  seat  of  deputies 
government  of  the  United  Provinces,  and  to  the  constant ^"l^"_ "" 
presence  of  the  officers  of  state  and  the  foreign  ministers 
accredited  to  the  republic.  For  four  centuries  the  abode 
of  the  counts  of  Holland,  it  derives  its  name  from  the 
"  Haeg"  or  hedge  encircling  the  magnificent  park  which 
formed  their  ancient  hunting  ground,  and  the  majestic 
trees  in  which,  at  this  day,  attract  the  admiration  of  Eu- 
rope. On  an  artificial  island  in  the  centre  of  that  beauti- 
ful town — its  long  facade  bordering  the  quiet  lake  which 
fronts  the  Vyverberg — stands  a  straggling  pile  of  build- 
ings, of  irregular  forms  and  of  various  eras,  surrounding  a 
vast  quadrangle,  quaintly  paved  with  small  yellow  bricks, 
and  inclosing  a  lofty  and  venerable  hall,  the  rival  of  West- 
minster, formerly  hung  round  with  trophies  of  the  victo- 
rious confederacy,  and  in  which  were  held  the  solemn  and 
extraordinary  meetings  of  the  States  Greneral.  Spacious 
galleries  and  corridors,  now  consecrated  to  the  preservation 
of  the  archives  of  the  Netherlands,  stretch  over  long  ar- 
cades and  gilded  apartments,  the  faded  magnificence  of 
which  yet  attests  the  former  splendor  of  the  republic,  when 
her  calm  statesmen  sat  there  in  the  days  of  her  pomp  and 
power.  This  is  the  "  Binnenhof,"  or  inner  court — the  an-  Tiie  Bin- 
cient  palace  of  the  counts  of  Holland.  Here  the  States 
Greneral  constantly  held  their  ordinary  meetings,  in  a  su- 
perbly-decorated apartment  facing  the  old  G-othic  Hall ; 
their  clerk  or  "greffier"  occupying  a  small,  meagerly-fur- 
nished  adjoining  closet,  where  ambassadors  were  frequent- 
ly received,  and  the  weightiest  affairs  of  state  transacted. 

Hither  came  the  deputies  of  the  Amsterdam  Company  inteni.nv 
to  tell  their  story  of  adventure  and  discovery,  and  to  ask  states u.:n 
the  reward  promised  to  their  successful  enterprise.  Around 
the  oval  council-table  sat  twelve  "  high,  mighty  lords"  of 
the  States  Greneral.  One  of  the  assembly  was  John  van 
Olden  Barne veldt,  the  Advocate  of  Holland.  Spreading 
upon  the   council-board  the  "  Figurative  Map"  of  their 


62         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  ii.  transatlantic  discoveries,  the  petitioners  related  to  the 
statesmen  of  Holland  the  adventures  of  their  agents  in 
the  New  "World  ;  and,  detailing  the  "  heavy  expenses  and 
damages"  they  had  suflfered  during  the  current  year 
"  from  the  loss  of  ships  and  other  great  risks,"  they  asked 
a  special  and  exclusive  license  to  trade  to  the  regions 
which  they  had  explored.  The  assembled  statesmen  list- 
ened to  the  narrative  with  interest  and  favor.  Dutch  com- 
mercial  enterprise  had  now  achieved  the  exploration  of 
unknown  and  extensive  regions  in  North  America,  which 
might  soon  become  of  great  political  importance  to  the  re- 
public. These  regions  were  sparsely  inhabited  by  various 
roving  tribes  of  aboriginal  savages,  who  had  already  shown 
kindness  to  the  Hollanders.  No  Europeans  but  the  Dutch 
traders  were  in  possession  of  any  part  of  the  territory. 
Wliy  should  not  the  Amsterdam  Company  now  receive 
their  promised  charter  ?  The  States  Greneral  promptly 
complied  with  the  prayer  of  their  countrymen ;  and  the 
II  October,  grcfficr,  Comelius  Aerssen,  at  once  drew  up  the  minute  of 
Miand'for'-  ^  spccial  trading  license  or  charter,  the  original  of  which 
eTby  tlTe"""  yet  rccords,  in  almost  illegible  characters,  the  first  ap- 
s^tatesGen-pg^^.^j^pg  of  tlic  tcrm  "  Ncw  Nctherlaud"  in  the  annals  of 
the  world.  The  formal  instrument,  bearing  date  the  11th 
of  October,  1614,  was  immediately  afterward  duly  sealed 
and  attested ;  and  thus  the  government  of  the  United 
Provinces,  by  its  solemn  act,  officially  designated  the  un- 
occupied regions  of  America  lying  between  Virginia  and 
Canada  by  a  name  which  they  continued  to  bear  for  half 
a  century,  until,  in  the  fullness  of  time,  right  gave  way  to 
power,  and  the  Dutch  colony  of  New  Netherland  became 
the  English  province  of  New  York.* 

*  Holland  Documents,  i.,  42,  47.  •  This  special  charter  was  brought  to  light  bj'  the  re- 
searches made  in  the  archives  at  the  Hague,  in  1841,  bj'  direction  of  the  government  of 
this  state.  De  Laet,  however,  who  wrote  in  1624,  refers  to  it  in  chapter  vii.,  in  general 
terms,  and  without  giving  its  exact  date,  as  granting  an  "  exclusive  privilege"  of  navi- 
gating to  and  trading  at  New  Netherland.  Yet  Chalmers,  in  the  teeth  of  De  Laet's  state- 
ments, asserts,  that  when  the  Dutch  West  India  Company  was  finally  established  in  162], 
"  neither  any  plantation  nor  the  name  of  New  Netherland  at  that  time  had  any  e.tist- 
ence." — Pol.  An.,  569.  But  the  whole  of  the  first  part  of  this  biased  author's  chapter  re- 
lating to  New  York,  as  has  already  been  intimated,  abounds  in  gross  misrepresentations, 
some  of  which  have  been  too  eagerly  adopted  by  American  writers. 


THE  NEW  NETHERLAND  CHARTER  OF  1614.  63 

The  f-'pecial  charter  Ihus  granted  by  the  States  Greneral  chap.  it 
licensed  the  memorialists  "exclusively,  to  visit  and  navi-       ; 
gate  to  the  aforesaid  newly-discovered  lands  lying  in  Ameri-  provision's 
ca,  between  New  France  and  Virginia,  the  sea-coasts  where-  Netheruind 
of  extend  from  the  fortieth  to  the  forty-fifth  degree  of  lati-  '='>3"<"'- 
tude,  now  named  New  Netherland  (as  is  to  be  seen  on 
the  Figurative  Map  prepared  by  them),  for  four  voyages 
within  the  period  of  three  years,  commencing  on  the  first 
day  of  January,  1615,  next  ensuing,  or  sooner ;"  and  it  ex- 
pressly interdicted  all  other  persons,  directly  or  indirectly , 
from  sailing  out  of  the  United  Provinces  to  those  newly- 
discovered  regions,  and  from  frequenting  the  same  within 
the  three  years  reserved,  under  pain  of  confiscation  of  ves- 
sels and  cargoes,  and  a  fine  of  fifty  thousand  Netherland 
ducats  to  the  benefit  of  the  grantees  of  the  charter.* 

At  the  time  the  Dutch  government  perfected  the  New  views  of 
Netherland  charter,  the  discovery  and  possession  of  Canada  cenerSTn 
and  Acadia  by  the  French  was  notorious  ;  and  the  patent fhedlar- 
which  James  I.  had  granted  to  the  London  and  Plymouth 
Companies  had  likewise,  for  eight  years,  been  known  to 
the  world.     British  colonists  had  already  partially  occu- 
pied Virginia,  the  title  of  England  to  wdiich  the  Dutch 
never  questioned.     The   States  G-eneral  themselves   had 
officially  recognized  it,  in  permitting  G-ates  and  Dale  to 
leave  their  service  to  go  thither,  and  in  making  overtures 
to  join  with  England  in  that  colony.     Upon  the  Figura- 
tive Map  of  New  Netherland,  referred  to  in  the  charter  of 
1614,  New  France  was  represented  as  extending  north- 
ward of  the  forty-fifth  degree,  and  Virginia  southward  of 
the  fortieth  degree.     The  Dutch  discoveries  were  defined 

*  The  charter  sets  forth  the  names  of  the  grantees,  and  of  their  vessels  and  captains,  as 
follows :  "  Gerrit  Jacobsen  Witsen,  former  burgomaster  of  the  city  of  Amsterdam  ;  Jonas 
Witsen,  and  Simon  Monisen,  owners  of  the  ship  the  ^Little  Fox,''  Captain  Jan  de  Witt ; 
Hans  Ilongers,  Paulus  Pelgrom,  and  Lambrecht  van  Tweenhuysen,  owners  of  the  two 
ships  named  the  '  Tiger''  and  the  '  Fortune,''  whose  captains  are  Adriaen  Block  and  Ilen- 
drick  Christiaensen  ;  Arnoudt  van  Lybergen,  Wessel  Schenck,  Hans  Claessen,  and  Barent 
Sweetsen,  owners  of  the  ship  named  the  'Nightingale,''  whose  captain  is  Thys  Volckert- 
scn,  merchants  of  the  aforesaid  city  of  Amsterdam  ;  and  Pieter  Clementsen  Brouwer,  Jan 
Clementsen  Kies,  and  Cornells  Volckertsen,  merchants  of  the  city  of  Iloorn,  owners  of 
the  ship  named  the  '  Fortune,'  whose  captain  is  Cornells  Jacobsen  May." — Hoi.  Doc,  i., 
47.  See  also  Address  before  N.  Y.  Historical  Society,  1844,  Appendix,  p.  53  ;  and  O'Cal- 
laghan's  New  Nelherland,  i.,  75. 


ter 


64         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  II.  ill  that  charter,  as  lymg  between  New  France  and  Vir- 
ginia,  and  the  sea-coasts  of  New  Netherland  were  declared 
^  ■  to  extend  from  the  fortieth  to  the  forty-fifth  degree  of  lat- 
itude. This  intermediate  region,  which  Block  and  his 
comrades  had  described  as  inhabited  only  by  aboriginal 
savage  tribes,  was  yet  "  unoccupied  by  any  Christian 
prince  or  state."  The  Plymouth  Company,  by  the  pat- 
ent of  1606,  were  merely  authorized  to  begin  a  colony  at 
any  convenient  place  between  the  thirty-eighth  and  forty- 
fifth  degrees  of  latitude ;  were  promised  all  the  land  ex- 
tending along  the  sea-coast,  fifty  miles  on  each  side  of 
"  the  first  seat  of  their  plantation,"  and  one  hundred  miles 
into  the  interior ;  and  were  assured  that  they  should  no+ 
be  molested  by  any  British  subjects.  After  the  return  of 
their  dispirited  colonists  from  the  Sagadahoc,  in  1608,  that 
company  had  seemed  to  relinquish  any  further  attempts 
to  settle  emigrants  within  the  limits  assigned  to  them  by 
the  patent ;  under  which,  in  fact,  no  subsequent  English 
colonization  ever  took  place.  Though  British  fishing  ves- 
sels continued  to  resort  to  that  neighborhood,  the  country 
New  En-  itsclf  was  esteemed  as  "  a  cold,  barren,  mountainous,  rocky 
teemed  a  desart,"  and  was  declared  to  be  "not  habitable"  by  En- 
glishmen.* In  the  same  summer  that  Block  was  explor- 
insr  Long  Island  Sound  and  the  regions  to  the  north  and 
east.  Smith  was  visiting  the  bays  and  coasts  of  Maine  and 
Massachusetts ;  and  the  Crown  Prince  of  Great  Britain  was 
confhming  the  name  of  "  New  England,"  which  Smith 
had  given  to  the  territories  north  of  Cape  Cod,  about  the 
very  time  that  the  States  G-eneral  were  passing  their  first 
charter  of  trading  privileges  to  the  "  Directors  of  New 
Netherland."  But  New  England,  though  it  had  a  nom- 
inal existence,  was  yet  uncolonized  in  any  part.  Its  re- 
cent name  had  not  even  reached  the  ears  of  the  Dutch 
statesmen  at  the  Hague.  They  might  justly  have  con- 
New  Neth- sidered  the  territory  which  they  now  formally  named 
"vacuum  "  Ncw  Netherland"  as  a  '■'■  vacuum  domicilium,^^  fairly 
u°"'"open   open  to  Dutch  enterprise  and  occupation.     In  granting 

10  the 

Outch.  ,  Hazard,  i.,  50-58  ;  Smith,  Gen.  Hist.,  ii.,  174  ;  Mass.  Hist.  Call  .  xxvi..  ."ifi 


BLOCK  IN  THE  ARCTIC  OCEAN.  5f, 

the  charter  of  1614,  the  States  Greneral  certainly  exer-  chap.  ii 
cised  a  distinct  act  of  sovereignty  over  that  territory  by  ~; 
giving  it  the  name  of  New  Netherland.  But  while  they 
specifically  defined  the  boundaries  of  their  grant  as  in- 
cluding the  regions  "between  New  France  and  Virginia," 
they  only  assured  to  the  associated  merchants,  whose  en- 
terprise had  been  rewarded  by  important  discoveries,  a 
monopoly  of  the  trade  of  that  country  against  the  compe- 
tition of  other  Dutcli  subjects,  without  for  the  present  as- 
serting the  right  to  exclude  the  rest  of  the  world. 

After  the  procurement  of  the  New  Netherland  charter, 
Block's  connection  with  American  discovery  ceased.  Van 
Tweenhuysen,  who  had  been  one  of  the  joint  owners  of 
"the  Tiger,"  was  anxious  to  secure  the  services  of  his  en- 
terprising captain  for  the  newly-organized  "  Northern  Com- 
pany," and  offered  him  the  command  of  some  vessels  to  be 
employed  in  the  whale-fishery  near  Spitzbergen.  Block 
accepted  his  patron's  proposition,  and  sailed  for  the  Arctic  Block  sails 

^  ^  ni  !r    '         ^T        1  to  the  A/c- 

Ocean  early  in  1615.*  He  does  not  appear  to  have  ever  tic  ocean 
revisited  the  scenes  of  his  successful  adventures  on  the 
coasts  of  America.  Of  all  the  early  followers  of  Hudson 
in  the  exploration  of  New  Netherland,  the  honored  names 
of  only  two  are  now  commemorated  by  Block  Island  and 
Cape  May  ;  yet  the  annalist  of  commercial  New  York  will 
3ver  gratefully  record  the  "  Restless"  as  the  pioneer  ves- 
sel launched  by  white  men  upon  her  waters,  and  as  her 
first  ship-builder,  Adriaen  Block. 

*  V/assenaar,  viii.,  95. 

E 


G6  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


CHAPTER  III. 

1615-1620. 

Chap.  III.      The  Holland  merchants,  who  had  obtained  from  the 

States  General  the  exclusive  ri^ht  of  tradinj?  for  three 

The  New   J^^^^  ^^  'Nevf  Ncthcrland,  though  united  together  in  one 
Netheriand  companv  to  sccurc  the  grant  of  their  charter,  were  not 

Company.  r       J  o  ^ 

strictly  a  corporation,  but  rather  "participants"  in  a  spe- 
cific, limited,  and  temporary  monopoly,  which  they  were 
to  enjoy  in  common.  No  Dutch  vessels  might  visit  the 
coasts  of  America,  between  Barnegat  and  Nova  Scotia, 
except  those  belonging  to  the  grantees  of  the  charter,  who 
resided  at  Amsterdam  and  Hoorn,  in  North  Holland.  But 
these  grantees  were  intrusted  with  no  political  powers  for 
the  government  of  New  Netheriand.  The  objects  they 
had  chiefly  in  view  were  traffic  and  discovery  ;  and  to  pro- 
mote these  objects  the  States  Greneral  had  sealed  their 
charter.  Agricultural  colonization  was  not  their  present 
purpose ;  and  their  few  men  in  garrison  at  Castle  Island 
were  rather  armed  traders,  holding  formal  possession  of  an 
unoccupied  territory,  than  emigi-ants  to  subdue  a  wilder- 
ness. 
Murder  of  Not  loug  after  Christiaensen  had  completed  Fort  Nas- 
christiaen- sau,  the  first  murdcr  recorded  after  Hudson's  voyage  oc- 
curred in  New  Netheriand.  The  two  young  savages,  Or- 
son and  Yalentine,  who  had  been  carried  to  Holland,  were 
soon  afterward  safely  restored  to  their  native  country. 
They  were  described  as  "  very  stupid,  yet  adepts  enough 
in  knavery."  Of  the  two,  Orson  seems  to  have  been  the 
most  mischievous :  "an  exceedingly  malignant  wretch, 
who  was  the  cause  of  Hendrick  Christiaensen's  death,"  is 


sen. 


DEATH  OF  HENDIIICK  CHRISTIAE.NSEN.  67 

Wassenaar's  quaint  record.     No  motive  is  assigned  for  the  chap.  m 
murder,  which,  however,  the  Hollanders  speedily  avenged ;  ' 

and  the  treacherous  Orson  "  was  repaid  with  a  bullet  as 
his  reward."* 

Meanwhile,  Jacob  Eelkens  continued  actively  employed  Eeikens 

./  i      ./         prosecutes 

in  prosecutmg  a  quiet  trainc  with  the  Mohawk  and  Mahi-  tue  inAan 

'^  .  ^  .  trade. 

can  Indians  about  Castle  Island,  and  in  collecting  valu- 
able cargoes  of  furs,  which,  from  time  to  time,  were  sent 
in  shallops  down  the  river  to  Manhattan,  for  shipment  to 
Holland.  Scouting  parties  were,  at  the  same  time,  con- 
stantly engaged  in  exploring  all  the  neighboring  country, 
and  in  becoming  better  acquainted  with  the  savage  tribes 
which  surrounded  them ;  with  all  of  whom  it  was  the  con- 
stant policy  of  the  Dutch  to  cultivate  the  most  friendly 
relations. 

While  the  sober  spirit  of  commercial  Holland  was  thus  The  French 

1  •  c  1  1       ""  Lakes 

quietly  searching  out  new  avenues  for  trade  along  the^ntano 
coasts  of  Long  Island  Sound,  and  on  the  borders  of  the  Jaga- 
Mauritius  River,  the  more  impetuous  spirit  of  chivalrous 
France  was  intrepidly  exploring  the  waters  of  Lake  Onta- " 
rio,  and  invading  the  territories  of  the  "  Konoshioni,"  or 
Iroquois,!  near  the  valley  of  Onondaga.    After  discovering 
the  lovely  inland  waters  which  perpetuate  his  name,  Cham- 
plain  thrice  revisited  France ;  and  having  engaged  some 
wealthy  merchants  of  Saint  Malo,  Rouen,  and  Roehelle,    1614. 
to  form  an  association  for  the  colonization  of  Canada,  he 
obtained,  through  the  influence  of  the  viceroy,  Prince  de 
Conde,  a  ratification  of  the  contract  by  the  king.     Setting 
sail  from  Honfleur  early  in  the  spring  of  1615,  he  soon   1615. 
reached  Tadoussac,  accompanied  by  four  Recollet  mission-  ^ ^^^' 
aries,  who  were  the  first  ministers  of  Christianity  settled 
in  Canada.^    On  his  arrival  at  Montreal,  Champlain  found 

*  Wassenaar,  vHi.,  85  ;  ix.,  44 ;  Doc.  Hist.,  N.  Y.,  iii.,  38,  41. 

•f  The  Five  Confederated  Nations  of  New  York  Indians.  "Le  nom  d'laoQuois  est  pure- 
ment  Frangois,  et  a  (ltd  form6  du  terrne  Hiro,  ou  Hero,  que  signifie  j'ai  dit ;  ct  par  lequel 
ces  sauvages  finissent  tous  leurs  discours,  comme  les  Latins  faisoient  autrefois,  par  leur 
dixi;  et  de  Kouc,  qui  est  un  cri,  tantfit  de  tristesse,  lorsqu'on  le  prononce  en  traJnant,  et 
tantdt  de  joie,  lorsqu'on  le  prononce  plus  court.  Leur  nom  propre  est  Agonnonsionni,  qui 
veut  dire  Faiseurs  de  Cabannes." — Charlevoix,  i.,  p.  271.  According  to  Clinton  and  School- 
cjaft,  their  name  was  Kenunctioni,  or  Konoshioni. 

t  Channplain,  181-240.    Jesuit  missionaries,  as  we  have  seen  (ante,  p.  52),  were  set- 


68  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  III.  the  Huions  and  their  allies  preparing  for  an  expedition 
against  their  ancient  enemies,  the  Iroquois.  Anxious  to 
■  reconnoitre  the  hostile  territory,  and  also  to  secure  the 
friendship  of  the  Canadian  savages,  the  gallant  Frencliman 
resolved  to  accompany  their  warriors.  After  visiting  the 
tribes  at  the  head-waters  of  the  Ottawa,  and  discovering 
Lake  Huron,  which,  because  of  its  "  great  extent,"  he 
named  "  La  Mer  Douce,"  Champlain,  attended  by  an  arm- 
ed party  of  ten  Frenchmen,  accordingly  set  out  toward 

1  sepi.  the  south,  with  his  Indian  allies.  Enraptured  with  the 
"  very  beautiful  and  pleasant  country"  through  which 
they  passed,  and  amusing  themselves  with  fishing  and 
hunting,  as  they  descended  the  chain  of  "  Shallow  Lakes," 
which  discharge  their  waters  tlirough  the  River  Trent,  the 
expedition  reached  the  banks  of  Lake  Ontario.* 

October.          Crossiug  tlic  cud  of  the  lake  "  at  the  outlet  of  the  great 

River  Saint  Lawrence,"  and  passing  by  many  beautiful 

islands  on  the  way,  the  invaders  followed  the  eastern  shore 

of  Ontario,  for  fourteen  leagues,  toward  their  enemy's  coun- 

'   try.     In  the  vicinity  of  the  present  village  of  Henderson, 

(■hanipiain  in  the  couuty  of  Jefferson,  the  party  landed,  and  the  sav- 

jeirerson  ag8s  hid  all  their  canoes  in  the  woods  near  the  bank  of 
the  lake.  After  proceeding  about  four  leagues,  over  a 
sandy  tract,  Champlain  remarked  "  a  very  agreeable  and 
beautiful  country,  traversed  by  several  small  streams  and 
two  little  rivers  which  empty  into  the  lake,"  These  riv- 
ers were  the  Big  and  Little  Sandy  Creeks,  and  the  "beau- 
tiful country"  was  the  northern  edge  of  the  present  coun- 
ty of  Oswego.  Leaving  the  shores  of  the  lake,  the  in- 
vaders continued  their  route  inland  to  the  southward,  for 
twenty-five  or  thirty  leagues.  For  four  days  they  pressed 
onward,  meeting  no  foes,  and  crossing  in  their  way  a  num- 
ber of  rivulets,  and  a  river  forming  the  outlet  of  Oneida 
Lake ;  which  Champlain  described  as  "twenty-five  or  thir- 
ty leagues  in  circuit,  in  which  there  are  beautiful  islands, 

tied  in  Maine  and  Nova  Scotia  several  years  before  this  ;  but  Champlain  now  irst  intrC' 
duced  the  RecoUet,  or  Franciscan  fathers,  into  Canada. 
*  ''  Le  Lac  des  Entouhonorons,"  Champlain,  234  ;  Bouchette's  British  Ametica,  i.,  84. 


CHAMPLAIN  IN  ONONDAGA.  09 

and  where  our  Iroquois  enemies  catch  their  fish,  which  are  CHAr.iii. 
very  abundant."     Here  the  Canadians  captured  eleven  Ir-  _ 

oquois,  who  had  come  about  four  leagues  from  their  fort  9  oct..ber 
to  fish  in  the  Oneida  Lake.  Among  the  prisoners  were 
four  squaws.  Preparations  were  immediately  made  for 
the  usual  savage  tortures  ;  but  Champlain  humanely  pro- 
testing against  the  cruelty  of  his  allies,  as  "  not  the  act 
of  a  warrior,"  succeeded  in  saving  the  lives  of  the  women, 
though  the  men  all  suffered  death. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  next  day  the  expedition  arrived  The  i™- 
before  the  fortified  villasje  of  the  Iroquois,  on  the  northern  at  onomta 
bank  of  the  Onondaga  Lake,  near  the  site  of  the  present  to 
town  of  Liverpool.*     The  village  was   inciosed  by  four 
rows  of  palisades,  made  of  large  pieces  of  timber  closely 
interlaced.     The  stockade  was  thirty  feet  high,  with  gal 
leries  running  around  like  a  parapet,  which  were  garnish 
ed  with  double  pieces  of  wood,  arquebuse-proof ;  and  the 
fortification  stood  close  by  a  "  pond  where  water  was  nev- 
er wanting." 

Some  skirmishing  took  place  as  soon  as  the  invaders 
reached  the  Onondaga  Fort ;  though  their  first  design  was 
not  to  discover  themselves  until  the  next  morning.  But 
the  impatience  of  the  savages  overcame  their  prudence. 
They  were  anxious  to  see  the  effect  of  the  fire-arms  of  their 
French  allies ;  and  Champlain,  advancing  with  his  little  de- 
tachment against  the  Onondagas,  quickly  "showed  them 
what  they  had  never  seen  or  heard  before."  As  soon  as 
the  Iroquois  heard  the  reports  of  the  arquebuses,  and  felt 
\;he  balls  whistling  about  their  ears,  they  nimbly  took  ref- 
uge within  their  fort,  carrying  with  them  their  killed  and 
wounded.  The  assailing  party  then  fell  back  upon  their 
main  body,  with  five  or  six  wounded ;  one  of  whom  died. 

*  "This  Iro(iuois  fort  was  on  the  shore  of  Onondaga  Lake ;  and  it  is  highly  probable 
that  it  was  on  the  ground  subsequently  occupied  by  Sieur  Dupuis,  in  1665,  and  also  by 
Count  Frontenac  in  his  expedition  against  the  Onondagas,  in  1696,  and  by  Colonel  Van 
Schaick  in  ITT'J."  —  Clark's  Hist,  of  Onondaga,  i.,  256.  The  spot  is  marked  on  Cham- 
plain's  Map  very  distinctly.  Every  geographical  detail  in  Champlain's  work  seems  to 
confirm  the  opinion  of  Clark  and  Marshall  that  the  lake  must  have  been  the  Onondaga  ; 
and  that  it  could  not  have  been  the  Canandaigua,  as  assumed  in  a  note  on  page  16,  iii. 
Doc.  Hist.,  N.  Y. 


70         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  III.  Contrary  to  Champlain's  advice,  the  invaders  now  rc- 
treated  a  cannon's  shot  from  the  fort.  This  provoked  his 
'  ■  earnest  remonstrances ;  and  his  genius  soon  suggested  a 
plan  of  attack,  borrowed  from  the  ancient  modes  of  war- 
fare. A  movable  tower,  in  which  four  French  marksmen 
could  be  placed,  was  to  be  constructed,  sufficiently  high 
to  command  the  palisades ;  and  while  the  besieged  Iro- 
quois were  thus  securely  picked  off,  the  stockade  itself  was 
to  be  set  on  fire.  The  plan  was  promptly  approved  of  by 
the  Canadians,  who  commenced  the  work  the  next  day, 
and  labored  with  such  diligence  that  the  tower  was  com- 
pleted in  four  hours.  They  then  wished  to  wait  for  a  re- 
inforcement of  five  hundred  men  which  they  expected , 
but  Champlain,  judging  that  delay  in  most  cases  is  prej- 
udicial, pressed  them  to  attack  the  fort  at  once. 

8  October.  The  Invadcrs,  yielding  to  his  arguments,  followed  his 
advice.  The  tower  was  carried,  by  two  hundred  men,  to 
within  a  pike's  length  from  the  stockade ;  and  four  arque- 
busiers,  well  protected  from  arrows  and  stones,  began  to  fire 
on  the  invested  Iroquois.  The  besieged  savages  at  first 
answered  with  warm  discharges  of  arrows  ;  but  the  fatal 
balls  of  the  French  marksmen  soon  drove  them  from  their 
galleries.  Champlain  now  directed  the  Hurons  to  set  fire 
to  the  stockade.  But  instead  of  obeying,  they  began  to 
shout  at  the  enemy,  and  discharge  ineffective  flights  of  ar- 
rows into  the  fort.  Ignorant  of  discipline,  and  impatient 
of  control,  each  savage  did  as  he  liked.  At  length  they 
lit  a  fire,  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  fort,  contrary  to  the 
wind,  so  that  it  produced  no  effect.  The  besiegers  then 
began  to  pile  wood  against  the  paHsades,  though  in  such 
small  quantity  that  it  did  little  good.  The  noise  now  be- 
came overpowering.  Champlain  attempted  to  warn  the 
savages  against  the  results  of  their  bad  judgment ;  but  the 
gi-eat  confusion  prevented  him  from  being  heard.  Per- 
ceiving that  he  was  only  "  splitting  his  head  by  crying 
out,"  he  directed  the  remainder  of  his  French  party  to  fire 
upon  the  besieged.  Many  of  the  Iroquois  were  JvilUv' ,  1  u' . 
observing  the  disorder  of  their  assailants,  they  poured  wa- 


THE  CANADIAN  INVADERS  REPULSED.  71 

ter  from  the  gutters  in  such  abundance,  that  every  spark  chap.  hi. 
of  fire  was  soon  extinguished.    Meanwhile  they  discharged  ~ 

incessant  flights  of  arrows,  which  fell  upon  the  besiegers  ^' 

like  hail.     The  combat  lasted  about  four  hours.     Two  of 
the   Huron  chiefs    and  fifteen  warriors  were   wounded.  The  cana- 
Champlain  himself  was  twice  severely  injured  by  arrows ;  ers  re- 
and  the  repulsed  besiegers  retreated  to  their  encampn  jent. 

Here  they  remained  inactive  several  days.  No  argu- 
ments of  Champlain  could  induce  the  Hurons  to  renew 
the  attack  until  their  expected  re-enforcement  of  five  hund- 
red men  should  arrive  from  Canada.  A  few  skirmishes 
occurred ;  but  whenever  the  Iroquois  saw  the  French  ar- 
quebusiers  approaching,  they  promptly  retreated  within 
their  fort.  At  length  the  invaders,  tired  of  waiting  for 
their  re-enforcements,  broke  up  the  siege,  contrary  to  Cham-  le  October 
plain's  earnest  remonstrance,  and  began  their  retreat.  The 
gallant  Frenchman,  himself  disabled  by  his  wounds  from 
walking,  was  placed  in  a  frame  of  wicker-work,  and  car- 
ried for  several  days  on  the  backs  of  the  savages.  The 
Iroquois  pursued  their  enemies  for  half  a  league,  but  the 
retreat  was  conducted  in  such  good  order  that  the  invaders 
suffered  no  loss. 

In  a  few  days  the  party  reached  the  spot  where  they  20  October 
had  hidden  their  canoes  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Ontario,  and 
were  overjoyed  to  find  that  they  had  not  been  discovered 
and  destroyed  by  the  Iroquois.     Champlain  was  now  anx- 
ious to  return  to  Montreal  by  way  of  the  Saint  Lawrence,  Return  of 
over  the  upper  waters   of  which  no  European  had  yetuoVtT'^'^ 
passed.    But  his  savage  allies  refused  to  furnish  him  with  ^^^'  ^' 
a  promised  guide  and  canoe  ;  and  he  was  obliged  to  ac- 
company them  home,  an  unwilling  guest,  and   pass   a 
dreary   winter   in   the   Huron   country.      The    following 
spring  Champlain  set  out  on  his  return,  and,  after  forty   1616, 
days  travel,  reached  the  French  settlements  toward  the^*"^''^ 
end  of  June.     His  countrymen  received  him  with  joy,  as  june. 
one  risen  from  the  grave  ;  for  the  savages  had  long  before 
reported  him  dead.* 

♦  Voyages  de  Cbimplain,  240-306 ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  10-17.    See  also  an  intere«f 


1616. 


72         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  111.  Thus  the  Frencli  were  the  first  Europeans  who  visited 
two  of  the  magnificent  lakes  which  partially  bound  the 
territories  of  New  York.  Almost  contemporaneously  with 
Hudson's  exploration  of  the  great  River  of  the  Mountains, 
Champlain  had  discovered  those  beautiful  waters  on  our 
northeastern  frontier  which  now  bear  his  brilliant  name. 
Six  years  later,  the  adventurous  Frenchman,  again  the  first 
of  Europeans,  was  coasting  along  the  southern  shore  of 
Lake  Ontario,  and  penetrating  the  valley  of  Onondaga. 
But  the  progress  of  French  discovery  was  the  progress  of 
French  arms.  The  exploring  voyages  of  Hudson  and  his 
followers  were  visits  of  peaceful  agents  of  commercial  Hol- 
land in  search  of  new  avenues  for  trade,  and  intent  chief- 
ly on  its  rewards.  No  predatory  movements  marked  their 
onward  way.  Enterprising  and  patriotic,  they  were  dis- 
creet and  humane.  If  blood  was  early  shed,  it  was  shed 
in  retaliation,  or  to  repel  attack.  But  the  expeditions  of 
Champlain  were  incursions  of  bold  adventurers  from  gal- 
lant France,  seeking  trophies  of  victory  in  the  unknown 
territories  of  the  Iroquois,  The  placid  waters  of  Lakes 
Champlain  and  Onondaga  were  alike  stained  by  unoffend- 
ing native  blood ;  and  the  roar  of  the  few  French  arque- 
buses which  first  echoed  through  the  frontier  forests  of  New 
Netherland,  but  preluded  the  advance,  in  after  years,  of 
serried  battalions  over  northern  New  York,  bearing  to  bat- 
tle and  conquest  the  triumphant  lilies  of  the  Bourbon. 
.\boriginai  The  vallcy  of  the  "  Cahohatatea,"*  or  Mauritius  River, 
the  North"  at  thc  time  Hudson  first  ascended  its  waters,  was  inhab- 
ited, chiefly,  by  two  aboriginal  races  of  Algonquin  lineage, 
afterward  known  among  the  English  colonists  by  the  ge- 
neric names  of  Mohegans  and  Mincees.  The  Dutch  gen- 
erally called  the  Mohegans,  Mahicans ;  and  the  Mincees, 

ing  paper  on  this  subject,  by  O.  H.  Marshall,  of  Buffalo,  in  N.  Y  H.  S.  Proceedings  (or 
1849,  p.  95-103  ;  and  Clark's  Onondaga,  i.,  251-256. 

*  The  Iroquois  name  of  the  North  or  Hudson  River,  upon  the  authority  of  Mr.  John 
Bleecker,  of  Albany,  "the  ancient  Indian  interpreter,  now  ^1810)  in  the  79th  year  of  his 
age."  See  letter  of  Dr.  Mitchill  to  Dr.  Miller,  dated  Albany,  3d  March,  1610,  in  N.  Y.  II. 
S.  Coll.,  i.,  p.  43.  See  also  Schoolcraft,  in  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Proc,  1844,  p.  94.  The  Mahicans 
called  it  the  "  Shatemuc  ;"  while  the  Delawares  and  other  southern  tribes,  according  to 
Heckew^elder,  named  it  the  "Mahican-ftuk,"  or  place  of  the  Mahicans. 


LONG  ISLAND  AND  NEW  JERSEY  TRIBES.  73 


1616. 


Sanhikans.  These  two  tribes  were  subdivided  into  nu-  chap.  hi. 
merous  minor  bands,  each  of  which  had  a  distinctive  name, ' 
The  tribes  on  the  east  side  of  the  river  were  generally 
Mohegans  ;  those  on  the  west  side,  Mincees.  They  were 
hereditary  enemies ;  and  across  the  waters  which  formed 
the  natural  boundary  between  them,  war-parties  frequent- 
ly passed,  on  expeditions  of  conquest  and  retribution.  But 
however  much  the  tribes  of  River  Indians  were  at  va- 
riance among  themselves,  they  were  sympathetic  in  their 
enmity  against  the  powerful  Iroquois,  or  the  Five  Confed- 
erated Nations,  whose  hunting-grounds  extended  over  the 
magnificent  regions,  as  yet  unexplored  by  the  Dutch,  west- 
ward and  northward  from  Fort  Nassau.* 

Long  Island,  or  "  Sewan-hacky,"  was  occupied  by  the  Long  isi- 
savase  tribe  of  "  Metowacks,"  which  was  subdivided  intodians. 
various  clans,  each  having  a  separate  appellation,  and 
whose  lodges  extended  from  "the  Visscher's  Hook,"  or 
Montauk  Point,  to  "Ihpetonga,"  or  "the  high  sandy 
banks,"  now  known  as  Brooklyn  Heights.  Staten  Island, 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  bay,  was  inhabited  by  the  Mon- 
atons,  who  named  it  Monacknong,  or  Eghquaous.t  In- 
land, to  the  west,  lived  the  Raritans  and  the    Hackin-  New  jer 

sey  In- 

sacks  ;  while  the  regions  in  the  vicinity  of  the  well-known  dians. 
"Highlands,"  south  of  Sandy  Hook,  were  inhabited  by  a 
band  or  sub-tribe  called  the  Nevesincks,  or  Navisinks, 
whose  name  denotes  their  intermediate  position  between 
the  Atlantic  and  the  Raritan  Bay.t  To  the  south  and 
west,  covering  the  centre  of  New  Jersey,  were  the  Aqua- 
machukes  and  the  Stankekans ;  while  the  valley  of  the 
Delaware,  northward  from  the  Schuylkill,  was  inhabit- 
ed by  various  tribes  of  the  Lenape  race,  who  were  col- 
lectively known  to  the  Dutch  as  "  the  Minquas,"  and  by 
their  hereditary  northern  foes,  the  Iroquois,  were  named 
"Ogehage."§ 

The  "Island  of  the  Manhattans"  was  so  called  "  after  Manhai 

tans. 
*  Schoolcraft,  in  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Proc,  1844,  89-91. 

t  Alb.  Rec,  viii.,  161 ;   Smith's  N.  Y.,  i.,  321  ;   Clinton,  in  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  41 ; 
Thompson's  L.  I.,  i.,  87-95 ;  Schoolcraft,  97,  98  ;  ante,  p.  57  ;  post,  p.  172. 
t  Schoolcraft,  105,  106.  4  Figurative  Map,  see  Appendix,  notes  G  and  I. 


74  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  x\EW  YORK. 

Chap.  III.  the  aiicient  name  of  the  tribe  of  savages  among  whom  the 
Dutch  first  settled  themselves."*  This  tribe,  which  inhab- 
ited the  eastern  shore,  was  always  "very  obstinate  and  un- 
friendly" toward  the  Hollanders.     On  the  west  side  of  the 

sanbikans.  bay,  and  of  the  river  above  Bergen  Point,  lived  the  Sanhi- 
kans,  who  were  "  the  deadly  enemies  of  the  Manhattans, 
and  a  much  better  people."!  North  of  the  Sanhikans,  on 
the  broad  bay  between  the  Palisadoes  and  Verdrietig  Hook, 

Tappans.  dwclt  the  tribc  of  Tappans,!:  whose  wigwams  extended 
back  from  Nyack  toward  the  hilly  regions  of  Rockland  and 
Orange  counties.  This  unexplored  territory,  the  early  im- 
perfect maps  of  New  Netherland  transmitted  to  Holland, 
erroneously  represented  as  an  "  effen  veldt,"  or  a  level, 
open  country. 

The  eastern  bank  of  the  river,  north  of  Manhattan,  and 
the  valley  of  the  Nepera  or  Saw-mill  Creek,  was  possessed 

Week-      by  the  tribe  of  Weckquaesgeeks.    The  region  above,  as  far 

geeks.       as  the  Croton,  or  Kitchawan,  was  inhabited  by  another 

sint-sings.  band  called  the  Sint-Sings,  whose  chief  village  was  named 
Ossin-Sing,  or  "the  Place  of  Stones ;"  and  the  famous  mar- 
ble quarries  now  worked  near  "  Sing-Sing,"  while  they 
commemorate  the  name,  vindicate  the  judgment  of  the  ab 
origines.s^ 

The  Highlands  above  were  occupied  by  a  band  called 

Pachami.  the  Pacliami,  beyond  whom  dwelt  the  Waoranacks.  North^ 
of  these,  and  in  what  is  now  the  county  of  Dutchess,  lived 

wappin-  the  tribe  of  Wappingers,  whose  name  is  still  preserved  in 
that  of  the  picturesque  stream  which  empties  into  the  riv- 
er near  New  Hamburg.  Their  chief  locality  was  the  val- 
ley of  the  Fishkill,  or  "  Matteawan"  Creek,  the  aboriginal 
name  of  which,  according  to  the  popular  traditions  of  the 
country,  signified  "good  furs,"  for  which  the  stream  was 
anciently  celebrated.     But  modern  etymology  mere  accu- 

*  Alb.  Rec,  xviii.,  348  ;  N.  Y.  11.  S.  Coll.,  iil.,  375  ;  O'Call,,  i.,  48.  The  Dutch  them- 
selves named  the  island  after  ihc  Indian  tribe  of  "  Manhattans.''  Schoolcraft,  in  a  let- 
ter dated  19  March,  li-53,  in  N.  Y.  Literary  World,  No.  322,  says  that  '"the  term  Man- 
hattan embodies  the  aborigmal  description  of  the  violence,  disturbance,  and  danger  pro- 
duced by  the  influx  of  the  tide  in  the  channel  of  the  East  River  called  Hell  Gate." 
See  also  Note  A,  Appendix.  t  De  Laet,  book  iii.,  cap.  ix. ;  Figurative  Map. 

t  According  to  Ileckewelder,  the  name  of  Tappan  is  derived  from  "  Tuphanne,"  a  I)el- 
aware  word,  signifying  "  cold  stream."— Moulton's  N.  V.,p.  227.      *j  Schoolcraft,  101. 


THE  NORTH  RIVER  TRIBES.  75 

rately  deriving  the  term  from  •'  metai,"  a  magician  or  chap.  hi. 
medicine  man,  and  "  wian,"  a  skin,  it  would  seem  that 
the  neighboring  Indians  esteemed  the  peltries  of  the  Fish- 
kill  as  "  charmed"  by  the  incantations  of  the  aboriginal 
enchanters  who  dwelt  along  its  banks ;  and  the  beautiful 
scenery  in  which  these  ancient  priests  of  the  wild  men  of 
the  Highlands  dwelt  is  thus  invested  with  new  poetical 
associations,  A  few  miles  north  of  the  "  Wahamanessing," 
or  Wappinger's  Creek,  was  a  sheltered  inlet  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Fallkill,  affording  a  safe  harbor  for  canoes  navigat- 
ing the  "  Long  Reach,"  between  Pollepel's  Island  and 
Crom  Elbow.*  The  aboriginal  designation  of  this  inlet 
was  Apokeepsing,  "  a  place  of  shelter  from  storms ;"  and 
the  memory  of  this  once  famous  harbor  for  the  canoes  of 
the  river  tribes  is  perpetuated  in  the  name  of  the  flourish- 
ing city  of  Pokeepsie.  Still  further  north,  near  Red  Hook  pokeepsie 
landing,  lived  another  clan  of  the  Wappingers.  Here  tra- 
dition asserts  a  great  battle  was  fought  between  the  river 
Indians  and  the  Iroquois  confederates ;  and  the  bones  of 
the  slain  were  said  to  be  yet  visible,  when  the  Dutch  first 
settled  themselves  on  the  spot.  The  wigwams  of  the  Wap- 
pingers  and  their  sub-tribes  extended  eastward  to  the 
range  of  the  Tachkanic,  or  Taconick  Mountains,  which 
separate  the  valley  of  the  North  River  from  that  of  the 
Housatonic.t 

On  the  west  side  of  the  river,  northward  from  Verdrie- 
tig  Hook  and  the  Kumochenack,  or  Haverstraw  Bay,  the 
tribes  were  remarkably  mixed  and  subdivided.  Parts  of 
the  present  county  of  Rockland,  and  nearly  the  whole  of 
the  county  of  Oranofc,  were  inhabited  by  the  Waronawan-  waronaw 

11-  Til  1        cn  ankongs. 

kongs,  whose  huntmg-grounds  extended  along  the  fehaw- 
angunk  mountain  range.t     Further  north,  and  occupying 

*  Pollepel'a  Island  is  the  one  in  the  middle  of  the  river,  just  north  of  the  Highlands. 
Its  name  is  derived  from  its  supposed  resemblance  to  the  convex  side  of  a  ladle,  which  in 
Dutch  is  "  Pollepel."  The  abrupt  bend  in  the  river,  between  Pokeepsie  and  Hyde  Park, 
iormerly  called  "  Krom  Elleboog,"  or  crooked  elbow,  is  now  known  as  Orom  Elbow. 

t  Schoolcran,  101-103. 

t  These  mountains  are  said  to  have  obtained  their  name  from  the  predominating  white 
or  gray  color  of  their  rocks  ;  the  word  "  Shawan-gunk"  being  explained  by  the  Indians 
of  the  country  to  mean  "white  rocks." — See  Mather's  Geology  of  N.  Y.,  35.5.     Schoolcraft. 


76         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  III.  the  present  counties  of  Ulster  and  Greene,  were  the  Min- 
qua  clans  of  Minnisincks,  Nanticokes,  Mincees,  and  Dela- 

Minni-       warcs.     Thcsc  clans  had  pressed  onward  from  the  upper 

sincks.  valley  of  the  Delaware,  which  the  Dutch  expressively 
named  "  the  Land  of  Baca,"*  and,  following  the  course  of 
the  Nevesinck  River  and  the  valley  of  the  "  Great  Esopus 
Creek,"  had  at  length  reached  the  tides  of  the  North  River. 

Esopus  In-  They  were  generally  known  among  the  Dutch  as  the  Eso- 
pus Indians.  The  doubtful  etymology  of  this  name  is 
traced  to  "  Seepus,"  a  river  ;  and  the  Esopus  Creek,  hav- 
ing long  been  celebrated  as  the  aboriginal  channel  of  com- 
munication with  the  upper  waters  of  the  Delaware,  it  was 
probably  called  "  the  Seepus,"  or  river,  by  way  of  emi- 
nence.! The  word  was  soon  modified  into  "  Sopus,"  or 
Esopus,  in  which  form  it  has  ever  since  been  in  use.  At 
an  early  period,  the  Dutch  are  said  to  have  erected  a  "  Ron- 

Rondout  duit,"  or  small  fort,  near  the  mouth  of  the  creek,  which, 
from  this  circumstance,  obtained  its  present  name,  the 
"  Rondout."  Part  of  the  adjoining  region  was  afterward 
named  "Wiltwyck,"  or  Indian  village;  but  the  familiar 
term  Esopus  continued  in  popular  use  long  after  the  pres- 
ent legal  designation  of  Kingston  was  adopted.1: 

The  name  of  the  Minnisinck  tribe  was  derived  from  the 
island,  or  "  Minnis,"  in  the  upper  waters  of  the  Delaware, 
where  the  self-denying  missionary  Brainerd  afterward  en- 
dured so  many  trials.  Their  wigwams,  with  those  of  the 
other  clans  of  Esopus  Indians,  extended  over  the  area  of 
the  present  counties  of  Ulster  and  Greene,  along  the  banks 
of  the  river,  and  tlirough  the  valley  of  the  Catskill,§  to 
Coxackie,  or  Kuxakee.  This  word,  in  their  dialect,  sig- 
nified "  the  place  of  the  cut  banks,"  where  the  current, 
deflected  against  the  western  shore,  had  gradually  worn 
away  the  land.  Beyond  the  Minnisincks  and  Esopus  In- 
dians, the  west  side  of  the  river,  near  Cas^tle  Island,  was 

however  (p.  lOS),  seems  to  derive  their  name  from  their  position  to  the  south,  or  "  Shaw- 
anong"  of  the  Catskills.  *  Visscher's  and  Van  der  Donck's  Maps. 

t  Schoolcraft,  108.  t  Hoi.  Doe.,  xi.,  86 ;  see  Appendi.x,  note  H. 

()  This  kill  or  creek,  and  the  majestic  mountain  chain  inland,  were  so  named  from  the 
catamount  or  panther,  which  formerly  abounded,  and  is  now  frequently  found,  in  this  wild 
and  picturesque  region. — Schoolcraft,  109,  110. 


THE  MOHAWKS  AND  MAHICANS.  77 

inhabited  by  the  fierce  Maquaas,  or  Mohawks,  whose  hunt-  chap.  in. 

insr-srrounds  extended  northward  to  the  "  Lake  of  the  Ir-"""" 

•  1616 

oquois,"  or  Lake  Champlain,  westward  through  the  val-^j^^^^, ' 

ley  of  the  Mohawk,  and  southward  to  the  sources  of  the  ''=>^''''®- 
Susquehanna. 

Above  the  Wappingers,  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  the 
lodges  of  the  Mahicans,  or  Mohegans,  extended  northward  The  Maui- 
and  eastward  from  Roelof  Jansen's  Kill,  and  occupied  the 
whole  area  of  the  present  counties  of  Columbia  and  Rens- 
selaer. The  ancient  seat  of  their  council-fire  was  near 
Schodac ;  and  opposite  to  the  present  city  of  Albany,  they 
had  early  fortified  a  village  against  the  dreaded  attacks 
of  their  hereditary  enemies,  the  Mohawks.*  Beyond  the 
Mahicans  dwelt  the  tribe  of  Horikans,  whose  hunting- The  nori- 

kans 

grounds  appear  to  have  extended  from  the  waters  of  the 
Connecticut,  across  the  Grreen  Mountains,  to  the  borders 
of  that  beautiful  lake  which  might  now  well  bear  their 
sonorous  name.t 

From  the  time  that  Hudson  first  passed  the  Mahican  The  Dutch 
villages  at  Schodac  and  Castleton,  and  Block  visited  the  terms  witb 
upper  waters  of  the  Connecticut,  a  friendly  intercourse  had  dians. 
been  maintained  between  the  Dutch  and  the  native  tribes 
on  the  east  side  of  the  North  River.     With  the  fierce  Mo- 
hawks on  the  west  side,  upon  whose  territory  they  had  built 
Fort  Nassau,  they  were  careful  to  keep  on  the  best  terms ; 
and  from  them  the  Dutch  learned  that  the  Canadian  French 
were  in  the  habit  of  coming  in  boats  from  Quebec,  to  trade 
in  the  upper  part  of  their  territories,  adjoining  the  Lake  of 
the  Iroquois,  or  Lake  Champlain.1:     But  the  inland  tribes, 
toward  the  south  and  west,  had  as  yet  been  unvisited  by 
Europeans  ;  though  Champlain  had  just  carried  death  and 

•  Wassenaar,  xii.,  38  ;  Doc.  Ilist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  43. 

t  De  Laet,  viii.,  ante,  p.  56  ;  Visscher's  Map  ;  Van  der  Donck's  Map  ;  Map  in  Montanus. 
This  charming  lake — the  Como  of  America — and  which  the  French,  in  1646,  first  called 
"  Saint  Sacrement,"  because  they  visited  it  on  the  festival  of  Corpus  Christi,  was  named 
by  General  (afterward  Sir  William)  Johnson,  in  September,  1755,  "Lake  George,  not 
only  in  honor  of  his  majesty,  but  to  ascertain  his  undoubted  dominion  here"  —  London 
Doc,  xxxii.,  169  ;  post,  p.  422.  The  reasons  which,  in  1755,  prompted  the  British  general 
to  give  a  new  name  to  the  lake,  should  certainly  not  prevail  at  the  present  day  ;  nor  should 
they  prevent  the  revival  of  the  aboriginal  term  suggested  by  our  own  Cooper,  "IIorikam." 

t  De  Laet,  ix.  ;  Parchment  Map      See  also  note  G,  Appendix. 


78         HI&TORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 

Chap.  III.  the  terror  of  the  French  arms  to  the  Iroquoife  custl  i  ut 
Onondaffa. 

Anxious  to  explore  the  unknown  regions,  of  which  only 
a  vague  idea  had  been  gathered  from  the  imperfect  expla- 
nations of  the  Mohawks,  three  traders  in  the  service  of  the 
New  Netherland  Company  seem  to  have  adventurously  set 

Exploring  out  from  Fort  Nassau,  on  an  expedition  "  into  the  interior. 

Fort  Nas-  and  downward,  along  the  New  River,  to  the  Ogehage,"  oi 
the  Minquas,  "  the  enemies  of  the  northern  tribes."*  The 
route  of  the  party  is  not  accurately  defined ;  but  they,  per- 
haps, followed  the  trail  of  the  Esopus  Indians  to  the  sources 
of  the  Delaware,  the  waters  of  which  they  descended  to 
the  Schuylkill.  At  this  point  of  their  progress,  they  ap- 
pear to  have  been  taken  prisoners  by  the  Minquas ;  and 
the  news  reaching  the  Dutch  on  the  Mauritius  River,  ar- 
rangements were  promptly  made  to  ransom  the  captives, 
as  well  as  undertake  a  more  thorough  examination  of  the 
country  where  they  were  detained. 

The  yacht       Accordingly,  the  yacht  "Restless,"  which  Block,  on  his 

ex^plores the  return  to  Holland,  had  left  in  charge  of  Cornells  Hendrick- 
sen,  was  dispatched  from  Manhattan  southward,  along  the 
coast  of  New  Jersey,  to  explore  the  "  New  River"  from 
its  mouth  to  its  upper  waters.  The  voyage  was  entirely 
successful.  Sailing  into  the  bay  which  Hudson  had  first 
discovered  seven  years  before,  Hendricksen  explored  the 
adjoining  coasts,  and  discovered  "  three  rivers,  situated  be- 
tween the  thirty-eighth  and  fortieth  degrees  of  latitude."t 
The  fertile  land  was  full  of  majestic  forest  trees,  "  which 
in  some  places  were  covered  with  grape-vines ;"  and  tur- 
keys, partridges,  harts,  and  hinds  abounded  along  the  pleas- 
ant shores.  The  climate  of  the  country,  which  was  "  the 
same  as  that  of  Holland,"  delighted  the  crew  of  the  Rest- 
less, as  they  trafficked  with  the  natives  for  seal-skins  and 
sables.  Proceeding  up  the  channel  of  the  main  river,  be- 
yond the  confluence  of  the  Schuylkill,  Hendricksen  opened 

*  IIol.  Doc,  i.,  59  ;  Paper  Map.    See  Appendix,  note  I. 

t  These  "  three  rivers"  were  probably  the  Delaware  itself,  the  Schuylkill,  and  perhap* 
the  Hoarkill,  or  Broadkill  Creek,  in  the  State  of  Delaware,  upon  which  Lewiston  now 
stands. 


HENDRICKSEN  EXPLORES  THE  SOUTH  RIVER.  79 

a  Iriendly  intercourse  with  the  Minquas  who  inhabited  its  chap.  hi. 
banks ;  and  ransomed  from  these  savages  his  tluree  cap-       \    ~ 
tive  countrymen,  giving  in  exchange  for  them  "  kettles,       ^     ' 
beads,  and  other  merchandise."* 

To  Cornelis  Hendricksen  unquestionably  belongs  the  iiendrick- 
honor  of  having  been  the  first  to  explore  the  bay  and  river  txpiorer  of 
which  now  unjustly  bear  the  name  of  Lord  Delawarr.    The  v\  arc 
light  draught  of  the  Restless  enabled  her  to  penetrate  very 
easily  where  Hudson  did  not  venture  to  pilot  the  Half  Moon, 
and  where  Argall  made  no  explorations.!     Hendricksen 
seems  to  have  coasted  up  along  the  western  shore  of  the 
bay,  and  to  have  been  the  first  European  navigator  who 
set  his  foot  on  the  soil  of  Delaware  and  Pennsylvania.    He 
probably  ransomed  the  Dutch  captives  near  the  very  spot 
where  Philadelphia  was  founded,  just  sixty-six  years  aft-    1682 
erward.t     The  river  above  now  received  the  name  of  the 
''  New,"  or  "  South  River,"  to  distinguish  it  from  the  Mau-  somii  riv 
ritius,  which  soon  became  better  known  as  the  North  Riv-  ''^' 
er.     Before  long,  the  southern  cape  of  the  bay  was  named 
"  Cape  Cornelius,"  after  its  "first  discoverer  ;"  and  anoth-  cape  cor- 
er  point,  about  twelve  miles  to  the  southward,  was  called 
Cape  Hinlopen,  probably  after  Thymen  Jacobsen  Hinlo-  cape  iim- 
pen,  of  Amsterdam,  and  also  Cape  Inloopen,  because  it 
seemed  to  vanish  on  being  approached.^ 

On  the  return  of  the  Restless  to  Manhattan,  Hendrick-  Hendrick- 
sen proceeded  to  Holland,  to  assist  his  employers  in  ob-  tc  iMiani 
taining  a  separate  exclusive  charter  to  trade  to  the  newly- 
explored  territory,  which  extended  two  degrees  south  of 
the  limits  assigned  to  New  Netherland  in  the  grant  of  Oc- 
tober, 1614.  The  associated  merchants  dispatched  him 
immediately  to  the  Hague,  accompanied  by  an  Amster- 
dam notary,  to  report  his  discoveries  to  the  States  G-eneral, 
and  procure  for  them  the  desired  special  trading  privilege. 
Taking  with  him  a  manuscript  map,  he  explained,  orally,  is  AM?\-st. 

*  IIoI.  Doc, :.,  59.  t  See  ante,  pages  27  and  51,  and  Appendix,  note  D. 

t  Samuel  Hazard's  Annals  of  Pennsylvania,  579,  594. 

I)  De  Lact,  book  iii.,  cap.  ix.  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  303,  315  ;  Wassenaar,  ix.,  124 , 
ante,  p.  59  ;  see  also  Visscher's  and  Montanns's  Maps.  Tlie  name  of  Hinlopen  seems  to 
have  been  first  applied  to  False  Cape,  just  south  of  Rehoboth  Bay  ;  but  it  has  since  been 
\ransferred  to  the  original  Cape  Cornelius.     See  Dos  Barre's  chart ;  Breviat,  50,  91,  98. 


so         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  III.  to  their  High  Mightinesses  the  situation  and  nature  of  tho 

newly-explored  regions.      The  States  General,  however, 

■  requiring  a  formal  report  in  writing,  Hendricksen  submit- 

19  August,  ted,  the  next  day,  a  short  statement  of  his  proceedings  or; 
the  South  River,  and  asked,  on  hehalf  of  his  employers,  a 
special  charter  for  trading  there.* 

New  char-      But  thc  Dutch  govcmment  hesitated  to  comply  with  the 

South  Riv-  application  of  the  Amsterdam  merchants  for  new  special 

cr  rcruscd*  

privileges.  Their  original  trading  charter  of  October,  1614, 
which  specifically  defined  New  Netherland  as  "  situated 
between  New  France  and  Virginia,"  had  yet  a  year  and  a 
half  to  run.  The  grantees  of  that  charter  now  desired  a 
similar  monopoly  for  the  territory  between  the  thirty-eighth 
and  fortieth  degrees.  But  this  region  seemed  to  be  with- 
in the  acknowledged  limits  of  Virginia,  according  to  the 
boundaries  which,  the  States  General  had  themselves"  as- 
signed to  New  Netherland.  If,  under  these  circumstances, 
they  were  now  to  pass  the  new  special  charter  for  which 
their  subjects  had  applied,  it  might  give  rise  to  difficulties 
with  James,  which,  in  the  present  condition  of  public  af- 
fairs, would  be  extremely  embarrassing.  The  States  Gen- 
eral,  accordingly,  after  two  more  deliberations  upon  the 

3  Nov.  subject,  softened  their  adverse  decision  by  adopting  the 
mild  form  of  an  indefinite  postponement.! 

The  Amsterdam  "  Directors  of  New  Netherland,"  find- 
ing that  the  States  General  were  unwilling  to  counten- 
ance their  project  of  seeming  encroaclmient  upon  Virginia, 
now  confined  their  attention  more  particularly  to  the  re- 
gions drained  by  the  North  River.  Fort  Nassau,  which 
Christiaensen  had  originally  built  on  Castle  Island  in  1614, 

Fort  Nas-  having  been  several  times  overflowed  by  the  waters  from 

sau  de- 

stioyod.     the  upper  country,  was  almost  swept  away  by  a  freshet 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  i.,  53,  59.     See  also  Appendix,  note  I. 

t  Hoi.  Doc,  i.,  63,  64.  The  year  1616  will  ever  be  memorable  in  the  annals  of  the 
world,  as  that  in  which  William  Cornells  Schouten,  a  merchant  of  Hoorn,  in  North  Hoi 
land,  first  sailed  around  the  southern  promontory  of  America,  which,  in  honor  of  his  na 
tive  city,  he  named  "  Cape  Hoorn."  Before  Schouten's  voyage,  the  only  known  passage 
to  the  Pacific  was  through  the  Straits  of  Magellan.  Schouten  also  discovered  the  Straits 
of  Le  Maire,  which  he  so  called  after  Jacob  le  Maire,  of  Amsterdam,  one  of  his  partners 
Staten  Land  was  thus  named,  in  honor  of  the  States  of  Holland.  Few.  probably,  of  thos« 
who  nowadays  talk  of  "the  Horn,"  know  the  origin  of  the  name 


{ 


THE  ROMANS  OF  THE  WESTERN  WORLD.  81 

on  the  breaking  up  of  the  ice,  in  the  spring  of  1617.*  The  chap.  hi. 
company's  traders  were,  therefore,  ohliged  to  abandon  it,  ~~~~~ 
and  seek  a  more  secure  position  on  the  west  bank  of  the 
river,  at  the  mouth  of  the  "  Tawasentha,"  or  Norman's 
Kill.t  The  new  situation  was  well  chosen.  The  portage 
path  of  the  Mohawks,  coming  from  the  west,  terminated 
about  two  miles  above,  at  Skanektade,  "beyond  the  pine 
plains,"  or  "  beyond  the  openings,"  on  the  North  River — 
the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Albany.^  It  was  important 
to  keep  the  trading-house  of  the  company  as  near  as  pos- 
sible to  the  eastern  termination  of  this  great  Indian  thor- 
oughfare ;  and,  on  the  commanding  eminence  which  the 
Mohawks  called  Tawass-gunshee,  overlooking  the  river  at  New  post 

=>  '  ^  on  the  Ta- 

the  mouth  of  the  Tawasentha,  a  new  fortified  post  was^asentha. 
erected  by  Eelkens.     Here,  tradition  alleges,  was  soon  aft- 
erward concluded,  with  the  chiefs  of  the  Five  Confederated 
Nations  of  North  American  Indians,  the  first  formal  treaty 
of  alliance  between  the  red  man  and  the  Hollander ;  and 
which,  after  its  renewal  by  Kieft  in  1645,  was  observed 
with  general  respect,  until  the  surrender  of  Fort  Orange 
to  the  English,     A  new  league  of  friendship  was  then  en-   166-1. 
tered  into  between  Colonel  Cartwright  and  the  sachems  of  ^'*  ^*'P' 
the  Iroquois,  which  continued  without  violation  on  either 
side  until  the  commencement  of  the  Revolutionary  war.^ 
At  the  time  of  the  treaty  of  the  Tawasentha,  the  fairest 
regions  of  North  America  were  inhabited  by  "  the  Romans 
of  the  Western  "World."!!     Around  the  elevated  table-lands 

*  Wassenaar,  vi.,  144.  Stuyvesant,  in  writing  to  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts 
on  20th  April,  1660,  says  that  from  the  small  fort  which  the  Dutch  originally  built  there, 
"  an  island  near  Fort  Orange  yet  bears  the  name  of  Castle  Island,  and  the  monuments  of 
which  can  yet  be  shoum ;  which  small  fort  was  three  years  afterward  seriously  injured  by 
high  water  and  ice,  so  that  at  length  it  decayed  entirely." — Alb.  Rec,  xxiv.,  167. 

t  Moulton,  346.  The  original  and  beautifully-e.xpressive  Mohawk  name  of  this  stream 
was  "  Tawasentha,"  meaning  the  place  of  the  many  dead.  It  was  an  ancient  Mohawk 
ifillage,  and  the  burial-place  of  many  of  the  tribe. — Schoolcraft  and  G.  F.  Yates.  The 
Dutch  appellative  of  the  "  Norman's  Kill"  is  said  to  have  been  derived  from  Andries 
Bradt,  a  native  of  Denmark,  and  therefore  surnamed  "  the  Norman,"  who  settled  himself 
there  in  1630.— O'Call.,  i.,  78,  433,  434. 

t  Schoolcraft,  in  Proc.N.  Y.  11.  S.,  1844,  p.  91,  111  ;  L.  H.  Morgan's  "League  of  the  Iro- 
quois," 415. 

()  Golden,  i.,  34  ;  De  Witt  Clinton's  Address,  in  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  62  ;  Sm.ith's  Hist. 
N.  y.,  i.,  33 ;  Moulton,  346  ;  Schoolcraft,  91  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  78  ;  Lend.  Doc,  i.,  188 ;  N.  Y. 
Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  67,  68  ;  post,  p.  744.  II  Volney,  476 ;  Clinton,  44. 

F 


f^2  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  III.  whence  flow  waters  which  discharge  themselves  through 
the  Hudson,  the  Delaware,  the  Susquehanna,  and  the  Saint 
Lawrence  into  the  Atlantic,  and  through  the  Alleghany, 
the  Ohio,  and  the  Mississippi  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
were  then  clustered  five  nations  of  warlike  savages,  whose 
forefathers,  expelled  from  Canada  hy  the  Adirondacs,  in 
early  days,  had  penetrated  into  the  centre  of  New  York. 
There  they  multiplied  ;  were  subdivided  into  tribes  or  na- 
tions ;  and  then  formed  themselves  into  a  Federal  Repub- 
The  iro-  lic  of  independent  cantons.  Of  the  precise  period  of  this 
neration.  Confederation  history  has  no  record.  But  modern  research 
into  conflicting  tradition  places  the  event  about  the  year 
1539  ;  forty-seven  years  after  Columbus's  first  voyage ; 
four  years  after  C artier  ascended  the  Saint  Lawrence  to 
Hochelaga  ;  and  seventy  years  before  Hudson  discovered 
the  North  River.* 

The  Iroquois,  or  Five  Nations,  preserving  their  several 
specific  names  of  Mohawks,  Oneidas,  Onondagas,  Cayugas, 
and  Senecas,  when  they  formed  their  confederation,  took 
the  name  of  "  KoNosmoNi,"t  the  "  cabin  makers,"  or  "  peo- 
ple of  the  long  house."  That  long  house  reached  from 
the  banks  of  the  North  River  to  the  shores?  of  Lake  Erie. 
The  eastern  door  of  the  sky-canopied  abode  of  the  Iroquois 
was  guarded  by  the  Kayingehagas,  or  Maquaas  or  Mo- 
Traditionai  hawks  ;t  the  western  door  by  the  Senecas.  Poetical  tra- 
tuefiro"  dition,  recorded  by  one  of  their  own  people, §  deduces  their 
origin,  like  that  of  the  Athenian  "  Autochthones,"  from 
the  "  earth  itself."    In  remote  ages,  they  had  been  confined 

*  Smith's  Hist.  N.  Y.,  i.,  64  ;  Schoolcraft's  Notes  on  the  Iroquois,  118 ;  Clark's  Onon- 
daga, i.,  20 ;  L.  H.  Morgan's  "  League  of  the  Iroquois,"  5-8.  G.  F.  Yates  thinks  that  the 
period  of  the  Iroquois  confederacy  was  still  more  remote. 

t  Clinton's  Address  ;  Schoolcraft's  Notes.  The  common  French  orthography  of  this 
term  is  "  Aquinoshioni,"  or  Agonnonsionni,  which,  according  to  Charlevoix,  i.,  271,  sig- 
nified Faiseurs  de  Cabannes ;  see  ante,  p.  67,  note.  In  their  own  language,  the  Five  Na- 
tions also  called  themselves  "  Ilotinnonchiendi" — that  is.  La  Cabanne  Ackevee ;  Relation, 
1653-4,  p.  54.  Morgan,  p.  51,  however,  says  that  the  Iroquois,  after  their  league,  called 
themselves  "  Ho-de-no-sau-nee,"  which  signifies  "  the  people  of  the  long  house." 

t  "  We  commonly  call  them  Maquaas,  but  they  call  themselves  Kayingehaga."  Letter 
of  Domine  Megapolensis  to  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam,  28th  September,  1658 ;  Moulton, 
338.  Morgan,  p.  52,  writes  the  word  "  Ga-ne-ga-ha-ga,"  meaning  "the  possessor  of  the 
flint."  According  to  M.  de  Joncaire,  the  device  of  the  Mohawks,  in  1736,  was  a  steel  and 
flint.  Paris  Doc,  viii.,  187  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  i.,  22  ;  Ibid.,  iii.,  902,  whore  the  name  is 
given  as  Ganingehage.     See  also  ii.,  N.  V.  If.  S.  Coll.,  iii.,  p.  153.  ^  Cusick. 


quois. 


THE  IROQUOIS  CONFEDERATION.  88 

under  a  mountain,  near  the  falls  of  the  "  Osh-wah-kee,"  chap.  iii 

or  Oswego  River,  whence  they  were  released  by  Tharon- 

HYJAGON,  "  the  Holder  of  the  Heavens."  Bidding  them  go  ^^^'^ 
forth  toward  the  east,  he  guided  them  to  the  valley  of  the 
Mohawk.  Following  its  stream,  they  reached  the  Caho- 
hatatea,  or  North  River,  which  some  of  them  descended  to 
the  sea.  Thence,  retracing  their  path,  toward  the  west, 
they  originated,  as  they  passed  along,  the  tribes  of  Mo- 
hawks, Oneidas,  Onondagas,  Cayugas,  Senecas,  and  Tus- 
caroras.*  But  the  Tuscaroras,  wandering  to  the  south, 
crossed  the  Alleghanies,  and  fixed  their  home  on  the  banks 
of  the  Cautano,  or  Neuse  River,  in  North  Carolina  ;  where 
Tharonhyjagon,  leaving  them  to  hunt  and  prosper,  re- 
turned northward,  to  direct  the  confederation  of  the  re- 
maining Five  Nations.!  Such  is  one  of  the  bold  fables 
by  which  the  traditions  of  the  Konoshioni  assert  their 
aboriginal  existence. 

The  several  tribes  or  cantons  were  independent.     As  The  sever- 
they  grew  in  numbers  and  in  valor,  they  began  to  quarrel  Tn  "epiln"'- 
arnong  themselves ;    and,  living  in  perpetual  fear,  they  "^ 
built  fortresses  for  defense,  or  else  continually  shifted  their 
villages.    Finding  that  they  were  gradually  wasting  away, 
the  wise  men  of  the  Onondagas  proposed  that  the  kindred 
tribes  should  no  longer  war  against  each  other,  but  should 
unite  in  a  common  league  for  offense  and  defense  against 
all  other  nations.     The  advice  was  adopted,  and  each  Iro- 
quois tribe  or  canton  deputed  representatives  to  a  general 
council.     By  these  plenipotentiaries  the  Confederation  of 
the  Five  Nations  was  organized  on  the  shores  of  the  On- 
ondaga Lake,  where  the  great  central  council-fu-e  was 
originally  kindled,  and  for  centuries  permanently  remain-      , 
ed.     When  the  league  was  formed,  Atotarho,  the  dreaded 

*  In  the  Seneca  dialect,  the  name  of  tlir;  Tusraroras  was  Dusgaowch-ono,  ''the  shirt- 
wearintt  people;"  that  of  the  Senecas,  Sundna-a-oui.or  •'\\v;  great  hill  people  ;"  that  of 
the  Cayugas,  Gucugwehono,  or  "  the  people  at  the  niui-ky  land  ;"  that  of  the  Onondagas, 
Onundnga-ono,  or  "  people  on  the  hills  ;"  and  that  of  the  Oneidas.  Onayoteka-ono,OT  "the 
people  of  the  granite  stone." — Morgan,  51,  !)0.  The  name  of  the  Mohawks  has  already 
been  considered.  See  also  pos<,  p.  591,  note.  W.  II.  C.  Ilosmer  says  that  the  Senecas 
were  called  Nun-da-wa-gas ;  and  also  Sivan-nc-ho-ont,  in  reference  to  their  position  at 
the  west  end  of  the  "  Long  House." 

t  Megapolensis,  in  Hazard,  i.,  525;  Schoolcraft's  Notes,  G9-105;  Clark's  Onondaga, 
i.,  21-30,  37-43  ;  Morgan,  7  ;  ii,,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  iii.,  p.  158,  159. 


84  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

CHiP.ni.  chief  of  the  Onondagas,  was  anxiously  sought  by  the  Mo- 
hawk  emhassy,  which  was  specially  deputed  for  the  pur- 
pose. Atotarho  was  found  sitting  in  a  swamp,  calmly 
smoking  a  pipe,  and  rendered  invulnerable  by  living  ser- 
pents which  hissed  around  his  body.  Approaching  the 
chief  in  awe,  the  embassy  invested  him  with  a  broad  belt 
of  wampum,  and  solemnly  placed  him  at  the  head  of  their 
league.  The  dignity  which  popular  veneration  thus  spon- 
taneously conferred  on  their  great  sachem  always  remain- 

Atotaiho.  ed  in  the  Onondaga  tribe  ;  and  the  name  of  "Atotarho," 
after  his  death,  became  the  distinctive  hereditary  title  of 
the  most  illustrious  chief  of  the  Iroquois  Confederation.* 

Character       The  Confederation  of  the  Five  Iroquois  Nations  was  sun- 

and  powers  i     p  i-  i  ■    •       i 

o(  the  grand  ply  a  IcaguB  for  commou  dcfensc,  not  a  perfect  political 
union.!  The  general  council  of  sachems,  elected  accord- 
ing to  the  laws  of  each  nation,  exercised  only  a  delegated 
power,  and  expressed  only  the  popular  will  of  their  con- 
stituents. What  these  senatorial  sachems  in  the  grand 
council  deliberately  pronounced  to  be  proper,  the  venera- 
tion of  the  constituent  cantons  supported  and  maintained. 
Thus,  besides  the  union  of  the  Netherland  Provinces,  the 
league  of  the  Iroquois  nations  was  early  set  before  the 
American  colonies  as  an  example  for  their  consideration. 

Govern-  Each  uatiou  or  canton  was  a  sovereim  repubhc,  divided 

ment  of  the  .  .  .   ,  ,. 

several  na-  mto  claus  )  and  cacli  continued,  notwithstandmg  the  con- 
federation,  to  be  governed  by  its  own  political  chiefs  or 
sachems.  The  original  clans,  or  families,  into  which  each 
tribe  was  subdivided,  were  eight  in  number,  and  were  dis- 
tinguished from  each  other  by  different  and  peculiar  de- 

To.ans.     viccs  or  "  Totcms."     The  most  important  of  these  were 

»     the  Tortoise,  the  Bear,  and  the  Wolf.     These  totems,  or 

family  symbols,   denoting  original  consanguinity,  were 

*  Schoolcraft,  91 ;  Morgan,  67,  68,  calls  him  "  To-do-da-ho." 

t  "  The  term  '  Five  Nations,'  used  by  Golden,  and  in  popular  use  during  the  earlier  pe- 
riod of  the  colony,  ceased  to  be  appropriate  after  the  Tuscarora  revolt  in  North  Carolina,  and 
the  reunion  of  this  tribe  with  the  parent  stock  subsequent  to  1712.  From  that  period  they 
were  called  the  '  Six  Nations,'  and  continued  to  acquire  increased  reputation  as  a  confed- 
eracy under  this  name,  until  the  termination  of  the  American  Revolution  in  1783,  and  the 
flight  of  the  Mohawks  and  Cayugas  to  Canada."— Schoolcraft,  46  ;  Morgan,  24, 44  :  Bau 
croft,  iii.,  245,  321,322. 


GOVERNMENT  OF   THE  IROQUOIS.  S5 

universally  respected.  The  wandering  savage  appealed  chaphi. 
to  his  totem,  and  vv^as  entitled  to  the  hospitality  of  the 
wigwam  which  hore  the  corresponding  emblem.  The  old- 
est, most  sensible,  best-speaking,  and  most  warlike  men 
of  the  tribe  were  generally  chosen  to  be  its  chiefs  or  sa-  sac^.eml^. 
chems.  "  These  commonly  resolve,  and  the  young  and 
warlike  men  carry  into  execution ;  but  if  the  common 
people  do  not  approve  of  the  resolution,  it  is  left  entirely 
to  the  judgment  of  the  mob.  The  chiefs  are  generally 
the  poorest  among  them  ;  for  instead  of  their  receiving 
from  the  common  people,  as  among  Christians,  they  are 
obliged  to  give  to  them."  The  war  chiefs  derived  their 
authority  from  their  approved  courage.     Military  service  Military 

11111  1  •     •  T-»  I      service. 

was  demanded  only  by  custom  and  opmion.  iJut  the 
penalty  of  a  coward's  name  kept  the  ranks  of  the  Iroquois 
war-parties  always  full.  All  able-bodied  males  above  the 
age  of  fourteen  were  judged  capable  of  taking  the  field ; 
and  no  title  was  more  honorable  than  that  of  warrior.  To 
join  in  the  war-dance  was  to  enlist  for  an  expedition. 
Each  warrior  furnished  his  own  arms  and  provisions,  and 
no  cumbersome  baggage  impeded  the  rapid  march  of  an 
Iroquois  army.* 

Oratory  distinguished  the  Five  Nations  as  much  asEioq 
bravery  and  political  wisdom.  In  all  democracies,  elo-ir'oquo 
quence  is  one  of  the  surest  roads  to  popular  favor  and  pub- 
lic honors.  Among  the  Iroquois,  oratory  was  as  sedulous- 
ly cultivated  as  at  Athens  or  Rome.  Their  children  were 
taken  to  the  council-fires,  where  they  listened  to  the  words 
of  the  wise  men  as  they  talked  of  peace  and  war.  The 
sublime  scenery  in  which  they  lived  constantly  suggested 
rich  images  ;  and  while  the  criticism  of  their  sages  re- 
strained the  luxuriance  of  youthful  rhetoric  to  the  stand- 
ard of  approved  taste,  their  eloquence  became  a  model 
which  other  Indian  nations  were  proud  to  imitate.  Thus 
peculiar  and  extraordinary  by  great  attainments  in  gov- 
ernment,  in  negotiation,  in  oratory,  and  in  war,  "the  su- 

*  Paris  Doc,  i.,  152  ;  Megapolensis,  in  Hazard,  i.,  525,  526  ;  Schoolcraft,  128, 130;  Mor- 
gan, 62-103  ;  Clark,  i.,  31-34. 


uence 
among  the 


86         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ceap.  III.  perior  qualities  of  the  Iroquois  may  be  ascribed  as  well  to 
'~~~  the  superiority  of  their  origin,  as  to  the  advantages  of  po- 
sition, the  maxims  of  policy,  and  the  principles  of  educa- 
tion which  distinguished  them  from  the  other  red  inhab- 
itants of  this  Western  "World."* 
The  Mo-  Of  all  the  confederated  nations,  the  Mohawks  were  the 
eminent,  bravcst  and  the  fiercest.  No  hunter  warriors  on  the  North 
American  continent  ever  filled  a  higher  measure  of  hero- 
ism and  military  renown.  Their  very  name  was  a  syno- 
nym for  blood.t  From  their  propinquity  to  the  Dutch  set- 
tlements, and  their  superior  martial  exploits,  the  name  of 
this  nation  was  frequently  applied,  by  way  of  eminence, 
to  the  whole  Iroquois  confederation ;  among  all  the  nations 
of  which  the  Mohawks  were  held  in  the  highest  venera- 
tion. Standing  at  the  eastern  door  of  the  "  Long  House," 
the  Mohawk  warriors  were  the  chief  agents  in  carrying 
to  the  sea  the  conquests  of  the  Iroquois.  Far  across  the 
hills  of  Massachusetts,  and  through  the  valley  of  the  Con- 
necticut, the  dreaded  name  of  Mohawk  enforced  an  abso- 
lute submission  ;  and  their  annual  envoys  collected  tribute 
and  dictated  laws  with  all  the  arbitrary  authority  of  Ro- 
man proconsuls.  From  their  ancient  fortresses,  war  par- 
ties of  the  Iroquois  continually  went  forth  to  victory  ;  and 
the  tribes  on  both  banks  of  the  North  River  quailed  before 

*  De  Witt  Clinton's  Address,  in  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  79.  "  Regret  has  been  e.xpressed 
that  some  one  of  the  sonorous  and  appropriate  Indian  names  of  the  West  had  not  been 
chosen  to  designate  the  state.  The  colonists  were  but  little  regardful  of  questions  of  this 
kind.  Both  the  Dutch  in  1609,  and  the  English  in  1664,  came  with  precisely  the  same 
force  of  national  prepossession — the  first  in  favor  of  Amsterdam,  and  the  second  in  favor 
of  New  York — bo;h  connected  with  the  belittling  adjective  "  New."  *  *  *  *  It  would  be 
well,  indeed,  if  their  descendants  in  America  had  been  a  little  more  alive  to  the  influence 
of  this  trait.  Those  who  love  the  land  and  cherish  its  nationalities,  would  at  least  have 
been  spared  *  *  the  continued  repetition  of  foreign,  petty,  or  vulgar  names,  *  *  *  while 
such  names  as  Saratoga  and  Ticonderoga,  Niagara  and  Ontario,  Iosco  and  Owasco,  are 
never  thought  of."— Schoolcraft,  in  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Proc,  1844,  p.  95. 

t  "  The  word  '  Mohawk'  itself  is  not  a  term  of  Mohawk  origin,  but  one  imposed  upon 
them,  as  it  is  believed,  by  the  Mohegan  or  Mahican  race,  which  inhabited  the  borders  of 
the  sea.  Among  this  race  the  Dutch  and  English  landed ;  and  they  would  naturally 
adopt  the  term  most  in  vogue  for  so  celebrated  a  tribe.  The  Dutch,  indeed,  modified  it  to 
'  Mcujuaas,'  a  modification  which  helps  us  to  decipher  its  probable  origin  in  Mauqua,  a 
bear.  *  *  *  The  Mohawk  sachems,  who  presented  their  condolence  at  Albany  in  1690,  on 
the  taking  of  Schenectady,  said,  '  We  are  all  of  the  race  of  the  bear — and  a  bear,  you 
know,  never  yields  while  one  drop  of  blood  is  left.  We  must  all  be  bears.' " — Schoolcraft's 
Notes,  73.  Clark,  i.,  31,  says,  that  the  Mohawks  furnished  the  "  Te-kar-a-ho-gea,"  or  w^ar 
captain  of  the  league.    But  this  has  been  denied  by  Morgan. 


EMPIRE  OF  THE  IROQUOIS.  87 

their  formidable  foe.     Long  before  European  discovery,  chap.  hi. 
the  question  of  savage  supremacy  had  been  settled  on  the  ~ 

waters  of  the  Cahohatatea.  ^' 

Such  were  the  famous  Indian  nations  among  which  the  Empire  of 
Dutch  first  established  themselves  on  the  upper  waters  of  quois." 
the  North  River,  Under  the  influence  of  that  spirit  of  ag- 
gression, and  thirst  for  aggrandizement  which  the  con- 
sciousness of  power  excites,  the  Iroquois  confederates  soon 
reduced  the  neighboring  tribes  into  vassalage ;  and  exact- 
ed a  universal  tribute,  from  the  Abenaquis  on  the  Bay  of 
Fundy,  to  the  Miamis  on  the  Ohio.  The  weaker  nations 
trembled  when  they  heard  the  awful  name  of  the  Konosh- 
ioni.  Their  war-cry  sounded  over  the  great  lakes,  and  was 
heard  in  the  Chesapeake  Bay.  They  quenched  the  fires 
of  the  Eries,  and  exterminated  the  Susquehannas.  The 
Lenapees,  the  Metowacks,  and  the  Manhattans  were  sub- 
jugated. The  terror  of  the  Iroquois  went  wherever  their 
war-canoes  were  paddled ;  and  the  streams  which  flowed 
from  the  summit  lands  around  their  grand  council-fire  at 
Onondaga,  were  the  channels  which  conducted  their  war- 
riors to  triumphant  expeditions  among  the  neighboring 
tribes.  Their  invincible  arms  humbled  every  native  foe, 
and  their  national  pride  grew  with  every  conquest.* 

But  when  the  progress  of  the  French  along  the  Saint  Fnst  hum- 
Lawrence   had  introduced  the   knowledge   of  European  champiain 
weapons  among  the  Hurons  and  Algonquins  of  Canada, 
the  war-parties  of  the  far-conquering  Iroquois  suffered  se- 
verely in  their  encounters  with  enemies  who  were  aided 

*  Smith's  N.  Y.,  i.,  51-«6  ;  Bancroft,  i.,  134  ;  li.,  416  ;  iii.,  245  ;  Schoolcraft's  Notes,  52  ; 
Morgan,  9-17.    I  can  not  forego  the  pleasure  of  extracting  a  few  lines  descriptiv  of  the 
mipreraacy  of  the  Iroquois,  from  Mr.  Strett's  metrical  romance,  "  Frontenac." 
"  The  fierce  Adirondacs  had  fled  from  their  wrath. 

The  Hurons  been  swept  from  their  merciless  path  ; 

Around,  the  Ottawas,  like  leaves  had  been  strown, 

And  the  Lake  of  the  Eries  struck  silent  and  lone. 

The  Lenape,  lords  once  of  valley  and  hill, 

Made  women,  bent  low  at  their  conquerors'  will. 

By  the  far  Mississippi  the  lUini  shrank, 

When  the  trail  of  the  Tortoise  was  seen  on  the  bank  < 

On  the  hills  of  New  England  the  Pequod  turned  pale. 

When  the  howl  of  the  Wolf  swelled  at  night  on  the  gale ; 

And  the  Cherokee  shook  in  his  green  sniling  bowers, 

When  the  foot  of  the  Bear  stamped  his  carpet  of  flowers," 


88         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  III.  by  the  military  skill  of  Champlain.  The  lesson  which  he 
had  first  taught  to  the  Mohawks  in  1609,  had  been  re- 
peated to  the  Onondagas  in  1615.  His  unerring  arque- 
buse  had  struck  down  the  chiefs  who  were  thought  invul- 
nerable in  their  arrow-proof  native  armor ;  and  the  terri- 
fied confederates  had  twice  fled  before  their  unusual  foe.* 
Anxious  to  wipe  off  the  disgrace  of  unexpected  defeat, 
the  Iroquois  sought  the  alliance  of  those  whose  friendship 
might,  perhaps,  enable  them  to  recover  their  ancient  su- 
Treaty  of  periority ;  and  the  treaty  of  the  Tawasentha  was  soon 
Beiitha.  concluded  between  the  chiefs  of  the  aborigines  and  the 
representatives  of  the  Amsterdam  merchants,  in  all  the 
solemn  forms  of  Indian  diplomacy.  Besides  the  Iroquois, 
the  Mahicans,  the  Mincees,  the  Minnisincks,  and  the  Len- 
ni-Lenapees  were  represented  at  this  grand  council,  which 
the  Mohawks,  who  were  the  prime  movers  of  the  treaty, 
invited  the  other  tribes  to  attend.  Under  the  supervis- 
ion of  the  Dutch,  a  general  peace  and  alliance  was  nego- 
tiated ;  and  the  supremacy  of  the  Five  Confederated  Na- 
tions .was  affirmed  and  acknowledged  by  the  other  tribes. 
The  plenipotentiaries  of  the  Iroquois  were  five  chiefs, 
each  representing  his  nation,  and  each  bearing  a  hered- 
itary name,  which,  nearly  a  century  before,  had  distin- 
guished the  delegates  who  formed  the  grand  confedera- 
tion. The  belt  of  peace  was  held  fast  at  one  end  by  the 
Iroquois,  and  at  the  other  by  the  Dutch ;  while  in  the  mid- 
dle it  rested  on  the  shoulders  of  the  subjugated  Mahicans, 
Mincees,  and  Lenni-Lenapees,  as  a  nation  of  women.  The 
calumet  was  smoked,  and  the  tomahawk  was  buried  in 
the  earth,  over  which  the  Dutch  declared  they  would  erect 
a  church,  so  that  none  should  dig  it  up  again  without  de- 
stroying the  building  and  incurring  their  resentment.! 
conse-  Thus  thc  factors  of  the  Amsterdam  Company  gained 

ue  treaty.  foT  the  Hollanders  the  lasting  friendship  of  the  Iroquois. 
Their  traders  fearlessly  visited  the  wigwams  of  the  red 
men  ;  and  in  exchange  for  the  peltries  of  New  Netherland, 

*  Voyages  de  Champlain,  151,  163,  i262. 

t  Moulton  346 ;  Schoolcraft,  91  ;  Heckewelder,  Morgan 


EXPIRATION  OF  THE  NEW  NETHERLAND  CHAPTER.  89 

the  Dutch,  at  first  anxious  to  limit  their  payments  to  duf-  chap.iii. 
fels  and  toys,  before  many  years  began  to  supply  their  In- 
dian  allies  with  weapons  which  had  conquered  a  peace 
with  Spain.*  To  both  parties  the  treaty  was  advanta- 
geous. The  tranquil  monopoly  of  the  fur  trade  filled  the 
coffers  of  the  Amsterdam  adventurers  ;  while  the  posses- 
sion of  European  fire-arms  eventually  enabled  the  confed- 
erated nations  to  reassert  and  maintain  their  former  su- 
premacy over  the  neighboring  savage  tribes.  But  the  in- 
troduction of  these  weapons  was,  in  the  end,  fatal  to  the 
peace  of  the  frontier.  The  Indian  warrior  soon  became 
more  expert  with  the  firelock  than  the  European  who 
manufactured  it.  For  more  than  a  century,  the  confed- 
erated nations  were  alternately  courted  as  allies  and 
dreaded  as  enemies  by  the  rival  statesmen  of  England 
and  France ;  and  no  sooner  did  the  news  of  the  battle  of 
Bunker  Hill  reach  London,  than  Lord  Dartmouth  com- 
municated the  king's  orders  to  Colonel  Guy  Johnson,  the  1775. 
Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs  in  New  York,  to  "  lose  ^"^  ^'^'^" 
no  time  in  taking  such  steps  as  may  induce  them  to  take 
up  the  hatchet  against  his  majesty's  rebellious  subjects  in 
America,  and  to  engage  them  in  his  majesty's  service."! 

On  the  first  of  January,  1618,  the  exclusive  charter  of   1618. 
the  Directors  of  New  Netherland  expired  by  its  own  lim-  NefheHand 
itation.     Year  by  year  the  value  of  the  returns  from  the  piresf'^  *" 
North  River  had  been  increasing ;  and  the  hope  of  larger 
gains  incited  the  factors  of  the  company  to  push  their  ex- 
plorations further  into  the  interior.     Besides  visiting,  and, 
perhaps,  establishing  a  post  among  the  Esopus  Indians, 
Dutch  traders  had  partially  explored  the  rich  and  extens- 
ive vale  of  Talpahockin,  drained  by  the  upper  channels 
of  the  Delaware ;  and  it  has  been  asserted  that  a  settle- 
ment was  now  commenced  on  the  shores  of  the  river  op- 
posite to  Manhattan,  at  Bergen,  in  Scheyiohbi,  or  New 

*  This,  however,  was  not  the  case  until  after  1030.  In  1020,  it  would  seem  that  the  Mo- 
hawks had  only  bows  and  arrows,  and  other  native  implements,  and  did  not  yet  possess 
the  fire-arms  of  Europe. — Wasseiiaar,  xii.,  38;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  43;  post,  p.  109. 

t  Letter  of  Lord  Dartmouth  to  Colonel  Guy  .Tohnson,  dated  24th  July,  1775,  in  London 
Documents,  xlv.,  211  ;  W.  W.  Campbell,  in  N.  Y.  11.  S.  Proc,  1845,  Appendix,  167. 


90 


HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


Chap.  III. 


1618. 


4  October. 
Its  renewal 
refused  by 
the  States 
General. 


9  October. 


Smith  in 
New  En- 
gland. 


1614. 

3  March. 


Jersey.*  But  though  the  Dutch  unquestionably  had  a 
just  title  to  New  Netherland  by  first  discovery  and  sub- 
sequent possession,  no  systematic  agricultural  colonization 
of  the  country  had  yet  been  undertaken.  The  scattered 
agents  of  the  Amsterdam  Company  still  looked  merely  to 
peaceful  traffic,  and  the  cultivation  of  those  fi'iendly  rela- 
tions which  had  been  covenanted  with  their  savage  allies 
on  the  banks  of  the  Tawasentha. 

Upon  the  expiration  of  their  special  charter,  the  mer- 
chants who  had  formed  the  United  New  Netherland  Com- 
pany applied  to  the  government  at  the  Hague  for  a  renew- 
al of  their  privileges,  the  value  of  which  they  found  was 
daily  increasing.  But  the  States  Greneral,  who  were  now 
contemplating  the  grant  of  a  comprehensive  charter  for  a 
"West  India  Company,  avoided  a  compliance  with  the  pe- 
tition. This  circumstance,  however,  did  not  cause  even  a 
temporary  abandonment  of  New  Netherland,  nor  weaken 
the  title  of  the  Dutch  to  their  American  discoveries ; 
though  it  may  have  delayed,  for  a  short  time,  the  devel- 
opment of  the  various  resources  of  the  territory.  The 
government  still  continued  to  encourage  trade  and  com- 
merce on  the  North  River.  A  few  days  after  a  renewal 
of  the  first  New  Netherland  charter  had  been  refused, 
Hendrick  Eelkens,  and  other  participants  in  the  late  com- 
pany, petitioned  to  be  allowed  to  send  their  ship,  "the 
Scheldt,"  on  a  voyage  to  Manhattan,  without  any  preju- 
dice to  or  from  their  former  associates ;  and  the  States 
Greneral  promptly  complied  with  their  prayer.t 

Up  to  this  period  the  Dutch  were  the  only  Europeans 
who  had  any  accurate  knowledge  of  the  regions  about  the 
North  and  South  Rivers,  and  of  the  coasts  of  Cormecticut, 
Rhode  Island,  and  Long  Island.  English  fishing  vessels 
had,  however,  continued  to  resort  to  the  coasts  of  Maine ; 
and  notwithstanding  the  failure  of  Popham's  enterprise  at 
the  Sagadahoc  in  1608,  the  active  perseverance  of  G-orges 
had  kept  alive  the  drooping  spirits  of  the  old  Plymouth 
Company.     Early  in  the  spring  of  1614,  John  Smith,  dis- 


.Moulton,  317. 


t  IIol.  Doc.  i.,91,  92. 


JOHN  SMITH  IN  NEW  ENGLAND.  9] 

gusted  with  his  undeserved  treatment  in  Virginia,  set  sail,  chap.  hi. 
with  two  ships,  for  the  regions  allotted  in  James's  charter 
of  1606  to  the  Plymouth  or  Northern  Company.  In  an 
open  boat,  with  eight  men,  he  explored  the  coasts  from 
Penobscot  to  Cape  Cod,  while  the  rest  of  his  company  re- 
mained employed  in  fishing.  Returning  to  England  in 
July,  Smith  left  one  of  his  ships  behind,  in  charge  of  isjuiy. 
Thomas  Hunt,  to  complete  a  cargo.  But  Hunt,  perfid- 
iously entrapping  twenty-seven  of  the  natives  on  board 
his  vessel,  carried  them  to  Malaga,  and  sold  them  as 
slaves  to  the  Spaniards.  Hunt's  baseness  naturally  ex- 
cited against  his  countrymen  the  enmity  of  the  savages. 
A  ship  which  had  been  dispatched  by  Gorges  and  Lord 
Southampton,  under  the  command  of  Captain  Hobson,  to 
settle  a  plantation,  arriving  soon  after  Hunt's  departure, 
was  attacked  by  the  natives,  and  was  forced  to  return  to 
England,  with  Hobson  and  several  of  his  crew  wounded. 

On  his  return  home  after  a  profitable  voyage.  Smith  New  En- 
presented  a  map  of  the  coasts  of  Maine  and  Massachusetts  named  by 
to  Prince  Charles,  who,  in  the  warmth  of  his  admiration,  charies. 
bestowed  upon  the  adjoining  country  the  name  proposed 
by  the  enterprising  explorer — "  New  England."    By  a  re- 
markable coincidence,  Smith  was  exhibiting  his  map,  and 
explaining  his  adventures  to  the  son  of  King  James,  in 
London,  almost  at  the  very  moment  that  Block  was  ex-n  October. 
hibiting  the  "  Figurative  Map"  of  New  Netherland,  and  Block  con- 
detailing  the  discoveries  of  the  Dutch  to  the  States  Gren-  in'Xcov-'^' 
eral  at  the  Hague.     Thus  the  names  of  "  New  Nether- ^'^^' 
land"  and  "  New  England"  took  their  places,  contempo- 
raneously, in  History. 

The  Plymouth  Company,  moved  by  Smith's  represenia-   1615. 
tions,  now  attempted  to  plant  again  a  small  colony  on  the  ^and^r"- 
coast  of  recently-named  New  England.     But  the  enter- ^^on-^ed! 
prise  resulted  in  another  disappointment.     Smith,  while 
on  his  way  to  America,  was  captured  at  sea  by  a  French 
squadron,  and  detained  a  prisoner  on  board  the  admiral's 
ship.     Escaping  in  an  open  boat,  he  reached  Rochelle  ; 
whence,  returning  to  London,  he  published,  the  next  year, 


92         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ckap.ui.  his  "Description  of  New  England."     Not  discouraged  by 

repeated  failures  and  difficulties,  he  then  spent  several 

'  months  in  vending  copies  of  his  book  and  map,  and  in 

1617.  constant  efforts  to  excite  the  merchants  and  noblemen  in 
the  west  of  England  to  new  adventures  in  America. 
Plans  of  colonization  on  a  large  scale  were  soon  formed ; 
Smith  was  appointed  admiral  for  life ;  and  the  Plymouth 

1618.  Company  applied  to  the  king  for  a  new  charter,  similar  to 
the  one  which  had  proved  so  advantageous  to  Virginia. 
But,  for  two  years,  the  proposition  was  strenuously  and 
successfully  opposed,  not  only  by  the  Virginia  Company, 
which  desired  to  retain  a  monopoly  of  commerce,  but  also 
by  private  traders,  who  pressed  the  importance  of  pre- 
serving the  freedom  of  the  North  American  fisheries. 
Meanwhile  New  England  remained  uncolonized.* 

1619.  -^^  English  vessel  was  now  to  sail,  for  the  first  time, 
Dcriner's    throusfh  Loug  Islaud  Sound,  and  to  visit  the  coasts  which 

voyage.  "  °  ' 

Block  had  thoroughly  explored  five  years  before.  In  the 
summer  of  1619,  Captain  Thomas  Dermer,  "  employed 
by  Sir  Ferdinando  Grorges  and  others,  for  discovery  and 
other  designs  in  these  parts,"  after  dispatching  to  En- 
re  May.  gland,  from  the  Island  of  Monhegan,  near  the  Kennebeck, 
a  vessel  laden  with  fish  and  fars,  set  out  on  a  voyage  to 
Virginia,  in  a  small,  open  pinnace,  of  about  five  tons  bur 
lone.  den,  "  determining,  with  Grod's  help,  to  search  the  coast 
along."  In  rounding  Cape  Cod,  he  "  was  unawares  taken 
prisoner"  by  the  Indians,  from  whom  he  ransomed  him- 
self by  giving  several  hatchets.  After  passing  Martha's 
Vineyard,  Dermer  "  discovered  land  about  thirty  leagues 
in  length,  heretofore  taken  for  main,t"  where  he  feared  he 
would  be  embayed ;  but,  by  the  help  of  an  Indian  pilot, 
he  reached  the  sea  again  at  Sandy  Hook,  "  through  many 
crooked  and  straight  passages."  Near  Tlnrog's  Neck,  "  a 
multitude  of  Indians  let  fly"  at  Dermer  from  the  bank ; 
but  he  came  off  victorious.     In  passing  through  Hell-gate, 

*  "A  Brief  Relation,"  &c.,  in  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  xix.,  5-11 ;  Gorges,  "  Brief  Narration," 
m  same,  xxvi.,  56-60  ;  Smith,  ii.,  174-218  ;  Bancroft,  i.,  269-271 ;  ante,  p.  64. 

t  Long  Island,  which  Block,  in  1614,  had  ascertained  to  be  insular,  and  had  laid  down 
as  such  on  the  "  Figurative  Map"  presented  to  the  States  General  in  that  year. 


DERMER'S  VOYAGE  TO  VIRGINIA.  93 

"  a  most  dangerous  cataract  among  small  rocky  islands,"  chap.  hi 
he  lost  his  anchor  by  the  strength  of  the  current,  which 
hurried  him  on  through  the  East  River  with  such  swift- 
ness, that,  without  stopping  at  Manhattan,  he  passed,  "  in 
a  short  space,"  into  the  lower  bay,  which  gave  him  "  light 
of  the  sea."  From  Sandy  Hook,  Dermer  coasted  safely  to7  sept. 
Cape  Charles,  and  the  James  River  ;  whence  he  sent  an  ac- 
count of  his  adventures  to  his  friend  Purchas  at  London.*  27  Dec. 

Having  finished  his  business  in  Yirginia, "  where  he  was 
kindly  welcomed  and  well  reh'eshed,"  Dermer  put  to  sea 
again,  early  the  next  spring,  "  resolving  to  accomplish,  in  1620. 
his  journey  back  to  New  England,  what  in  his  last  dis- 
covery he  had  omitted.  In  his  passage,  he  met  with  cer- 
tain Hollanders,  who  had  a  trade  in  Hudson's  River  some 
years  before  that  time,  with  whom  he  had  a  conference 
about  the  state  of  that  coast,  and  their  proceedings  with 
those  people,  whose  answer  gave  him  good  content."  This 
"  conference"  was  held,  no  doubt,  with  the  Dutch  traders 
who  were  then  settled  at  Manhattan  Island.  Availing 
himself  of  the  information  which  he  thus  obtained,  Der- 
mer "  betook  himself  to  the  following  of  his  business,  dis- 
covering many  goodly  rivers,  and  exceeding  pleasant  and 
fruitful  coasts  and  islands,  for  the  space  of  eighty  leagues 
from  east  to  west ;  for  so  that  coast  doth  range  along," 
from  the  North  River  to  Cape  Cod.  But,  before  he  left 
Manhattan,  Dermer  took  care  to  warn  the  Dutch,  whom 
he  found  there  in  quiet  possession,  not  to  continue  their 
occupation  of  what  he  claimed  as  English  territory.  Meet- 
ing, says  Grorges,  with  "  some  Hollanders  that  were  settled 
in  a  place  we  call  Hudson's  River,  in  trade  with  the  na- 
tives," Dermer  "  forbade  them  the  place,  as  being  by  his 
majesty  appointed  to  us."  The  Dutch  traders,  however, 
replied  that  "  they  understood  no  such  thing,  nor  found 
any  of  our  nation  there  ;  so  that  they  hoped  they  had  not 
offended."t 

*  Dermer's  letter  of  27th  December,  1619,  in  Purchas,  iv.,  1778,  9,  and  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  H. 
S.  Coll.,  i.,  p.  352  ;  Morton's  Memorial,  56  ;  Prince,  154  ;  Holmes,  i.,  158. 

t  Smith,  ii.,  219;  "A  Brief  Relation,"  &c.,  in  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  xix.,  11,  Gorges, 
"  Brief  Narration,"  in  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  xxvi.,  72  ;  De  Laet,  book  iii.,  cap.  iv.    It  seeraa 


94         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  III.  On  reaching  New  England,  Dermer  transmitted  to 
Gorges  "  a  journal  of  his  proceeding,  with  the  description 

30  Juno. "  °f  ^^^  coast  all  along  as  he  passed."*  Upon  the  receipt 
of  this  journal,  and  the  previous  letter  to  Purchas,  the 

Dermer  un- Plymouth  Companv  sccm,  most  uniustlv,  to  have  con- 

justly  con-     .  ;  i  .     .       ,     ,  "^ 

sidered  by  sidcrcd  Dcrmcr  as  the  orisrmal  discoverer  of  Lonsr  Island 

the  English  ^^  i  i       ^     i  i  • 

as  the  first  Souud  and  of  the  adiacent  coasts.     But  thousrh  Dermer 

explorer  of  i  i  i        r- 

Long  isi-    appears  to  have  been  the  first  En^lishraan  that  ever  sailed 

und  Sound.     '-  '■  ° 

through  the  Sound,  he  had  been  preceded,  several  years,  by 
Block  and  his  Dutch  associates  ;  with  the  details  and  re- 
sults of  whose  earlier  enterprise  he  was  made  fully  ac- 
quainted, in  the  "conference  about  the  state  of  that  coast" 
which  he  had  with  those  Hollanders,  whom,  on  his  return 
from  Virginia,  he  found  "  settled"  at  Manhattan. 

The  first  account  of  his  adventurous  voyage  to  Virginia, 
which  Dermer  had  sent  to  Purchas,  from  his  winter  quar- 
ters on  the  James  River,  seems  to  have  quickened  the  ef- 

Patent  for  forts  of  Grorgcs  and  his  associates  to  obtain  from  the  king 

gland.  the  new  privileges  for  which  they  had  so  long  pined. 
Constant  appeals  were  addressed  to  the  court  for  a  new 
patent — ^^  such  as  had  been  given  to  Virginia."     The  old 

3  March.  Plymouth  adventurers  petitioned  the  king  that  the  terri- 
tory might  be  called  New  England,  "as  by  the  Prince  his 
Highness  it  hath  been  named,"  and  asked  that  its  proposed 
boundaries  should  be  settled  "  from  forty  to  forty-five  de- 
grees of  northerly  latitude,  and  so  from  sea  to  sea  through 
the  main,  as  the  coast  lyeth."t 

At  length,  after  two  years  entreaty,  the  king  yielded,  and 

23  July,  the  solicitor  general  was  directed  by  the  Privy  Council  to 
prepare  a  patent  for  the  limits  "  between  the  degrees  of 

clear  that  the  Dutch,  whom  Dermer  conferred  with  and  "  forbade  the  place,"  were  those 
"  settled"  at  Manhattan,  though  they  do  not  appear,  as  yet,  to  have  built  any  fort  there 
Dermer  says  nothing  about  ascending  the  river,  while  he  speaks  distinctly  of  his  explora 
tions  eighty  leagues  eastward  from  the  North  River  to  Cape  Cod.  It  likewise  appears  I* 
me  very  probable  that  Dermer's  account  was  the  only  foundation  for  "  Beauchamp  Plantag 
enet's"  fabulous  story  of  Argall's  visit ;  see  Appendix,  Note  E. 

*  Morton's  Memorial,  56-€0  ;  Gorges,  "  Brief  Narration,"  in  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,  xrvi. 
63 ;  Prince,  157.  Holmes,  i.,  158,  misled  by  Prince,  erroneously  asserts  that  Dermer  was 
"  the  first  person"  who  ascertained  Long  Island  to  be  an  island.  Bancroft,  in  a  note,  ii., 
273,  corrects  Belknap's  similar  error. 

t  London  Doc,  i.,  6  ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  3  ;  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  xix.,  11,  12. 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  PATENT  OF  1620.  95 

forty  and  forty-eight."*     The  original  charter  of  1606  had  chap.  hi. 
fixed  the  northern  boundary  of  British  territory  in  America 
at  the  parallel  of  forty-five  degrees ;  and  to  that  line  the 
prayer  of  the  petitioners  had  been  limited.     Now,  the  En- 
glish government  boldly  instructed  their  law  officer  to  in- 
clude in  the  new  patent  all  that  part  of  Canada  compre- 
hended between  the  forty-fifth  and  the  forty-eighth  de- 
grees.    While  the  details  of  the  proposed  instrument  were 
yet  under  advisement,  Gorges  and  his  associates  probably 
received  Dermer's  second  journal.     By  this  they  were  in-  30  June 
formed  that  the  Hollanders  were  fairly  "  settled  in  a  place" 
which  the  English  called  "  Hudson's  River,  in  trade  with 
the  natives ;"  and  that,  upon  those  Hollanders  being  for- 
bidden the  place  as  British  territory,  they  had  answered 
that  "  they  understood  no  such  thing,"  nor  had  they  found 
any  English  subjects  there.     In  truth,  since  the  return  of 
the  Sagadahoc  colonists,  no  English  subjects  had  perma- 
nently occupied  any  part  of  what  was  called  New  England. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  was  certain  that  the  Dutch  were 
actually  in  quiet  possession  of  the  region  "  between  New 
France  and  Yirginia,"  and  that  they  had  been  so  for  at 
least  six  years  after  the  building  of  their  fort  at  Castle 
Island  in  1614,  and  the  grant  of  the  New  Netherland 
charter  by  the  States  G-eneral.     The  applicants  for  the 
New  England  patent  deprecated  any  further  delay.     The 
tedious  forms  of  English  official  law  were  at  length  com- 
pleted ;  and  a  royal  charter,  which  included  three  degrees 
of  latitude  more  than  had  been  originally  comprehended 
in  the  patent  of  1606,  or  been  petitioned  for  by  the  Plym- 
outh adventurers,  was  finally  engrossed.     Late  in  the  au-  ~\  Ncv. 
tumn,  the  important  instrument  duly  passed  the   great 
seal,  by  which  the  Duke  of  Lenox,  the  Marquises  of  Buck- 
ingham and  Hamilton,  the  Earls  of  Arundel,  Southamp- 
ton, and  Warwick,  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  Sir  Francis 
Popham,  and  their  associates  and  successors,  forty  in  all, 
were  incorporated  by  the  king,  as  "  the  council  established 

'  London  Doc,  i.,  8;   N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  4;  Hazard,  i.,  99;   Mass.  Hist.  Collection, 
»Avi.,  04. 


96  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  III.  at  Plymouth,  in  the  county  of  Devon,  for  the  planting, 

"~~~~~  rulint',  and  sfovernin*?  of  New  England  in  America." 
1620  D'         &  o  o 

The  political  powers  granted  to  the  new  corporation 

were  immense.  Emigrants  who  might  become  inhabit- 
ants of  New  England  were  to  be  subject  to  the  plenary 
authority  of  the  Plymouth  council.  By  the  terms  of  the 
patent,  the  corporation  was  invested  with  the  absolute 
propriety  and  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the  territories 
thenceforth  to  be  known  as  "  New  England  in  America," 
extending  from  forty  to  forty-eight  degrees  of  northerly 
latitude,  "  and  in  lengiih,  by  all  the  breadth  aforesaid, 
throughout  the  main  land,  from  sea  to  sea."  It  was  dis- 
tinctly alleged,  in  the  preliminary  recitals  of  the  instru- 
ment, that  the  king  had  "  been  certainly  given  to  under- 
stand" that  there  were  "  no  other  the  subjects  of  any 
Christian  king  or  state,  by  any  authority  from  their  sover- 
eigns, lords,  or  princes,  actually  in  possession"  of  any  of 
the  lands  or  precincts  "  between  the  degrees  of  forty  and 
forty-eight,"  whereby  any  right  or  title  might  accrue  to 
them ;  and  this  bold  allegation  was  made  a  leading  induce- 
ment to  the  patent.  Yet  the  French  occupation  of  Cana- 
da, as  far  south  as  the  forty-fifth  degree  of  latitude,  was 
notorious  to  the  world ;  and  Gorges  and  his  associates, 
before  their  patent  was  sealed,  must  have  received  from 
Dermer  the  clearest  evidence  that  the  Dutch  were  "  set- 
tled" in  actual  and  quiet  possession  of  New  Netherland. 
The  conveying  clause,  however — as  if  future  embarrass- 
ment was  anticipated— expressly  provided  that  the  premi- 
ses intended  to  be  granted  "be  not  actually  possessed 
or  inhabited  by  any  other  Christian  prince  or  estate,"  nor 
be  within  the  bounds  of  Virginia.* 

'  Thus  the  weak-minded  King  of  England  attempted  to 
affirm  a  dishonest  dominion  over  nearly  all  the  American 

The  Dutch  territory  north  of  Virginia,     Meanwhile,  the  Dutch  re- 
continue  to  .         ,    .  .  i-  x1      •  •     •        1    J  •  •  J 

explore      mamed  m  possession  oi  their  original  discoveries,  and  con- 

edand.  **  '  tiuucd  to  cxplorc  Ncw  Netherland.      Cornells  Jacobsen 

May,  who  had  been  among  the  first  to  visit  the  neighbor- 

*  See  the  patent  at  .ength,  in  Hazard,  i.,  103-118  ;  and  in  Trumbull's  Connecticut,  i.,  546. 


MAY  AT  THE  SOUTH  RIVER.  97 

hood  of  Montauk  Point,  in  the  "  Fortune,"  came  out  again  chap.  hi. 
in  a  new  vessel,  the  "Blyde  Boodschap,"  or  G-lad  Tidings.  "TT 
On  this  voyage  he  seerhs  to  have  directed  his  attention  ^ay  at  tiie 
chiefly  to  the  coasts  and  rivers  southward  of  Manhattan.  e°""*  ^"'" 
Besides  examining  the  regions  which  Hendricksen  had  ex- 
plored four  years  before.  May  also  visited  the  Chesapeake, 
and  ascended  the  James  River  as  high  as  Jamestown.* 
The  hay  at  the  mouth  of  the  South  River  was  soon  called 
by  the  Dutch  "  New  Port  May ;"  and  the  point  at  the 
southern  extremity  of  New  Jersey  still  retains  the  name  of 
"  Cape  May."     Returning  to  Holland  in  the  summer  of  capeMay. 
1620,  May  reported  that  he  had  discovered  "certain  new, 
populous,  and  fruitful  lands"  on  the  South  River.     The 
owners  of  the  Glad  Tidings  accordingly  applied  to  the  29  August. 
States  General  for  a  special  charter  in  their  favor.     At  the 
same  time,  Hendrick  Eelkens  and  his  partners  presented 
an  opposing  petition,  alleging  their  prior  discovery  of  the 
regions  which  May  had  only  recently  visited,  and  praying 
that  the  exclusive  right  to  trade  there  might  be  granted  to 
them.     Upon  this,  the  States  General  called  both  parties 
into  their  presence,  and  directed  them  to  meet  together  and  special 
arrange  their  differences.     These  differences,  however,  ap-  fa'sed^"^  "^"^ 
peared  to  be  irreconcilable.     After  nearly  three  months' 6  Nov. 
investigation,  a  committee  of  the  States  General  reported 
that  they  had  vainly  attempted  to  adjust  the  conflicting 
claims  ;  and  their  High  Mightinesses  peremptorily  refused 
the  prayers  of  both  memorials.!    But  the  importance  of  the 
regions  around  Manhattan  was  now  becoming  more  fully 
appreciated  at  the  Hague.    In  less  than  seven  months  from 
the  rejection  of  May's  ship-owners'  petition,  the  long-pend-  company"' 
ing  question  of  a  grand  commercial  organization  was  final-  byYilf  "^ 
ly  settled  ;  and  an  ample  charter  gave  the  "West  India  erah^^ 
Company  almost  unlimited  powers  to  colonize,  govern,  and   1621. 
defend  New  Netherland.  ^  •'""'• 

*  De  Laet,  xiii.,  p.  93.  t  Hoi.  Doc,  i.,  104- 106  ;  Wassenaar,  i.x.,  124 

G 


98  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

1620. 

Chap.  IV.      The  United  Netherlands  now  ranked  among  the  fore- 
most  nations  of  the  world.     They  had  simalized  the  com- 

Prosperity  ,  . 

of  the  mencement  of  their  newly-recognized  sovereignty  by  es- 
pubiic.  tablishing  diplomatic  relations  with  most  of  the  neighbor- 
ing courts  of  Europe ;  and  distant  powers  had  begun  to 

1610.  seek  their  alliance.  The  King  of  Morocco  early  sent  am- 
bassadors to  the  states,  and  negotiated  a  liberal  treaty ; 

1612.  while  the  sultan  opened  to  the  Dutch  the  commerce  of  the 
Levant,  which  before  had  been  monopolized  by  England 
and  France.  With  Wurtemburg  and  Brandenburg  a  mu- 
tual freedom  of  trade  was  soon  adjusted  ;  and,  in  a  me- 
morial to  King  James,  Raleigh  bore  eloquent  testimony  to 
the  large  policy  of  the  early  tariffs  of  the  Netherlands,  de- 
claring that  "  the  low  duties  of  these  wise  states  draw  all 
traffic  to  them,  and  the  great  liberty  allowed  to  strangers 
makes  a  continual  mart."  As  sagacious  as  he  was  patri- 
otic, Olden  Barneveldt  had  consolidated  the  independence 

1616.  of  his  country  by  procuring  from  the  M'eakness  of  James 
the  restitution  of  the  Brielle,  Vlissingen,  and  Rammekens, 
which  had  been  pledged  to  Elizabeth  as  a  security  for  the 
repayment  of  her  advances  to  the  United  Provinces.  The 
surrender  of  these  "  cautionary  towns" — a  measure  which 
excited  murmurs  and  discontent  in  England,  and  aston- 
ishment in  other  nations — gave  intense  satisfaction  to  the 
people  of  the  Netherlands,  and  added  a  ncAV  impulse  to  the 
commercial  prosperity  which  seven  years  of  peace  had  es- 
tablished and  confirmed.  The  flag  of  the  republic  floated 
on  every  sea — from  Japan  to  Manhattan,  from  Nova  Zem 


THE  REFORMATION  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS.        99 

bla  to  Cape  Hoorn — her  ports  were  crowded  with  richly-  chap.  iv. 
laden  shipping ;  her  warehouses  were  filled  with  the  costly 
products  of  the  East ;  and  the  markets,  which  formerly 
knew  only  the  furs  of  Muscovy,  had  already  become  famil- 
iar with  the  peltry  of  New  Netherland.* 

But  while  Europe  was  watching  with  jealous  interest 
the  triumphant  progress  of  the  United  Provinces,  a  cause 
was  secretly  at  work  within,  which  threatened  more  evil 
to  the  nation  than  all  the  might  of  foreign  foes.  During 
the  greater  part  of  the  war  with  Spain,  religious  differences  Rciipious 
had,  more  or  less,  prevailed  in  the  Netherlands.  When  the  sions. 
truce  was  finally  signed,  men's  minds,  relieved  from  the 
absorbing  consideration  of  martial  affairs,  were  soon  eager- 
ly engaged  in  fierce  debates  on  articles  of  faith ;  and  the 
theological  controversy  waxed  as  bitter  in  spirit  as  the  po- 
litical contest  which  had  just  been  settled. 

Early  in  the  fifth  century.  Saint  Augustine  opened  the  Pciagian- 
famous  controversy  upon  the  "heresies"  which  the  En- 
glish monk  Pelagius  had  just  broached.  Augustine  main- 
tained the  doctrines  of  original  sin,  and  the  predestination 
of  the  elect  to  salvation.  Pelagius  denied  them.  The 
Churches  of  the  East  generally  supported  Pelagius  ;  those 
of  the  "West,  Augustine.  Luther,  a  disciple  of  Augustine, 
affirmed  the  doctrines  of  the  patron  of  his  order ;  and  Cal- 
vin, following  the  great  Father  of  the  Reformation,  with  caivmisif... 
severe  logic  carried  them  out  to  their  extreme  conse- 
quences. Besides  their  distinctions  in  doctrine,  the  two 
Reformers  differed  also  in  their  views  respecting  church 
government  and  the  ceremonies  of  worship ;  the  some- 
what conservative  opinions  of  the  leader  of  the  German 
Protestants,  upon  these  points,  contrasting  strongly  with 
the  more  thorough  system  of  the  G-enevese  theologian. 

"Wessel  Gransevoort  and  Rudolf  Agricola,  of  Groningen,  The  Refo. 
had   already  begun  to   teach  evangelical   faith.      When  Holland" 
the  writings  of  Luther  were  printed   in  Friesland,  and   1518 
circulated  in  Holland,  Erasmus,  though  at  heart  not  op- 
posed to  many  of  the  views  of  the  German  Reformer, 

*  Van  Meteren,  xxxi.,  662  ;  xx.\ii.,  694,  707  ;  Davies,  ii.,  446,  452  ;  McCuUagh,  ii.,  251. 


[00  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

CHAr.  IV.  thought  that  the  cause  of  truth  would  be  better  promoted 
~  by  less  violent  proceedings.     Interposing  between  the  fol- 

io lo.   ^Q^ygj.j5  Qf  Luther  and  the  adherents  of  the  Pope,  Erasmus 
drew  upon  himself,  for  a  time,  the  ill  will  of  both  parties. 
The  mild  impartiality  of  Adrian  IL,  however,  saw  and  ad- 
mitted the  necessity  of  correcting  the  abuses  in  the  Church ; 
1522.  and  the  Rotterdam  scholar  was  invited  to  Rome  to  assist 
the  Pontiff  with  his  advice.     But  Erasmus,  remaining  in 
Holland,  devoted  his  admirable  talents  to  the  cause  of  Re- 
form in  his  own  land.     The  seeds  of  truth,  which  had 
germinated  there,  could  not  be  rooted  out  by  all  the  efforts 
of  the  inquisitors  of  Charles  V.  and  Philip  IL     The  suc- 
cessive edicts  of  the  kings  of  Spain  but  planted  more  deep- 
ly in  the  hearts  of  the  people  the  emancipating  principles 
of  the  Reformation.     Persecution  but  confirmed  their  be- 
lief, and  invigorated  their  zeal.     The  old  nobility  and  the 
beneficed  prelates,  dreading  a  change  which  might  dam- 
age their  secular  interests,  generally  adhered  to  the  Pope  ; 
The  Re-     but  the  popular  movement  carried  along  with  it  the  infe- 
st h*       rior  clergy.     Milid  acted  on  mind,  and  prescription  yielded 
to  the  irresistible  impulse.    A  Confession  of  Faith,  modeled 
after  that  of  the  Calvinistic  Church  of  France,  was  adopted, 
1561.  in  1561,  by  the  Protestants  of  the  Netherlands,  who  thence- 
forward went  by  the  name  of  "  the  Reformed."* 
First  The  first  public  meeting  and  preaching  of  the  Reformed 

oPthe  Re^  in  Holland  took  place  in  a  field  near  the  city  of  Hoorn,  on 
'"1566    *^®  fourteenth  of  July,  1566.     The  rumor  of  this  bold  step 
soon  spread  over  the  province,  and  Protestants  at  Haerlem, 
Leyden,  and  other  towns,  followed  the  example  of  their 
brethren  at  Hoorn.     Ministers  were  presently  settled  in 
the  chief  cities ;  and  the  Reformed  doctrine  was  openly 
preached  in  the  grand  cathedrals  which  the  Vandal  fervor 
Tiie         of  Iconoclasts  had  despoiled.     The  Psalms  were  translated 
translated,  iuto  Low  Dutch,  and  sung  by  great  congregations.     Thus, 
by  degrees,  the  minds  of  the  people  were  fully  prepared  for 
1573.  the  important  step  which  the  states  took,  in  the  year  1573, 

*  Brandt's  History  of  the  Reformation,  ii.,  64,  84  ;  v.,  254  ;  Davies,  i.,  354-356,  446 
ii.,  452-454. 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  REFORMED  RELIGION.  IQl 

:)f  expelling  the  Roman  Catholics  from  the  churches.    Yet  chap.  iv. 
this  measure  was  carried  with  great  difficulty,  and  after 
much  opposition  ;  and  it  was  justified  only  by  the  consid- 
erations of  pressing  political  necessity,  and  of  the  danger 
of  trusting  too  much,  during  the  war  with  Spain,  to  ec- 
clesiastics who  had  sworn  allegiance  to  the  Pope,  and  who 
remained  firm  in  that  allegiance.     The  Reformed  religion,  Estabush- 
as  taught  in  Greneva  and  elsewhere,  was  publicly  estab- Reformed  ^ 
lished  in  Holland  about  the  close  of  the  year.     At  the  "^^  '^'  "" 
same  time,  and  notwithstanding  the  acts  of  severity  which 
they  felt  themselves  compelled  to  use  against  the  Papists, 
the  people  were  of  opinion  "  not  only  that  all  religions 
ought  to  be  tolerated,  but  that  all  restraint  in  matters  of 
religion  was  as  detestable  as  the  Inquisition  itself"* 

Two  years  after  the  famous  Union  of  Utrecht,  in  1579, 
the  Prince  of  Orange,  on  accepting  the  office  of  stadthold-   1581. 
er,  which  was  formally  confirmed  to  him  by  the  States  of  ^  '"'^ ' 
Holland,  proclaimed  that  he  would  "  maintain  and  promote 
the  Reformed  religion,  and  no  other  ;"  but  "  that  he  should 
not  suffer  any  man  to  be  called  to  account,  molested,  or 
injured,  for  his  faith  and  conscience."     In  a  few  days,  the 
noble  manifesto  of  the  States  G-eneral  announced  to  thesejuiy 
world  that  the  Dutch  had  openly  rejected  Philip  as  their 
king,  and  that  the  people  of  the  Netherlands  were  absolved 
from  all  allegiance  to  their  former  sovereign.     This  obliged 
the  stadtholder  to  issue  a  proclamation  prohibiting  the  pub-  26  Dec. 
lie  exercise  of  the  Romish  religion ;  nevertheless,  the  same 
instrument  declared  that  it  was  not  intended  "to  impose  Freedom  of 

-,  ,  ......  ,  conscience 

any  burden,  or  make  inquisition  into  any  man's  con- proclaimed. 
science."  While  Calvinism  was  thus  established  as  the 
national  religion  of  Holland,  the  followers  of  all  other  modes 
of  faith  were  freely  allowed  to  conduct  their  worship  in 
private  houses,  which  were  frequently  as  spacious  as  the 
churches  themselves.  Under  this  system,  there  was,  in 
fact,  an  entire  liberty  in  the  use  of  diverse  services.  Hooft, 
the  burgomaster  of  Amsterdam,  in  a  public  address  to  his  1598, 
colleagues,  declared  that  magistrates  should  not  "  pretend  ^^ "'''" 

*  Brandt,  vi.,  318  ;  x.,  519,  550  ;  Davies,  i.,  526-530,  541. 


102  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

qkhf  IV.  to  build  up  living  temples  to  the  Lord  by  force,  and  by 

"~      ~  external  arms  ;"  for,  in  their  conflict  with  Spain,  the  Dutch 
1598  .  . 

■  had  openly  maintained  that  "  no  princes  nor  magistrates 

had  any  authority  over  the  consciences  of  their  subjects 
in  matters  of  religion."*" 

Thus  religious  freedom  was,  from  the  first,  recognized 
as  a  universal  right,  and  accompanied  the  spread  of  the 
Toleration  Reformation  in  Holland.  If  Germany  nursed  the  infancy 
rchgioas.  of  the  Protcstant  faith,  the  Netherlands  developed  its  true 
proportions,  and  defended  its  maturer  growth.  Wliile  the 
Dutch,  with  dauntless  courage,  were  breasting  the  power 
of  Spain,  they  habitually  extended  to  every  sect  the  same 
liberty  in  matters  of  belief  which  they  had  claimed  of 
Philip  as  their  own  right.  Though  Calvinism  was  their 
established  religion,  Calvinism  was  not  their  exclusive  re- 
ligion. Battling  against  a  foreign  bigot,  it  was  only  nat- 
ural that  the  people  of  the  Netherlands  should  generally 
have  repudiated  bigotry  at  home.  And  this  policy  pro- 
duced the  happiest  effects.  Occasional  instances  of  sect- 
arian excess  were  not,  indeed,  wanting.  Yet,  by  degrees. 
Papists  learned  to  think  that  Lutherans  and  Calvinists 
might  be  in  the  way  of  salvation  ;  Protestants  forbore  to 
call  the  Pope  anti-Christ,  and  Romanists  idolaters ;  the 
Calvinist  and  the  Lutheran  emulated  each  other  in  large 
Christian  charity ;  and  the  Jew,  stopping  his  wandering 
steps  and  forgetting  his  exclusiveness,  rested  in  Holland, 
Holland  an  a  faithful  and  patriotic  citizen.  The  Low  Countries  soon 
vll  plTse- "^  became  an  asylum  for  fugitives  from  persecution  in  other 
'^""^'^'  lands ;  and  the  Dutch  won  the  honorable  distinction  of 
European  reproach  for  their  system  of  universal  religious 
toleration.  Amsterdam  was  called  "a  common  harbor  of 
all  opinions,  of  all  heresies."  Holland  was  stigmatized  as 
"  a  cage  for  unclean  birds."  The  Netherlands  became 
notorious  among  the  bigots  of  Christendom  for  such  com- 
prehensive liberality  in  conscience  and  opinion,  that  it  wa.i 
observed  that  "  all  strange  religions  flock  thither."     In- 

•  Brandt,  xiii.,  673-67;  ;  xvi.,  825-834  ;  Van  Meteren,  x.,  209 ;  Bentivoglio,  ii.,  2  ;  D* 
vies,  ii.,  65,  141. 


THE  REFORMED  DUTCH  CHURCH  CALVINISTIC.  103 


159S. 


deed,  to  such  an  unlimited  extent  was  charity  displayed  chap.  iv. 
toward  all  methods  of  religious  belief,  that  a  liberal-mind- ' 
ed  English  statesman,  contrasting  the  narrow  sectarianism 
of  his  own  land  with  the  enlarged  Catholic  spirit  of  Hol- 
land, could  not  help  declaring  that  "  the  universal  Church 
is  only  there."* 

This  magnanimous  system  of  toleration  remained  a  con- 
stant and  remarkable  characteristic  of  the  people  of  the 
Netherlands,  except  upon  one  memorable  occasion,  when 
the  Dutch  forgot,  for  a  space,  their  cherished  maxim.  Yet, 
while  religious  differences  grew  warm  among  the  Protest- 
ants of  Holland,  neither  Gomarists  nor  Arminians,  in  their 
bitterest  strife,  thought  of  shutting  the  gates  of  the  Low 
Countries  against  the  persecuted  of  other  lands ;  and  the 
consequences  of  that  famous  theological  controversy  gave 
all  parties  among  the  Dutch  so  terrible  a  warning,  that 
the  suggestions  of  bigotry  ever  afterward  remained  un- 
heeded. "It  is  certain,"  says  DeWitt,  "that  freedom  of 
religion  having  always  been  greater  in  Holland  than  any 
where  else,  it  hath  brought  in  many  inhabitants,  and 
driven  out  but  few."t 

From  the  first,  the  majority  of  the  ministers  of  the  Re-  Calvinism 
formed  Dutch  Church  were  Calvinistic.     At  the  earliest  Dutch  cier 

gy. 

synod  which  the  clergy  of  Holland  and  Zealand  held  in 
1574,  at  Dordrecht,  upon  their  own  call,  and  without  the 
approbation  of  the  States  of  Holland,  it  was  agreed  that 
the  Heidelberg  Catechism  should  be  taught  in  all  the 
churches,  and  that  all  the  ministers  should  subscribe  the 
Netherland  Confession  of  Faith,  and  promise  obedience  to 
the  Classes.  The  preaching  of  free  will  was  soon  consid- 
ered to  be  heresy  ;  it  nearly  produced  a  schism  at  Utrecht,    1593. 


*  Davies,  iii.,  383;  Bishop  Hall,  vi.,  180;  Baylie's  Dissuasive;  Owen  Feltham.    An- 
drew Marvell,  iu  his  "  Character  of  Holland,"  has  these  quaint  lines : 

"  Hence  Amsterdam,  Turk,  Christian,  Pagan,  Jew, 
Staple  of  sects  and  mint  of  schism  grew  ; 
That  bank  of  conscience,  where  not  one  so  strange 
Opinion,  but  finds  credit  and  exchange  ; 
In  vain  for  Catholics  ourselves  we  bear — 
The  universal  Church  is  only  there." 
t  De  Wit.,  i.,  18. 


104  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IV.  which  was  healed  only  by  the  zealous  exertions  of  Uyten« 

;;;  boo^art  and  Junius.* 
The  Goma-  When  Jacobus  Arminius  was  recommended  for  the  Pro- 
Arlninufns.  fessorship  of  Theology  at  Leyden,  made  vacant  by  the 
death  of  Junius,  in  1602,  his  appointment  was  opposed  by 
Franc  iscus  G-omarus,  who  filled  another  theological  chair, 
and  who  hesitated  to  receive  as  a  colleague  a  person  whose 
orthodoxy  was  doubted.  The  scruples  of  G-omarus  were, 
however,  overcome  ;  and  the  next  year  Arminius,  upon 
promising  to  teach  nothing  but  the  "received  doctrine" 
of  the  Church,  became  professor.  At  first  his  public 
preaching  was  unexceptionable ;  but  in  private,  he  at- 
tacked some  of  the  prominent  points  of  the  established 
1604.  creed.  At  length,  in  the  spring  of  1604,  he  openly  and 
boldly  set  forth  doctrines  at  variance  with  those  of  Calvin 
respecting  election  and  predestination.  This  aroused  the 
warm  opposition  of  his  colleague  Gomarus,  who  published 
a  thesis  in  which  the  distinctive  tenets  of  Calvinism  were 
vehemently  urged.  The  strife  between  the  professors  soon 
led  to  exasperating  disputes  between  their  pupils,  who,  as 
it  often  happens,  surpassed  their  teachers  in  zeal  and  an- 
imosity, as  much  as  they  fell  short  of  them  in  knowledge. 
The  feud  extended  as  the  Arminian  sentiments  spread. 
The  ministers  of  the  churches  took  the  one  side  or  the 
other ;  and  the  controversy,  which  at  first  was  carried  on, 
in  Latin,  within  the  walls  of  the  university,  by  degrees 
reached  the  ears  of  the  people  in  furious  vernacular  from 
the  pulpits.t 

*  Brandt,  xi.,  554  ;  xiv.,  713  ;  xv.,  78G  ;  Ada  Syiiodi  Dord.  The  form  of  ecclesiastical 
government  established  by  the  Reformed  Church  of  the  Netherlands  resembled,  in  soma 
respects,  that  of  a  representative  republic.  The  spiritual  and  temporal  affairs  of  each 
congregation  were  managed  by  its  permanent  minister,  and  by  elders  and  deacons,  elect- 
ed for  limited  terms  of  service,  by  the  members  of  the  church.  The  minister,  elders,  and 
deacons  formed  the  "Consistory"  or  governing  council  of  each  congregation.  A  "  Clas- 
sis"  was  composed  of  all  the  ministers,  and  of  an  elder  delegated  from  each  consistory 
within  a  certain  district.  It  had  large  original  and  appellate  jurisdiction  ;  it  examined 
and  ordained  candidates  in  theology  ;  and,  generally,  decided  in  cases  of  discipline.  Su 
perior  in  authority  were  the  "  Synods,"  which  were  composed  of  ministers  and  elders  de- 
puted by  the  several  cT&sses  within  particular  bounds.  The  supreme  power  of  the  Church 
was  vested  in  a  "  General  Synod,"  consisting  of  clerical  and  lay  delegates  from  the  several 
classes  composing  the  particular  synods.  This  system,  substantially,  prevails  in  the  Re- 
formed Protestant  Dutch  Church  in  North  America. 

t  Hist.  Synod.  Dord.,  translated  by  Dr.  Scott,  90-106,  edit.  Philad..  1841.    The  charge 


THE  GOMARISTS  AND  REI\IONSTRANTS.  105 

Another  dispute  arose,  before  long,  respecting  the  Hei-  chap.  iv. 
dclbcrg  Catechism   and  the  Confession  of  Faith,  which  . 

lia  1  been  adopted  by  the  synod  held  at  Dordrecht  in  1574. 
The  Gomarists  regarded  these  as  unalterable  formularies 
of  belief ;  the  Arminians  demanded  their  revision.  Things 
soon  came  to  such  a  pass  that  the  States  of  Holland  in- 
',erfered,  and  appointed  a  conference  between  the  rival 
professors,  to  be  held  at  the  Hague,  before  their  Supreme  1608. 
Council,  assisted  by  four  ministers.  The  meekness  of 
Arminius  gained  him  an  advantage  in  debate  over  the 
sterner  G-omarus,  who  injured  his  cause  by  violent  de- 
nunciation. Upon  the  report  of  the  council,  Barneveldt 
recommended  mutual  forbearance  to  the  disputants,  prom- 
ising that  their  difl'erences  should  be  reconciled  by  a  na- 
tional Synod.  Little  good,  however,  followed  the  confer- 
ence. The  classis  of  Alckmaer  soon  afterward  resolved, 
that  all  the  ministers  within  its  jurisdiction  should  sign  a 
declaration  that  the  Catechism  and  Confession  of  Faith 
agreed,  in  every  particular,  with  the  word  of  God  ;  and 
five  ministers,  who  refused  to  subscribe,  were  forthwith 
suspended.  The  censured  ministers  appealed  to  the 
States  of  Holland,  who  required  the  classis  to  report  its 
proceedings  to  them,  and  meanwhile  to  vacate  its  sen- 
tence of  suspension.  But  the  Synod  of  North  Holland 
confirmed  the  action  of  its  subordinate  classis,  and  disre- 
garded the  reiterated  injunctions  of  the  states.* 

Thus  the  dispute  finally  assumed  a  political  aspect,  xhedispute 
The  Arminians,  acknowledging  the  right  of  the  civil  pow-  pomu'^i'. 
er  to  decide  points  of  religious  doctrine,  invoked  its  pro- 
of uncharitabieness  has  been  made  so  constantly  against  Gomarus  and  his  friends,  that  it 
is  only  justice  to  them  to  insert  an  extract  from  a  posthumous  tractate  of  Arminius  him- 
self, for  tlie  communication  of  which  I  am  indebted  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Forsyth,  of  Princeton. 
It  shows  that  tlie  synod's  friendly  overtures  were  peremptorily  rejected  by  Arminius. 
"  On  the  30th  of  .June,  1005,  there  came  to  me,  at  Leyden,  thi-ee  deputies  of  the  Synod  of 
South  Holland,  and  declared,  in  presence  of  two  deputies  from  the  Synod  of  North 
Holland,  that  the  Leyden  students,  in  their  examinations  for  licensure  before  several 
of  the  classes,  were  observed  to  give  new  answers  upon  some  questions,  contrary  to 
the  doctrines  of  the  Church,  and  which  answers  the  students  declared  they  had  learned 
from  me.  They  therefore  asked  me  to  meet  them  in  a  friendly  conference,  in  order  to  un- 
di^rstand  what  there  was  in  it,  and  how  th^i  thing  could  be  remedied,  nereupon  I  gave 
them  for  answer,  that  I  regarded  such  an  expedient  as  unfit." — V'erdaringhe  Jacobi  Ar- 
mmii,  p.  2.  Leyden,  1610. 
*  nrandt.  xvii.,  67-90  ;  Hist.  Syn.  Dord  .  107-138  ;  Davies,  ii.,  452-460. 


106  HISTORy  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IV.  tection  and  support.  The  Gomarists  insisted  that  eccle- 
^  siastical  authority  belonged,  solely  and  exclusively,  to  the 
consistories,  the  classes,  and  the  synods  of  the  Church. 
The  municipal  governments  generally,  and  very  naturally, 
sided  with  the  Arminians,  who  had  thus  adroitly  flattered 
them ;  but  the  Gromarists,  who  formed  a  large  majority 
among  the  clergy  and  the  people,  retained  the  almost  en- 
tire control  of  the  judicatories  of  the  Church.  Other 
classes  followed  the  example  of  that  of  Alckmaer,  and  re- 
quired all  their  ministers  to  subscribe  to  the  Catechism 
and  Confession.  And  now,  the  truce  with  Spain  having 
exempted  the  nation  from  the  dangers  of  war,  those  minds 
which  had  been  chiefly  occupied  by  the  great  contest  for 
civil  and  religious  liberty  were  soon  engaged  in  a  vehe- 
ment conflict  on  abstruse  points  of  metaphysical  theology. 
Every  where  the  pulpits  echoed  denunciations  against  the 

1609.  Arminians,  which  even  the  death  of  their  amiable  leader 
19  October,  jj^  j^^^  abate.     To  relieve  themselves  from  misrepresenta- 

1610.  tions  of  their  faith,  the  Arminians,  the  next  year,  present- 
ed a  formal  remonstrance  to  the  States  of  Holland  and 
West  Friesland,  setting  forth  the  five  prominent  points  of 
doctrine  in  which  they  differed  from  the  Reformed  Church 

The  Re-     and  wliicli  soon  obtained  for  them  the  name  that,  dowi 
strains,      to  the  present  day,  has  distinguished  them  in  Holland 
"  the  Remonstrants."* 

The  chair  of  Divinity  at  Leyden,  made  vacant  by  thf: 
dea-tli  of  Arminius,  was  soon  proposed  to  be  filled  by  the 
appointment  of  the  learned  Conrad  Vorstius,  who,  having 
been  suspected  of  Socinianism,  was  even  more  obnoxious 
interfer-  than  his  prcdcccssor.  The  pedantic  King  of  England,  to 
King  whom  the  candidate  for  the  professorship  had  given  great 
offense  by  the  publication  of  a  theological  treatise,  could 
not  resist  the  temptation  to  meddle  as  a  polemic.     He  in- 

1611.  structed  his  ambassador,  Winwood,  to  press  the  States 
Greneral  for  the  banislmient  of  Vorstius ;  and  even  hinted, 
in  a  letter  to  their  High  Mightinesses,  that  the  "arch  her- 

*  Brandt,  xviii.,  92  ;  xi.\.,  130;  Hist.  Sjn.  Dord.,  139-154;  Davies,  ii.,  451-463  ;  Mo 
eheim,  v.,  444,  445. 


1611. 


MAURICE  AND  BARNEVELDT.  107 

etio"  deserved  a  crown  of  martyrdom.  The  king's  perti-  chap.iv, 
nacious  demands  were  warmly  opposed  by  Barneveldt, 
but  strongly  supported  by  Prince  Maurice,  the  stadtliolder, 
who  thus  conciliated  the  good-will  of  James.  The  States, 
unwilling  to  offend  their  powerful  English  ally,  consented 
that  Vorstius  should  retire  ;  and  Simon  Episcopius  was 
appointed  in  liis  place.* 

The  leading  statesmen  of  the  Netherlands  could  not 
avoid  taking  part  in  the  religious  dispute  which,  by  this 
time,  had  begun  to  distract  all  ranks  of  their  countrymen. 
Barneveldt  and  Grotius,  desiring  to  curb  the  ambition  of  Bameveidt 
the  stadtholder  by  the  influence  of  the  towns,  naturally  tius  side 
sided  with  the  Remonstrants,  whose  views  were  generally  Remon- 
favored  by  the  municipal  governments.     But  the  clergy, 
excluded  from  political  ofiioe,  had  generally  been  in  active 
opposition  to  the  civil  authorities  ;  and  had  always  been 
zealous  partisans  of  the  stadtholders.     Maurice,  remem- 
bering this,  and  knowing  that  a  large  majority  of  the 
ministers  of  the  Reformed  Church  were  hostile  to  the 
tenets  of  Arminius,  naturally  sided  with  the  Gomarists. 

From  the  period  of  the  truce  with  Spain,  the  prince  had  prinee 
borne  ill  will  against  Barneveldt,  whose  influence  in  the  and  uarce- 
governments  of  most  of  the  towns  was  enough  of  itself  to 
arouse  the  jealousy  of  a  less  ambitious  politician.  Soon 
after  the  stadtholder's  splendid  victory  over  the  Spanish 
forces  at  Nieuport,  some  of  the  wisest  patriots  of  Holland, 
among  whom  were  Barneveldt  and  Grotius,  began  to  en- 
tertain suspicions  that  Maurice  would  endeavor  to  use  his 
popularity  with  the  army  as  a  means  of  enabling  him  to 
grasp  more  political  power  than  would  be  consistent  with 
the  liberties  of  his  country.  When  proposals  were  soon 
afterward  made  for  an  accommodation  with  Spain,  the  ad- 
vocate, with  many  other  enlightened  Dutch  statesmen,  be- 
came as  active  promoters  of  a  peace  as,  not  long  before, 
they  had  been  ardent  supporters  of  the  war.  The  martial 
successes  of  the  Dutch  had  begun  to  modify  their  sober 

*  Winwood's  Memorial,  iii.,  317,  340  ;  Hist.  Syn.  Dord.,  155-182  ;  Daviea,  ii.,  463-467; 
Neal's  Puritans,  i.,  259,  Harpers'  edition. 


\ 


108  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IV.  national  habits,  and  honest  patriotism  feared  a  continu- 
ance  of  the  tempting  strife.  The  burdens  of  a  war-tax 
had  become  almost  insupportable,  and  industry  was  crip- 
pled, while  gallantry  alone  was  rewarded.  But,  above  all, 
it  was  apprehended  that  a  well-organized  army,  flushed 
with  continual  victories,  and  led  by  so  ambitious  a  general 
as  Maurice,  might  soon  read  to  the  Dutch  Republic  the 
lessons  which  praetorian  cohorts  had  read  to  Rome.  Bar- 
neveldt  and  his  friends,  therefore,  eagerly  desired  a  peace, 
and  the  truce  of  1609  was  signed.  As  stadtholder,  Mau- 
rice was  the  commander  of  the  military  force  of  the  re- 
public ;  an  end  of  hostilities  would,  he  foresaw,  deprive 
him  of  a  large  share  of  his  authority  and  influence ;  he, 
therefore,  opposed  the  truce.  Finding  himself  thwarted 
on  every  side  by  Barneveldt,  he  did  not  disguise  his  hatred 
of  the  patriotic  advocate  ;  who,  in  turn,  could  not  conceal 
his  suspicions  that  the  prince  desired  to  prolong  the  war 
from  motives  of  private  interest  and  personal  ambition. 
Hence  arose  a  mutual  antipathy,  which  soon  deepened,  on 
the  side  of  the  stadtholder,  into  a  sentiment  of  intense  an- 
imosity against  Barneveldt,  and  which  the  sacrifice  of  its 
hated  object  at  length  could  scarcely  appease.* 

Swayed  by  such  feelings  of  jealousy  and  hatred,  it  was 
only  natural  that  the  prince  should  take  a  side,  in  the  great 
religious  controversy  which  was  distracting  the  country, 
opposite  to  that  upheld  by  those  statesmen  who  had  thwart- 
ed his  political  views.     Other  reasons  besides  his  sympathy 
with  the  established  clergy,  and  his  inveterate  personal 
1616.  detestation  of  the  advocate,  induced  Maurice  to  espouse 
sideJ'with  with  zeal  the  cause  of  the  Gomarists,  or  Contra-Remon- 
mamts.     strauts  ]  which,  from  the  time  of  the  stadtholder's  open 
accession,  daily  gained  groiuid.     Sir  Dudley  Carleton,  who 
had  succeeded  "Win wood  as  English  ambassador  at  the 
Hague,  also  used  the  influence  of  his  high  position  very 
unscrupulously  against  the  Remonstrants,  and  took  every 
occasion  to  strengthen  the  prejudices  which  had  already 
seriously  affected  the  political  standing  of  Barneveldt 

*  Grotius,  ix. ,  571  ;  xv.,  716 ;  Davies,  ii.,  358,  406,  407,  469,  471. 


THE  SYNOD  OF  DORDRECHT.  109 

One  of  Carleton's  motives  for  this  conduct  was,  no  doubt,  chap.  iv. 
the  chagrin  of  his  sovereign  for  his  weakness  in  yielding 
to  the  advocate's  diplomatic  skill  in  the  negotiation  for  the 
surrender  of  the  cautionary  towns.     The  nobles,  the  states, 
and  the  municipal  governments,  which  sided  with  the  ad- 
vocate, were  libeled  without  stint ;  Barneveldt  himself  was 
vindictively  attacked  ;  and  the  King  of  England  again  in-  continue.i 
flamed  the  mischief  by  his  officious  personal  intermed- ence  of 
dling.     Aware  that  the  question  of  a  national  synod  had  James 
now  well-nigh  replaced  the  other  points  in  dispute,  James, 
in  March,  1617,  wrote  a  long  letter  to  the  States  G-eneral,    1617 
in  which  he  strongly  urged  the  measure  as  the  most  ef- 
fectual means  of  establishing  the  Reformed  faith — the 
"  only  solid  cement"  of  a  good  understanding  between  the 
two  countries.     The  arguments  of  the  king  were  warmly 
supported  by  his  ambassador ;  a  national  synod  was  ap- 
pointed to  be  held  at  Dordrecht ;   and  Maurice,  now  be- 
come Prince  of  Orange  by  the  death  of  his  elder  brother 
Philip,  made  a  tour  through  the  towns  of  the  Netherlands 
to  gain  their  unanimous  consent  to  the  measure.* 

The  Synod  of  Dordrecht  assembled  on  the  thirteenth  of 
November,  1618.  It  sat  for  more  than  seven  months,  at  a  1618. 
cost  to  the  republic  of  a  million  of  guilders.  Foreign  Jf'^00^/""'^ 
Churches  were  invited  to  commission  delegates  to  the  syn-  ^^^'^^^^ 
od,  and  they  all  complied  with  the  request.  The  Churches 
of  the  Palatinate,  Hesse,  Switzerland,  Bremen,  and  Emb- 
den,  and  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  as  the  head  of  the  En- 
glish and  Scotch  establishments,  were  all  represented.  The 
Reformed  Church  of  France  appointed  delegates ;  but  they 
were  forbidden  by  Louis  XIII.  to  go  to  Dordrecht,  and  the 
places  appropriated  for  them  were  left  vacant  during  the 
sessions  of  the  synod.  The  head  of  the  Church  of  En- 
gland was  represented  by  G-eorge  Carleton,  bishop  of  Llan- 
daflf;  Joseph  Hall,  dean  of  Worcester ;  Samuel  Ward,  arch- 
deacon of  Taunton ;  and  John  Davenant,  professor  of  The- 
ology at  Cambridge  ;  while  Walter  Balcancall  was  dele- 
gated by  the  king  in  the  name  of  the  Church  of  Scotland. 

*  Carleton's  Letters,  8",  88,  123  ;  Hist.  Syn.  Dord.,  183-239;  DaVen,  ii.,  467-189 


severe. 


110  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IV.  After  One  hundred  and  fifty-four  sessions — in  the  course  ol 
which  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  and  the  Confession  of 
Faith  were  fully  approved  and  ratified,  and  the  Remon- 
strants pronounced  innovators,  disturbers  of  the  Church 
and  nation,  obstinate  and  rebellious,  leaders  of  faction, 
teachers  of  false  doctrine,  and  schismatics — the  business 
of  this  famous  Assembly  was  closed  on  the  ninth  of  May, 
1619.  1619 ;  and  Bogerman,  its  president,  dismissed  the  foreign 
'  ^^'  members  with  the  startling  declaration  that  "  its  marvel- 
ous labors  had  made  Hell  tremble."* 
The  syn-  That  the  proceedings  of  the  Synod  of  Dort  against  the 
ceedines  Armiuiaus  were  inexorably  severe,  ought  not  to  be,  and 
can  not  be  denied.  They  formed  a  singular  and  memo- 
rable exception  to  the  characteristic  system  of  toleration 
which  so  nobly  distinguished  Holland  among  the  nations 
of  the  earth.  It  would  be  difficult  to  repeat  similar  pro- 
ceedings at  the  present  day.  At  the  same  time,  it  must  be 
candidly  admitted  that  the  synod  exercised  upon  the  Re- 
monstrants only  that  ecclesiastical  discipline  which  any 
Church  may  lawfully  exercise  upon  those  under  its  juris- 
diction, who  reject  or  depart  from  its  standards  of  doctrine. 
The  Synod  of  Dort,  in  its  supreme  function,  constitution- 
ally declared  that  the  Remonstrants,  who  formed  a  very 
small  minority  among  the  clergy,  and  whose  followers 
were  scarcely  one  in  thirty  among  the  body  of  the  people, 
should  not  teach  false  doctrine  and  heresy  within  the  pale 
of  the  IN'^ational  Church,  and  under  its  apparent  sanction. 
It  was  in  their  claimed  character  of  members  of  the  es- 
tablished Reformed  Dutch  Church,  that  the  Remonstrants 
received  the  censures  of  that  Church.  If  they  could  not 
approve  of  its  standards  of  religion,  and  could  not  teach 
in  conformity  to  them,  they  should  have  resigned  their  liv- 
ings and  professorships,  and  have  preached  and  taught  else- 
where. Though  the  Dutch  had  a  national  religion,  they 
had  no  Statute  of  Uniformity.  Had  the  Remonstrants  hon- 
estly and  openly  separated  themselves  from  the  Established 
Church,   whose  doctrine  they  could  not  maintain,  they 

*  Brandt,  xli.,  611,  "  Een  recht  wonderbaarlyck  werek  't  welck  de  helle  doet  beven." 


DEATH  OF  BAllNE VELDT.  HI 

would  undoubtedly  have  found,  readily  and  at  once,  the  chap.  iv. 
same  toleration  which  other  sects  enjoyed  in  Holland,  and 
which,  after  they  had  been  judicially  pronounced  schismat- 
ics, they  did  enjoy,  and  do  notoriously  enjoy,  to  this  day. 

The  fate  of  Barne veldt  was  soon  sealed.  He  had  been 
arbitrarily  arrested,  by  order  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  in 
August,  1618,  as  he  was  entering  the  Assembly  of  the  Pro- 
vincial States  of  Holland.  The  arrest  of  their  own  advo- 
cate drew  from  the  states  an  earnest  remonstrance  against 
such  an  open  invasion  of  their  privileges.  But  remon- 
strance was  unavailing.  The  stadtholder  was  determined 
to  gratify  to  the  utmost  his  personal  jealousy  and  revenge  ; 
and  Barneveldt  was  illegally  detained  three  months  in 
prison,  to  insure  the  appointment  of  an  adverse  tribunal. 
After  forty-eight  interrogatories,  the  advocate  was  con- 
demned to  death,  upon  a  series  of  political  charges,  the 
only  capital  one  of  which,  and  the  one  which  before  his 
trial  his  enemies  had  most  vehemently  urged — that  he  had 
treasonably  corresponded  with  Spain — was  entirely  aban- 
doned. On  the  morning  of  the  thirteenth  of  May,  1619,  is  May. 
in  the  seventy-second  year  of  his  age,  Barneveldt  was  be-  Barneveidi 
headed  on  a  scaffold  erected  in  the  hollow  square  in  front 
of  the  great  hall  of  the  States  Greneral.  As  he  walked 
calmly  to  his  place  of  execution,  and  looked  around  upon 
the  buildings  which  had  witnessed  his  triumphs  as  a 
statesman,  the  contrast  of  his  unworthy  doom  with  the 
glorious  recollections  of  his  career,  wrung  from  him  the 
memorable  exclamation,  "  Oh  God  !  what,  then,  is  man  !"* 
Popular  tradition,  though  its  truth  is  doubted,  to  this  day 
asserts  that  the  insatiate  vengeance  of  Maurice  demanded 
a  sight  of  the  blood  of  his  venerable  victim  ;  and  the  vis- 
itor at  the  Hague  is  still  shown  a  little  window  in  one  of 
the  turrets,  overlooking  the  quadrangle  of  the  Binnenhof, 
from  which  the  prince  is  said  to  have  witnessed  the  exe- 
cution of  one  of  the  truest  patriots  and  most  upright  states- 
men that  ever  fell  a  sacrifice  to  the  violence  of  party  rage, 
or  the  unscrupulousness  of  political  ambition. 

♦  Davies,  ii.,  490-525  ;  Van  der  Kemp's  "Maurice,"  iv.,  119-130,  317  ;  Grattan,  241-2 


112  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IV.       Ill  the  midst  01  the  religious  and  political  differences 
"~      ~  which  were  thus  distracting  all  classes  in  the  Netherlands, 
■  a  number  of  English  Puritans,  weary  of  hierarchal  op- 
pression, and  smarting  under  the  vulgar  insults  of  their 
bigoted  king,  resolved  to  emigrate  to  Holland. 

At  the  command  of  Henry  VHL,  who,  for  opposing  Lu- 

1521.  ther,  had  received  from  Leo  X.  the  title  of  "  Defender  of 
the  Faith,"  the  English  clergy  had  been  obliged  to  abjure 

1534.  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope.  Yet  the  Anglican  Church, 
under  Henry,  though  forced  to  substitute  the  supremacy 
of  the  King  for  that  of  the  Pontiff,  retained,  to  a  great  ex- 
tent, the  peculiar  doctrines  and  the  gorgeous  ceremonial 
of  Rome.     As  the  Reformation  advanced,  further  changes 

1548.  became  necessary ;  and,  under  Edward  VI.,  Cranmer  ar- 

1552.  ranged  the  terms  of  a  compromise,  which  produced  the 
Tiie  present  Church  of  England.     Like  all  compromises,  the 

England,  ncw  establishment  rejected  extremes.  A  hierarchal  con- 
stitution was  retained,  and  those  beautiful  collects,  which 
had  "  soothed  the  griefs  of  forty  generations  of  Clu'istians," 
were  translated  into  the  English  tongue ;  while  Articles 

1562.  of  Ptcligion  were  adopted,  and  afterward  twice   deliber- 

1571.  ately  revised  and  ratified,  in  which  the  most  zealous  Cal- 
vinist  might  find  his  own  doctrines  affirmed.  Thus  the 
Established  Church  of  England  took  a  middle  position  be- 
tween the  immutable  Church  of  Rome  and  the  Reformed 
Churches  of  the  Continent. 

But  when  the  English  version  of  the  Bible  was  printed, 

1539.  and  began  to  be  generally  read  by  the  people,  there  were 
numbers  of  persons  who  thought  that  the  founders  of  the 
Anglican  Church  had  not  gone  far  enough  in  their  re- 
forms. Those  persons,  regarding  the  Holy  Scriptures  with 
the  veneration  due  to  a  divinely-inspired  book,  looked 
upon  them  as  alone  furnishing  a  complete  manual  in  the- 
ology, in  morals,  and  in  political  science.  Relying,  per- 
haps too  confidently,  upon  their  own  interpretations,  they 
judged  that,  by  the  standard  of  those  Scriptures,  the  En- 
glish Church  was  not  a  pure  Church  ;  and  that,  in  retain- 
ing prelacy,  ceremonies,  and  other  "remains  of  anti-Christ,'" 


THE  PURITANS  IN  ENGLAND.  113 

she  was  attempting  to  serve  both  (jrod  and  Baal.     They  chap.  iv. 

found  no  warrant  in  the  Bible  for  wearinsr  the  surplice  ;  "7177" 
*  o  I        '    1539 

they  thought  that  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  savored 

too  much  of  the  Missal  and  the  Breviary ;  and  they  in- 
sisted that  the  interests  of  a  pure  religion  demanded  the 
extremest  simplicity  in  all  its  external  services.  Hence 
they  obtained  the  name  of  "  Puritans."  The  term  event-  15G4. 
ually  designated  all  those  "who  endeavored,  in  their  de-^nl  "'^'' 
votions,  to  accompany  the  minister  with  a  pure  heart,  and 
who  were  remarkably  holy  in  their  conversations,"* 

Returning  to  England,  after  the  accession  of  Elizabeth,  views  of 
from  their  exile  on  the  Continent,  where  they  had  em- tans, 
braced  the  most  rigid  views  of  Calvin,  the  Puritan  leaders 
seemed  to  believe  that  the  Reformation  would  not  be  com- 
plete unless  every  thing  that  might  suggest  a  single  rec- 
ollection of  Romanism  should  be  discarded.  They  reject- 
ed, as  unscriptural,  the  claims  of  the  bishops  to  ecclesi- 
astical superiority.  They  abhorred  priestly  garments  as 
badges  of  popery.  They  denounced  the  Prayer  Book  and 
"  other  popish  and  anti- Christian  stuff"  of  the  English 
establishment.  They  felt  themselves  called  upon  to  re- 
form the  Reformation  in  England,  and  destroy  all  "relics 
of  the  Man  of  Sin."  Forms  and  ceremonies,  by  degrees, 
became  as  important,  in  their  eyes,  as  creeds  and  doc- 
trines. Things  indifferent  became  things  essential.  They 
seemed  to  think  that  a  sour  austerity  on  earth  would  win 
for  them,  more  certainly,  an  eternal  inheritance  in  heaven. 
They  appeared  to  fancy  themselves  (3-od's  special  and  pe- 
culiar people,  and  more  holy  than  their  neighbors.  They 
seemed  to  prefer  the  Old  Testament  and  the  argumenta- 
tive Epistles  of  Paul,  to  the  Gospels  and  the  milder  Epis- 
tles of  John.  In  thie  end,  many  of  them  conceived  that 
the  same  polity  which  God  had  ordained  for  Israel  before 
the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  should  govern  both  Church  and 
State  under  the  Christian  dispensation.  More  than  most 
sectarians,  they  were  sincere  and  vehement  in  th^ir  belief, 

*  Neal's  Puritans,  i.,  Preface,  x.  Harpers'  ed. ;  Lingard,  Baudry's  ed.,  vi.,  235,  248,  304 ; 
vii.,  31-33,  103-108,  297-300,  360;  viii.,  70  ;  Macaulay,  i.,  40-58  ;  DancrofI,  i.,  275-285. 

H 


114  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IV.  and  severe  and  inflexible  in  their  practice.  More  than 
'  most  enthusiasts,  they  were  intrepid  and  persevering  in 
their  fervid  zeal.  "With  intense  earnestness,  they  labored 
to  subject  political  power  to  the  supreme  control  of  an  as- 
cetic religion.  Confident  that  they  alone  were  right,  they 
acted  out  their  part  with  consistent  energy.  In  a  country 
which  was  not  distinguished  for  toleration,  they  clairaied 
for  themselves  immunities  which,  afterward,  they  seemed 
unwilling  to  yield  to  others.  Eventually  they  grasped  the 
authority  for  which  they  longed,  and  retorted  upon  their 
adversaries  the  wrongs  of  their  old  oppressors.  Yet  the 
controversy  which  the  Puritans  commenced  was  only  "the 
wind  by  which  truth  is  winnowed."  Their  spirit  of  in- 
quiry and  dissent  added  a  significant  impulse  to  the  grand 
cause  of  civil  liberty.  Their  earnestness  may  have  carried 
them  beyond  just  limits ;  but  their  very  fanaticism  was 
decreed  to  be  one  of  the  instruments  of  Providence  in  work- 
ing out  great  good  to  man.  And  though  we  may  not  all 
applaud  their  singularities  or  justify  their  intolerance,  we 
should  not  withhold  our  respect  for  the  sincere  fervor  with 
which  they  advocated  their  system,  the  unfaltering  con- 
stancy with  which  they  endured  persecution,  and  the  firm 
will  and  stern  resolution  with  w^hich  they  maintained 
their  principles.* 
1582.  Before  long,  the  Puritans,  who  seem  to  have  embodied 
>anss"pa-  rather  the  Saxon  than  the  Norman  type  of  the  English 
ihe'^chTch  character,  began  to  separate  themselves  openly  from  the 
ngidn  .  q}j^j.q]^^  whose  government  and  ritual  they  condemned, 
but  whose  doctrines  they  could  not  wholly  disavow.  They 
refused  to  conform  to  the  statutes  of  the  realm ;  and  the 
law  was  severely  enforced.  Penalties  which  the  Puritans 
had  advocated  against  the  Roman  Catholics  were  exacted 
from  themselves.      Brown,  the  leader  of  the  Separatists, 

*  Those  who  desire  detailed  information  respecting  tlie  Puritans,  may  consult  Neal's 
History ;  Macaulay's  Essay  on  Milton,  in  the  Edinburgh  Review,  No.  84,  for  August, 
1825  ;  Hume,  v.,  87-92  ;  Lingard,  viii.,  72, 132-308  ;  ix.,  31,  179,  351 ;  Macaulay's  England, 
i.,  48-62,  74-82.  160-166  ;  Bancroft,  i.,  274-306,  460-169  ;  Ilildreth,  i.,  153-156  ;  Toung's 
"Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrims,"  and  "Chronicles  of  Massachusetts  ;"  Winthrop;  Morton; 
Hubbard  ;  The  Massachusetts  Historical  Collections ;  The  North  American  Reviaw  ;  Coit's 
"  Puritanism ;"  and  Hall's  "  Puritans  and  their  Principles.'' 


PURITANS  EMIGRATE  TO  HOLLAND.  115 

•recanted  his  opinions  ;  and  the  backsliding  apostate  was  chap.  iv. 


again  received  into  the  bosom  of  the  Established  Church. 
Nevertheless,  most  of  the  Non-conformists  earnestly  main-  ' 
tained  their  ground.  Opposition  became  one  of  their  car- 
dinal maxims.  Persecution  soon  followed  non-conformity. 
But  persecution  in  England  only  confirmed  the  faith  and  Persecu- 
brightened  the  zeal  of  the  Puritans,  as  persecution  in  the 
Netherlands  had  confirmed  the  faith  and  brightened  the 
zeal  of  the  Reformed. 

The  accession  of  James  increased  the  severities  of  the  1603. 
hierarchy ;  and  the  Puritans,  obstinate  in  their  opposition 
to  the  rigorous  law,  began  to  look  for  an  asylum  in  other 
lands.  They  had  long  heard  that  in  Holland  there  was 
"  fi-eedom  of  religion  for  all  men ;"  and  thither  some  of 
them  determined  to  fly.  Early  in  1608,  a  number  of  these  1608. 
self-exiled  Non-conformists,  under  John  Robinson,  their  t^"}'fo^^|°" 
minister,  and  William  Brewster,  their  ruling  elder,  left  the 
fens  of  Lincolnshire,  and  arrived  at  Amsterdam.  In  Hol- 
land they  found  "many  goodly  and  fortified  cities,  strongly 
walled,  and  guarded  with  troops  of  armed  men.  Also,  they 
heard  a  strange  and  uncouth  language,  and  beheld  the 
different  manners  and  customs  of  the  people,  with  their 
strange  fashions  and  attires ;  all  so  far  differing  firom  that 
of  their  plain  country  villages,  wherein  they  were  bred  and 
born,  and  had  so  long  lived,  as  it  seemed  they  were  come 
into  a  new  world."  The  next  year,  they  removed  to  the  1609 
"  fair  and  beautiful  city"  of  Leyden,  and  organized  their 
congregation  under  the  ministry  of  Robinson.  Here  they 
throve  apace,  and  at  length  "  came  to  raise  a  competent 
and  comfortable  living."  The  Dutch  allowed  them  full 
toleration,  and  showed  them  good-will  and  hospitality  on 
every  hand  ;  and  the  emigrants  repaid  this  kindness  by  the 
most  decorous  observance  of  the  municipal  law.* 

*  Bradford,  in  Young's  "Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrims,"  20-39.  The  treatment  of  the 
Puritans  in  Holland  has  been  misrepresented  by  writers  with  English  prejudices.  Their 
condition  was,  unquestionably,  necessitous — for  they  were  fugitives  ;  and  their  lives  were 
toilsome — for  their  Dutch  hosts  were  themselves  eminently  industrious.  But,  by  their 
own  showing,  the  Puritans  had  "good  and  courteous  entreaty"  in  Holland,  and  "lived 
there  many  years  with  freedom  and  good  content." — Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  iii.,  52  ;  ii.,  N.  Y. 
H.  S.  Coll.  i.,  361-  post,  p.  123,  njte. 


Dutch 

Church 


116  HISTUllY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IV.  Tlie  Puiitaii  rcfugees  in  Holland  found  that  their  doc-» 
trinal  opinions  agreed,  essentially,  with  those  held  by  a 
Sympathy  l^rgc  and  Controlling  majority  of  the  Dutch  clergy  and 
Retbrmld  peoplc.  Robiuson  himself  could  not  refrain  from  taking  a 
part  in  the  controversy  which  was  then  raging  between 
the  Gomarists  and  the  Remonstrants.  He  published  sev- 
eral polemical  dissertations  ;  and  even  disputed  in  public, 
at  Leyden,  with  such  ability,  zeal,  and  "  good  respect," 
that  he  soon  "began  to  be  terrible  to  the  Arminians"  as 
a  champion  of  Calvinistic  orthodoxy.*  The  intolerance  of 
the  English  hierarchy,  and  not  the  heterodoxy  of  the  En- 
glish Articles  of  Religion,  had  induced  the  Puritans  to  de- 
sert their  native  land.  Their  opposition  was  not  so  much 
to  the  doctrines  of  the  Anglican  establishment,  as  to  the 
ceremonials  of  her  worship,  and  the  aristocratic  exclusive- 
ness  of  her  domineering  prelacy.  In  Holland  they  found 
an  Established  Church,  whose  canons  of  belief  agreed,  es- 
sentially, with  those  of  the  Church  of  England ;  whose 
chief  difference  regarded  the  details  of  ecclesiastical  gov- 
ernment.! As  earnest  and  as  venerable  in  her  renuncia- 
tion of  Rome,  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  in  her  Litur- 
gy and  her  Articles  of  Religion,  also  rivaled  her  English 
contemporary  in  the  orthodoxy  of  her  faith  and  the  stabil- 
ity of  her  forms.  The  most  eminent  pillars  of  the  English 
establishment  with  Christian  candor  affirmed,  that,  in  for- 
eign Reformed  countries,  those  Churches  which  did  nol 
recognize  a  Prelacy  "  lost  nothing  of  the  true  essence  of 
a  Church."t    When  English  prelates  and  English  church- 

*  Bradford  in  Young's  Chronicles,  41  ;  Bradford's  History  of  Plymouth  Plantation, 
edited  by  Charles  Deane,  p.  21. 

t  "  Whatever  doubts  may  be  raised  as  to  the  Calvinism  of  Cranmer  and  Ridley,  theie 
can  surely  be  no  room  for  any  as  to  the  chiefs  of  the  Anglican  Church  under  Elizabeth." 
"  The  works  of  Calvin  and  BuUinger  became  text-books  in  the  English  universities." 
Toward  the  end  of  the  reign  of  James  I.,  Calvinism  gradually  became  unpopular  at  court 
In  the  reign  of  Charles  I.,  Laud's  influence  became  so  great  that  "to  preach  in  favor  of 
Calvinism,  though  commonly  reputed  to  be  the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  incurred  punish 
inent  in  any  rank.  Davenant,  bishop  of  Salisbury,  one  of  the  divines  sent  to  Dort,  and 
reckoned  among  tne  principal  theologians  of  that  age,  was  reprimanded,  on  his  knees,  be 
fore  the  Privy  Council  for  this  offense.  But  in  James's  reign,  the  University  of  Oxford 
was  decidedly  Calvinistic  ;  and  I  suppose  it  continued  so  in  the  next  reign,  so  far  as  the 
university's  opinions  could  be  manifested." — Ilallam,  Const.  Hist.,  cap.  vii.,  and  note. 

t  Bishop  Hall,  x.,  340;  Bishop  Davenant's  "Adhortatio  ad  fratemam  Communionen: 
inter  Evangelicas  Ecelesias  restaurandam,"  1640. 


THE  DUTCH  AND  THE  ENGLISH  CHURCHES.  117 

men  wont  to  Holland,  they  conformed,  without  scruple,  to  chap.iv. 

her  established  reliojion.     At  the  command  of  James,  a~~~~~~" 

1619 
bishop,  a  dean,  an  archdeacon,  and  a  professor  of  Theolo-  ^j^^  j^^, ' 

gy  in  the  Church  of  England,  attended,  as  we  have  seen,  g^™^*^ 
a  Synod  at  Dort,  "of  doctors  not  episcopally  ordained,  sat  *""*'"''^'^ . 
with  those  doctors,  preached  to  them,  and  voted  with  them 
on  the  gravest  questions  of  theology."* .  And  so  highly 
was  that  "  honorable,  grave,  and  reverend"  Assembly  es- 
teemed, that  the  Dean  of  Worcester,  after  his  elevation  to 
the  bishopric  of  Norwich,  constantly  wore  the  golden  med- 
al which  the  States  General  presented  to  the  foreign  dele- 
gates attending  the  Synod.  Not  only  did  the  head  of  the 
English  Church,  and  the  most  enlightened  English  theo- 
logians under  James,  thus  distinctly  recognize  the  validity 
of  the  ordination  of  the  Reformed  clergy  abroad,  but  they 
readily  admitted  them  to  livings  in  the  Church  of  En- 
gland, without  re-ordination  by  a  bishop. t 

In  truth,  the  priesthood  of  the  Netherlands  was  ordain-  its  form  m 
ed  by  the  imposition  of  as  holy  hands  as  was  the  priest-  meut. 
hood  of  England,  and  it  traced  as  unbroken  a  line  of  de- 
scent from  the  Apostles.  But  the  Reformation  in  the 
Netherlands  was  essentially  a  spontaneous  movement  of 
the  people.  The  political  circumstances  of  the  country 
encouraged  the  spread  of  the  new  doctrines.  Yet  there 
was  not  an  entire  unanimity.  Among  the  laity,  the  no- 
bles remained,  generally,  attached  to  the  Papal  Church ; 
the  advocates  of  the  Reformed  religion  were,  chiefly,  the 
inferior  gentry,  the  merchants,  the  artisans.  In  the  body 
of  the  priesthood  the  same  difference  occurred.  The  rich- 
ly-beneficed  prelates  adhered  to  the  Pontiff";  the  more 
popular  clergy  revolted.  Not  so  in  England.  There  the 
movement  began  at  the  tlirone ;  and  prelate  and  priest,  with 
significant  accord,  obsequiously  repudiated  the  supremacy 
of  the  Pope,  and  submissively  acknowledged  the  suprema- 

*  Macaulay,  i.,  76  ;  Ilallam,  Const.  Hist.,  vii.,  note.  "  I  shall  take  leave  of  this  vener- 
able body  with  this  further  remark,  that  King  James  sending  over  divines  to  join  this 
Assembly  was  an  open  acknowledgment  of  the  validity  of  ordination  by  mere  presbyters; 
here  being  a  bishop  of  the  Church  of  England  sitting  as  a  private  member  in  a  synod  of 
divines,  of  which  a  mere  presbyter  was  the  president." — Neal's  Puritans,  i.,  265. 

t  Bishop  Hall,  i.,  32  ;  x.,  341 ;  Lingard,  ix,,  147. 


il8        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chat.  IV.  cy  of  the  King.  The  religion  of  the  sovereign  was  estab- 
lished  as  the  religion  of  the  kingdom  ;  but  the  hierarchy, 
under  royal  protection,  continued,  none  the  less  than  of 
old,  to  grow  aristocratic,  courtly,  supercilious,  and  des- 
potic. In  the  Dutch  provinces,  however,  the  plebeian 
priesthood,  deserted  by  the  patrician  prelacy,  was  re- 
strained to  the  Galilean  platform  of  apostolic  equality.* 

Republican  The  Episcopacy  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  follow- 

Episcopa-     .  II- 

cy.  mg  the  popular  impulse,  naturally  resumed  a  republican 

form ;  and  each  minister  of  that  Church  claims  to  be, 
and,  by  its  canons,  he  is,  the  "bishop"  or  "overseer"  of 
his  own  congregation,  in  subordination,  alone,  to  the 
classes  and  synods  of  his  peers. t  Before  the  Reforma- 
tion, the  faithful  of  Amsterdam  had  daily  gathered  around 
the  four-and-thirty  splendid  altars  wliich  decorated  the 
old  cathedral  church  of  Saint  Nicholas.  There  the  faith- 
ful worship  now ;  but  those  altars  have  all  disappeared. 
The  bishop's  throne  no  longer  stands  within  the  venerable 
choir.  The  only  thrones  which  remain  to  the  republican 
bishops  of  the  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church  are 
thrones  "not  made  with  hands."  But  the  monuments 
of  the  Admirals  of  Holland  remain  ;  and  the  magnificent 
brazen  gates ;  and  the  wonderful  windows  of  painted 
glass  ;  and  the  organ  contmues  to  roll  its  notes  through  the 
ancient  aisles  of  Saint  Nicholas  at  Amsterdam,  as  deep- 
toned  as  through  the  arches  of  Saint  Peter  at  Westminster. 
The  Democratic  element,  which  the  controlling  influ- 
ence of  national  circumstances,  in  spite  of  the  individual 
leanings  of  many  of  the  clergy,  had  thus,  from  the  first, 
infused  into  the  government  of  the  Reformed  Church  of 
the  Netherlands,  was  its  chief  characteristic  distinction 
fi-om  the  Church  of  England.t     But  in  almost  every  oth- 

*  "  As  for  the  ministers  of  God's  word,  they  have  equally  the  same  power  and  authori- 
ty wheresoever  they  are,  as  they  are  all  ministers  of  Christ,  the  only  universal  Bishop, 
and  the  only  head  of  the  Church." — Article  XXXI.  of  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Syn- 
od of  Dort. 

t  "  The  pastors  are  in  Scripture  called  Stewards  of  God  and  Bishops,  that  is,  overseen 
and  watchmen,  for  they  have  the  oversight  of  the  house  of  God." — Liturgy  of  the  R.D.  C  : 
Form  of  Ordination. 

X  Of  this  "there  is  witness  enough  in  the  late  Synod  of  Dort.  When  the  Bishop  of 
llandaff  had,  in  a  speech  of  his,  touched  upon  episcopal  government,  and  showee"  that 


THE  DUTCH  AND  ENGLISH  CHURCHES  SYMPATHETIC.   HQ 

cT  respect,  there  was  a  remarkable  and  sympathetic  simi-  chap.  iv. 
larity.     Both  adhered  to  Liturgies ;  both  used  the  clerical 
gown ;  both  preserved  the  Creeds  of  the  Apostles,  of  Nice,  sympathy 
and  of  Saint  Athanasius.     Christmas,  Easter,  Ascension,  {"hrDurch 
and  Whitsunday  were  high  holidays,  alike  in  the  Dutch  g"is,f "' 
and  the  English  Churches.      Their  Articles  of  Religion  ^i^^^ches. 
were  nearly  identical.     Their  almost  only  difference  was 
prelacy ;  for  prelacy  won  no  popular  favor  in  tolerant  but 
republican  Holland.     And  to  the  present  day,  the  same 
essential  harmony  in  doctrine  and  in  Liturgy  continues  to 
assimilate  these  two  equally  venerable  Churches.     Trans- 
planted  to    the  New  "World,   the  "Reformed  Protestant 
Dutch  Church"  and  the  "Protestant  Episcopal  Church" 
have  both  preserved  their  time-honored  forms  of  worship, 
and  their  almost  coincident  Articles  of  Religion.     Social 
circumstances  always  bound  them  closely  together ;  and 
they  now  differ  in  scarcely  any  important  point,  save  the 
original  disagreement  respecting  prelatic  superiority.* 

The  refugee  Puritans  at  Leyden,  finding  the  Estab-  cordiality 
lished  Church  of  Holland  orthodox  in  its  faith,  and  the  tans. 
government  of  the  Netherlands   tolerant  in   its   policy, 
seemed  to  have  secured,  without  effort,  a  happy  home. 
Robinson  himself  declared  "that  we  agree  so  entirely 
with  the  Eeformed  Dutch  Churches  in  the  matter  of  re- 

the  want  thereof  gave  opportunities  to  those  divisions  which  were  then  on  foot  in  the 
Netherlands,  Bogermannus,  the  president  of  that  Assembly,  stood  up,  and,  in  a  good  al- 
lowance of  what  had  been  spoken,  said,  ^ Domine, 7ios  7ion  smwims  adeo /elices,'  'Alas! 
my  Lord,  we  are  not  so  happy.'  " — Bishop  Hall,  x.,  151. 

*  In  1633  a  Dutch  Church  was  built  in  Garden  Street,  to  replace  the  old  one  in  the  fort, 
built  in  1042.  "  The  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Churcli  of  the  City  of  New  York"  was 
incorporated  on  the  11th  of  May,  1696,  by  Governor  Fletcher,  who,  on  the  6th  of  May, 
1697,  also  granted  a  charter  to  Trinity  Church.  On  the  25th  of  December,  1697,  the  Kev- 
erend  William  Vesey  was  inducted  as  Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  on  which  occasion,  by  the 
Governor's  mandate,  two  Dutch  clergymen,  Domine  lleuricus  Selyns,  the  minister  of  the 
G.irden  Street  church,  and  Domine  J.  P.  Nucella,  of  Kingston,  assisted.  By  permission 
of  its  Consistory,  Vesey  afterward  officiated  in  the  Dutch  Church,  alternately  with  Selyns, 
until  Trinity  Church  was  opened  on  the  13th  of  March,  109S:  N.  Y.  Surrogate's  Office, 
Wills,  ii.,  100-104,  v.,  263;  Valentine's  Manual,  1S47,  349,  350;  Eupp's  History,  227, 228. 
The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  Vestry  Minutes  of  Trinity  Church:  "Oct.  29th, 

1779 It  being  represented  to  this  corporation  by  one  of  its  members  that  the  old  Dutch 

Church  in  this  city  is  at  present  used  as  a  hospital  for  his  majesty's  troops ;  the  Board, 
impressed  with  a  grateful  remembrance  of  the  former  kindness  of  the  members  of  that 
ancient  Church  in  permitting  the  use  of  their  Church  to  the  members  of  the  Church  of 
Kngland  when  they  had  no  proper  edifice  of  their  own  for  that  purpose,  offer  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  ancient  Dutch  Church  the  use  of  Saint  George's  Chapel  for  celebrating  their 
worship."    This  offer  was  gratefully  accepted:  Bcrrian's  Sketch  of  Trinity  Church,  171-2. 


120  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

cn.vp.iv.  ligion,  that  we  are  ready  to  subscribe  to  all  and  every  one 

of  the  Articles  of  Faith  of  those  churches,  as  they  are  con- 

^^^^'  tained  in  the  Harmony  of  Confessions  of  Faith."* 
The  Puri-  But  there  were  elements  in  Puritanism  which  were  not 
isBedin  favorable  to  contentment.  Its  inflexible  self-will  sur- 
passed ordinary  pertinacity  ;  its  notions  of  religion  and  of 
government  were,  perhaps,  beyond  example  dogmatical. 
Its  own  was  the  only  standard  of  propriety.  Rather  than 
obey  the  law  of  their  own  land,  the  Puritans  had  endured 
its  penalties.  Beginning  with  opposition,  they  ended  with 
authority.  Persecution  made  them  important  in  En- 
gland ;  and  persecution,  in  the  end,  elevated  its  subjects 
to  the  seats  of  their  judges.  In  their  asylum  in  Holland, 
the  refugees  enjoyed  full  toleration  ;  yet  they  were,  com- 
paratively, unimportant  and  obscure.  There  they  were 
treated  with  perhaps  rather  more  consideration  than  were 
some  other  sects  ;  for  their  Calvinism  accorded  with  that 
of  the  established  Dutch  Church.  Still,  even  that  Church, 
though  they  themselves  had  pronounced  her  faith  to  be 
thoroughly  orthodox,  came  to  be  regarded  by  them  as 
scarcely  a  pure  Church ;  for  she  used  a  Liturgy,  and  clung 
to  the  memory  of  holy  days,  the  observance  of  which  the 
Puritans  denounced  as  idolatrous.  Sunday,  too,  was  less 
austerely  observed  in  Holland  than  they  thought  it  should 
have  been.  And,  indeed,  the  Dutch  delegates  to  the  Syn- 
od of  Dort  had  themselves  lamented  this  evil.  The  Pu- 
ritans, therefore,  attempted  to  bring  the  Hollanders  "to 
reform  the  neglect  of  observation  of  the  Lord's  day  as  a 
Sabbath,"  and  other  things  "  amiss  among  them."  But  it 
could  hardly  have  been  expected  that  censorious,  though 
well-meaning  foreigners,  themselves  enjoying  full  tolera- 
tion, should  have  had  much  encouragement  in  their  self- 
imposed  undertaking  to  modify  the  cheerful  national  hab- 
its of  the  warm-hearted  people  by  whom  they  had  been 
courteously  sheltered.  Few  proselytes  were  made.  The 
self-exiled  Puritans  began  to  grow  "  restless"  and  uneasy 
in  their  unmolested  home.     Time  was  thinning  their  num 

*  Robinson's  Apology,  6  ;  Young,  40,  388,  note  ;  Neal,  1.,  244. 


THE  PURITANS  PROPOSE  TO  EMIGRATE.  12J 

bers,  and  few  came  from  England  to  strengthen  them,  chap.iv 
The  language  of  the  Dutch  was  not  their  mother  tongue. 
Fugitives  from  their  native  kingdom,  they  still  cherished  ' 

allegiance  to  the  crown  of  Great  Britain.  Firm  in  their 
English  nationality,  they  feared  that  a  long  sojourn  in 
Holland  would  wear  away  their  homogeneousness.  Many 
of  them  had  married  Dutch  wives,  and,  in  a  few  genera- 
tions, their  posterity  would  become  Dutch.  Their  youth 
were  already  enlisting  as  soldiers  and  sailors  in  the  Dutch 
service.  Besides,  they  were  moved  by  "  a  great  hope  and 
inward  zeal"  to  advance  the  kingdom  of  Christ  in  the  "re- 
mote parts  of  the  world."  They  considered,  said  Winslow, 
"  how  hard  the  country  was  where  we  lived ;  how  many 
spent  their  estate  in  it,  and  were  forced  to  return  for  En- 
gland ;  how  grievous  to  live  from  under  the  protection  of 
the  State  of  England ;  how  like  we  were  to  lose  our  lan- 
guage and  our  name  of  English ;  how  little  good  we  did, 
or  were  likely  to  do,  to  the  Dutch  in  reforming  the  Sab- 
bath ;  how  unable  there  to  give  such  education  to  our 
children  as  we  ourselves  had  received."* 

Notwithstanding  they  were  enjoying  "  much  peace  and  ThePuri 
liberty"!  in  Holland,  these  considerations  had  great  weight  solve  to 
with  the  Puritans,  and  made  them  dissatisfied  with  their  America 
abode.  The  results  of  European  discovery  in  America 
having  now  become  generally  known,  they  determined  to 
seek  another  home  in  the  New  "World.  At  first,  they 
thought  of  going  to  Gruiana,  the  fabulous  wealth  of  which 
had  been  eloquently  described  by  Raleigh.  But  upon  ma- 
turer  consideration,  their  desire  was  "to  live  in  a  distinct 
body  by  themselves,  under  the  general  government  of  Vir- 
ginia," as  near  neighbors  of  "  the  English  which  were 
there  planted,"  but  entirely  independent  of  the  colony  at 
Jamestown,  which,  under  Argall's  rapacious  administra- 
tion, was  fast  falling  into  disrepute.  They  were  led  to 
hope  that  the  king  would  grant  them,  there,  "  free  liber- 
ty, and  freedom  of  religion."     John  Carver  and  Robert 

*  Bradford,  in  Young,  45-48;  Winslow,  381  ;  Morton's  Memorial,  18-21  ;  Neal's  Puri 
IMS.  i..  269.  t  Winslow,  ut.  sup 


122        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IV.  Cushmaii  Were  accordingly  sent  to  London  "  to  solicit 
.J  „        this  matter."     They  found  the  Virginia  Company  "  very 

Negotia-  *  desirous  to  have  them  go  thither,"  and  willing  to  grant 

London,  them  an  ample  patent.  But  as  to  their  suit  with  the 
king,  "  it  proved  a  harder  piece  of  work  than  they  took  it 
for."  James,  anxious  enough  to  enlarge  the  dominions 
of  England,  consented  to  "  connive  at  them,  and  not  mo- 
lest them,  provided  they  carried  themselves  peaceably." 
But  he  refused  to  tolerate  liberty  of  religion  "  by  his  pub- 
lic authority  under  his  seal ;"  and  Carver  and  Cushman 
returned  to  Leyden,  to  report  that  all  efforts  to  overcome 
the  scruples  of  the  king  had  been  vain. 

The  report  of  their  messengers  damped  for  a  time  the 
ardor  of  the  Puritans,  and  "  caused  some  distraction." 
But  further  reflection  led  them  to  set  a  higher  value  on  the 
king's  informal  promise  of  connivance.  A  royal  charter 
of  religious  freedom  need  not  be  considered  so  essential, 
for  "  though  they  had  a  seal  as  broad  as  the  house-floor,  it 
would  not  serve  the  turn,  for  there  would  be  means  enough 
1619.  found  to  recall  or  reverse  it."  So  Robert  Cushman  and 
^  '■"^'■i-  'William  Brewster  were  sent  on  another  mission  to  Lon- 
don, to  make  arrangements  with  the  Virginia  Company, 
and  procure  as  good  conditions  as  they  could.  But  dis- 
sensions in  the  company  hindered  the  agents'  proceedings. 

Patent  from  At  Icnofth,  "  a  larsfc  patent"  was  granted  them,  under  the 

the  Virgin-  o       '  &      I  &     _  ' 

ia  Com-     compauv's  Seal,  to  settle  themselves  in  the  "  northern  parts 

pany.  i        j  '  ^  i 

of  Virginia,"  southward  of  the  fortieth  parallel  of  latitude. 
By  the  advice  of  some  friends,  this  patent  was  not  taken 
in  the  name  of  any  of  their  own  company,  but  in  that  of 
Mr.  John  "Wincob,  "a  religious  gentleman,  then  belonging 
to  the  Countess  of  Lincoln,  who  intended  to  go  with  them." 
"Wincob,  however,  never  went.  But  the  patent  having 
been  sent  over  to  the  Puritans  at  Leyden,  "  for  them  to 
view  and  consider,"  in  connection  with  the  propositions  for 
their  emigration  made  by  Thomas  Weston  and  others  of 
London,  they  were  "  requested  to  fit  and  prepare  them- 
selves with  all  speed."* 

*  Bradford,  in  Young,  52-76  ;  Winslow,  382,  383  ;  Prince,  155. 


I 


THE  PURITANS  PROPOSE  TO  GO  10  NEW  NETHERLANU.    123 

Meanwhile,  the  Puritans,  discouraged  at  the  various  dif-  chap.  iv. 
ficulties  which  had  emharrassed  their  negotiations  in  En-      ~ 
gland,  had  heen  entertaining  serious  thoughts  of  emigra-  conduion 
ting  to  America  under  the  auspices  of  the  United  Provinces.  °an^,f "" 
Their  Holland  hosts  had  treated  them,  from  the  first,  with"°"="'"^ 
constant  kindness.     "Although  it  was  low  with  many  of 
them,  yet  their  word  would  be  taken  among  the  Dutch 
when  they  wanted  money,  because  they  had  found  by  ex- 
perience how  careful  they  were  to  keep  their  word,  and 
saw  them  so  painful  and  diligent  in  their  callings,  that 
they  strove  to  get  their  custom  and  to  employ  them  above 
others  in  their  work,  for  their  honesty  and  diligence."    Nor 
did  the  state  become  "weary  of  them,"  or  think  of  driving 
them  out.     It  was  "  their  own  free  choice  and  motion" 
which  led  them  to  seek  a  new  home ;  and  when  the  magis- 
trates of  Ley  den  heard  of  their  purpose,  they  bore  spontane- 
ous testimony  to  the  good  conduct  of  their  guests.    "  These 
English,"  said  they,  "have  lived  among  us  now  this  twelve 
years,  and  yet  we  never  had  any  suit  or  accusation  come 
against  any  of  them."* 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  Puritans,  thus  treated  with  Their  pur 
good- will,  toleration,  and  hospitality  in  the   Fatherland,  to  New"* 
should  have  purposed  to  emigrate  to  New  Netherland,  if  land, 
they  could  obtain  sufficient  encouragement  from  the  Dutch 
government.     Bameveldt  was  now  dead,  and  one  gi*eat 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  formation  of  a  general  Dutch 
"West  India  Company  was  removed.     But  various  ques- 
tions of  detail  embarrassed  the  States  General,  and  pro- 
tracted the  settlement  of  the  question.     The  Amsterdam 
Trading  Company,  whose  special  charter  had  expired  two 
years  before,  in  the  mean  time  continued  to  send  their 
ships  thither,  and  other  merchants  had  begun  to  participate 
in  the  trade.     Colonization,  however,  had  been  postponed, 
until  the  proposed  powerful  monopoly  should  be  able  to 

*  Bradford,  38,  39;"Morton's  Memorial,  21.  Mr.  George  Sumner,  in  Mass.  Hist.  Coll., 
xxix.,  42-62,  labors  to  prove— what  was  clearly  the  case— that  the  condition  of  the  Puri- 
tans at  Ley  den ' '  was  one  of  poverty  and  obscurity."  But  his  attempt  to  exhibit  the  Dutch 
as  wanting  in  hospitality  and  good-will,  is  not  sustained  by  evidence,  and  ia  contradict- 
ory to  the  testimony  of  the  Puritans  themselves.    See  ante,  p.  115,  note. 


1-24  Hisroity  of  the  state  of  new  york. 

Chap.  IV  Undertake  it  with  success.     In  this  conjuncture,  Robinson 
be£;an  to  sound  the  Amsterdam  merchants  respectins;  the 
ita-  pTiri-   imniediate  formation  of  a  colony  on  the  North  River.    Be- 
I^seto'^in-^^^S  "  "^^'^ll  versed  in  the  Dutch  language,"  he  represented 
Now^is^th-  *o  them  that  he  was  himself  favorably  inclined  to  go  and 
triand.      settle  iu  Ncw  Netherland,  and  that  over  four  hundred  fam- 
ilies would  go  with  him,  not  only  from  Leyden,  but  also 
from  England,  provided  they  could  be  assured  that  the 
government  of  the  United  Provinces  would  protect  and  de- 
fend them  there  from  the  assaults  of  other  powers.     They 
desired  to  go  to  New  Netherland,  said  Robinson,  "to  plant 
there  the  true  and  pure  Cliristian  religion,  to  convert  the 
savages  of  those  countries  to  the  true  knowledge  and  un- 
derstanding of  the  Christian  faith,  and,  through  the  grace 
of  the  Lord,  and  to  the  glory  of  the  Netherlands  govern- 
ment, to  colonize  and  establish  a  new  empire  there,  under 
the  order  and  command"  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  and  the 
High  Mighty  Lords  States  G-eneral.* 

The  Amsterdam  Company  gladly  listened  to  these  over- 
tures. They  saw  at  once  that  so  many  families  going  in 
sterdam  ^  body  to  New  Netherland  could  hardly  fail  to  form  a 
makc'^offers  succcssful  colouy ;  and,  accordingly,  they  made  "  large 
tansf  ^"""  offers"  to  the  Puritans,  promising  to  transport  them  free 
of  cost  to  the  North  River,  and  to  furnish  every  family 
with  cattle.t  The  political  part  of  the  question,  however, 
the  Dutch  merchants  could  not  decide.  They  were  ready 
to  expend  their  capital  in  conveying  the  emigrants  to  New 
Netherland,  and  in  supplying  them  with  necessaries ;  but 
they  had  no  authority  to  promise  that  the  Dutch  govern- 
ment would  afford  to  the  colonists  that  special  protection, 
after  their  arrival  there,  which  Robinson  required  for  his 
followers  as  an  indispensable  condition.  They,  therefore, 
determined  to  apply  directly  to  the  general  government 
at  the  Hague. 

The  Prince  of  Orange  was  now  at  the  zenith  of  his 

*  Holland  Documents,  i.,  95;  N.  Y.  Senate  Documents,  1845,  No.  Ill,  pages  15,  16 
Address  before  N.  V.  H.  S.,  1844,  Appendix,  p.  54 ;  O'Call.,  i.,  84. 
t  Bradford,  in  Y^-ig,  42  ;  Winslow,  385;  Bradford's  Plymouth,  42,  43,  48 


MEMORIAL  TO  THE  DUTCH  GOVERNMENT.  125 

power.  To  hiin,  as  stadtholder,  the  Amsterdam  mer-  cuap.  iv 
chants  accordingly  presented  a  memorial,  setting  forth 
their  first  discovery  of,  and  continuous  trade  to.  New  jj  p^J'  ' 
Netherland,  "situated  between  New  France  and  Virginia,  ,'^i'pJ^'''*''"^ 
in  the  latitude  of  from  forty  to  forty-five  degrees,"  and  de-  frnmeiu"^ 
tailing  the  overtures  which  the  "  English  preacher  at  Ley- 
den"  had  made  to  them  to  colonize  that  country  with  his 
Puritan  followers,  "  provided  that,  by  the  authority  and 
under  the  protection  of  your  Princely  Excellency  and  the 
High  Mighty  Lords  States  General,  they  may  he  defend- 
ed and  preserved  there  from  the  attacks  of  other  powers." 
The  memorialists  expressed  their  apprehension  that  the 
King  of  Great  Britain  would  colonize  New  Netherland 
with  English  subjects,  and  "  mth  violence  render  fruit- 
less the  discoveries  and  possession"  of  the  Dutch  in  that 
country,  and  probably  surprise  their  ships  then  trading 
there.  They,  therefore,  prayed  that  "  the  aforementioned 
preacher  and  four  hundred  families  may  be  taken  under 
the  protection  of  the  United  Provinces,  and  that  two  ships 
of  war  may  be  sent  to  secure,  provisionally,  the  said  lands 
to  this  government,  since  such  lands  may  be  of  great  im- 
portance whenever  the  West  India  Company  shall  be  or- 
ganized."* 

The  stadtholder  expressed  no  opinion  upon  this  memo-  views  of 

the  States 

rial ;  he  merely  referred  it  to  the  States  General.  But  General. 
the  Twelve  Years'  truce  with  Spain  had  now  nearly  ex- 
pired ;  and  the  statesmen  of  the  Netherlands  were  med- 
itating too  large  and  ambitious  designs  to  allow  them  to 
listen  with  favor  to  the  petition  of  the  Amsterdam  Com- 
pany. They  had  now  in  view  the  establishment  of  a 
grand  commercial  monopoly,  whose  concentrated  capital 
and  energy  should  not  only  direct  the  colonization  of  the 
Dutch  discoveries  in  America,  but  should  also  assist  the 
states  in  crushing  the  power  of  their  hereditary  enemy. 
To  that  company,  when  it  should  be  organized,  would 
properly  belong  the  consideration  of  all  the  details  con- 

*  Holland  Documents,  1.,  95-99.  The  early  New  England  chroniclers  do  rot  mention 
Ihia  application  to  the  Dutch  government,  and  its  fate,  though  they  spealt  of  the  "  large 
oflers"  which  were  made  It  the  Puritans  in  Holland. 


126  HISTORY  OF  THK  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IV.  nected  with  emigration.  Besides,  the  memorial  which 
placed  Robinson's  views  before  the  States  G-eneral, 
vie^v^of"  brought  officially  to  their  knowledge — what,  indeed,  by 
General?^  this  time,  had  perhaps  become  notorious — that  James  was 
disposed  to  colonize  the  northern  regions  of  America  with 
English  subjects  ;  it  also  positively  alleged,  that  he  in- 
tended to  dispossess  the  Dutch  of  their  foothold  in  New 
Netherland.  If  such  were  really  the  king's  intention,  it 
would  be  folly  for  the  States  General  to  assist  his  design 
by  aiding  in  the  transportation  thither  of  emigrants,  whose 
liege  services  might  soon  be  demanded  by  royal  proclama- 
tion. The  limits  of  New  Netherland,  as  at  first  defined 
by  the  States  Greneral,  extended  from  the  fortieth  to  the 
forty-fifth  parallel  of  latitude,  from  Virginia  to  Canada. 
There  were  unoccupied  lands  enough  in  Virginia,  south 
of  the  fortieth  degree,  where  the  Puritans  might  settle 
themselves  in  peace  and  good  neighborhood^  between 
Jamestown  and  Manhattan,  and  thus  preserve  without 
inconvenience  their  national  identity.  But  for  them  to 
occupy,  under  the  express  authority  and  with  the  formal 
protection  of  the  Dutch  government,  any  portion  of  New 
Netherland,  might  give  rise  to  embarrassing  international 
questions.  And  when  that  region  should  be  colonized,  it 
would  be  better  that  Dutch  subjects,  of  undoubted  loyal- 
ty, should  themselves  first  plant  there  the  laws  and  the 
venerated  customs  of  the  Fatherland. 
The  appii-  Such  Were  probably  some  of  the  arguments  which 
thePuri-  Weighed  with  the  States  Greneral  in  their  consideration 
fused.       of  the  memorial  of  the  12th  of  February,  1620.     The  sub- 

10  March,    ject  was  scvcral  times  before  them  during  the  two  follow- 

ing months  ;  and,  finally,  after  repeated  deliberations  and 
consultations  with  the  Board  of  Admiralty  and  the  stadt- 

11  April,     holder,  they  resolved  peremptorily  to  reject  the  prayer  of 

the  memorialists.* 

Thus  the  hopes  of  the  Puritans  were  again  disappointed. 
New  nego-  Refuscd  tlic  solicitcd  assistance  of  their  government,  the 
cngiand.    j\msterdam  merchants,  who  had  made  the  "large  oners," 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  i.,  94,  100-103. 


THE  PURITANS  EMIGRATE  FROM  LEYDEN.  127 

were  not  in  a  position  to  carry  out  by  themselves  the  chap.  iv 
conditions  demanded  by  Robinson,  the  zeal  of  whose  fol- 
lowers  to  leave  their  home  at  Leyden  was  by  this  time 
quickened  by  a  growing  feeling  of  apprehension.  Through- 
out Holland  there  was  now  "nothing  but  beating  of  drums 
and  preparing  for  war."  Fearful  that  "the  Spaniard  might 
prove  as  cruel  as  the  savages  of  America,"*  the  Puritans 
once  more  turned  their  thoughts  to  England.  About 
this  time,  they  were  informed,  "  by  Mr.  Weston  and  oth- 
ers," that  James  had  determined  to  grant  a  large  patent 
"  for  the  more  northerly  parts  of  America,  distinct  from 
the  Virginia  patent,  and  wholly  excluded  from  their  gov- 
ernment, and  to  be  called  by  another  name,  to  wit.  New 
England."!  The  proposed  patent,  however,  was  still  in 
its  preliminary  stages ;  but  Weston  and  his  associates  in 
London  urged  the  Puritans  to  go  to  New  England,  in  hope 
of  "  present  profit  to  be  made  by  fishing  on  that  coast." 
Embarrassments  still  hindered.  Some  of  the  London  cap- 
italists were  vexed  that  they  "  went  not  to  Guiana  ;"  oth- 
ers would  do  nothing  "  unless  they  went  to  Virginia ;" 
while  many,  "  who  were  most  relied  on,  refused  to  ad- 
venture if  they  went  thither."  In  the  midst  of  these  dif- 
ficulties, "  they  of  Leyden  were  driven  to  great  straits ;" 
and  the  New  England  patent  "  not  being  fully  settled," 
they  determined  "  to  adventure  with  that  patent  they  had" 
from  the  Virginia  Company .t 

But  the  means  provided  by  their  London  friends  were  The  Puri- 
not  sufficient  to  convey  them  all  at  once.  The  congrega-  Le"/(ien'''* 
tion  was,  therefore,  divided  into  two  parts.  The  greater 
number  and  the  least  robust  were  to  remain  at  Leyden 
with  Robinson ;  the  younger  and  abler-bodied  were  to 
emigrate,  as  pioneers,  under  Brewster.  After  a  solemn 
fast  and  a  stirring  discourse  from  Robinson,  the  selected 
emigrants  were  accompanied  to  Delft-Haven,  two  miles  aijniy. 

*  Bradford,  in  Young,  51;  Bradford's  Plymouth,  26,  27. 

t  Hubbard,  in  Young,  80.  The  royal  warrant  to  the  solicitor  general  is  datej  23d  July, 
1G20 ;  the  patent  itself  did  not  pass  the  great  seal  until  3d  November,  1620. — Lond.  Doc.| 
i.,  8  ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  4  ;  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  xxvi.,  64  ;  Hazard,  i.,  99,  103. 

t  Hubbard,  in  Young,  81. 


128  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IV.  below  Rotterdam,  by  "the  bretliren  that  staid   at  Ley- 
den."     Embarkmg  in  the  "  Speedwell,"  a  small  vessel  of 
■  sixty  tons,  they  passed  over  to  Southampton.     There  they 
found,  "  lying  ready  with  all  the  rest  of  their  company," 
a  larger  ship,  the  "  Mayflower,"  of  one  hundred  and  eighty 
tons,  which  had  come  round  directly  from  London.     The 
a  August,    two  vessels,  filled  with  passengers,  soon  set  sail  in  com- 
ThePii-     pany.     But  the  leaky  Speedwell  belied  her  name;  and 
from  South-  the  expedition  put  back  into  Plymouth.     Dismissing  here 
ampton.     j^^^  battered  consort,  which  returned  to  London  with  Cush- 
6  Sept.       man  and  a  part  of  the  company,  the  Mayflower  recom- 
From        menced  her  lonely  voyage   across   the  Atlantic,  crowded 
with  one  hundred  emigrants,  who,  in  tears  and  sadness, 
had  left  "that  goodly  and  pleasant  city  which  had  been 
their  resting-place  near  twelve  years.      But  they  knew 
they  were  Pilgrims,  and  looked  not  much  on  those  things, 
but  lifted  up  their  eyes  to  heaven,  their  dearest  country, 
and  quieted  their  spirits,"* 
Patent  from      The  patent  with  which  the  Pilgrims  sailed  for  America 
Company'*  was,  as  wc  have  seen,  the  one  which  they  had  obtained 
which  they  ffom  the  Virginia  Company,     It  authorized  them  to  settle 
themselves  in  the  northerly  parts  of  Virginia,  which  ex- 
tended to  the  fortieth  degree  of  latitude.     North  of  that 
parallel,  their  grant  would  have   availed  them   nothing. 
This  they  knew  when  they  set  sail ;  and  they  were  also 
aware  that  the  projected  New  England  patent  was  yet  un- 
der the  advisement  of  the  law  officers  of  the  British  crown. 
With  the  proposed  grantees  of  that  patent  they  had  not 
negotiated.     After  the  government  of  the  United  Provinces 
had  refused  the  prayer  of  the  memorial  which  had  been 
presented  in  their  behalf,  they  did  not  seem  to  have  felt 
sufficiently  encouraged  to  settle  themselves,  under  Dutch 
authority,  in  New  Netherland,      Having  by  that  memorial 
recognized  and  admitted  the  Dutch  title  to  the  territory, 
"situated  between  New  France  and  Virginia,"  they  would 
very  justly  have  been  considered  as  intruders,  if  they  had 

*  Bradford,  in  Young,  77,  86-99  ;  WinBlow,  384,  S96  ;  Morton's  Memorial,  21-32  ;  Neal'e 
Puritans,  i.,  269. 


THE  MAYFLOWER  AT  CAPE  COD.  329 

deliberately  undertaken  to  establish  an  independent  foreign  chap.  i\ 
colony  there,  without  the  patronage  of  the  States  rieneral, 
which  they  had  solicited.  But  the  geography  of  the  Amer- 
ican coast,  between  Cape  Cod  and  the  Chesapeake,  was, 
at  that  time,  accurately  known  only  by  the  Dutch,  and  by 
Dermer,  whose  accounts  had  not  yet  been  made  public. 
The  intention  of  the  Pilgrims,  accordingly,  seems  to  have  Their  (iei+ 
been  to  sail,  by  the  northern  passage,  directly  to  Manhat- 
tan, where  they  could  gain  the  exact  information  which 
they  needed  respecting  the  precise  position  of  their  future 
home.  And  so  they  left  Europe,  "  on  a  voyage,"  as  they 
themselves  described  it  in  their  famous  compact  on  board 
the  Mayflower,  "  to  plant  the  first  colony  in  the  northern 
parts  of  Virginia,"  beyond  the  limits  of  New  England,  on 
the  shores  of  Delaware  or  Maryland,  and  outside  the  then 
claimed  southern  frontier  of  New  Netherland.* 

Historians  have  reiterated  a  tale  that  the  Mayflower 
was  taken  to  Cape  Cod  through  the  treachery  of  Jones,  her 
master.  The  story  was  first  broached  by  Nathaniel  Mor-  Monon  s 
ton,  secretary  of  the  New  Plymouth  colony,  who,  in  his  slander" 
"  Memorial,"  alleging  "  late  and  certain  intelligence," 
charges  "  some  of  the  Dutch"  with  having  "fraudulently 
hired  the  said  Jones  *  *  *  to  disappoint"  the  Pilgrims  in 
their  intention  to  go  "  to  Hudson's  River."  Morton  was 
not  a  passenger  by  the  Mayflower  in  1620.  He  came  to 
New  Plymouth  in  1623,  when  he  was  a  boy  only  eleven 
years  old.  He  did  not  publish  his  "  Memorial"  until  1669, 
nearly  half  a  century  after  the  alleged  "plot,"  when  most 
of  the  passengers  in  the  Mayflower  were  dead,  and  when 
the  coveted  territory  of  New  Netherland  had  been  for  five 
years  subjected  to  British  rule.  If  the  secretary's  "intel- 
ligence" had  been  early,  instead  of  "late,"  it  might,  per- 
haps, have  been  called  "  certain."  The  Mayflower  does 
not  appear  ever  to  have  been  in  Holland  ;  nor  do  Jones, 
her  master,  nor  Coppin,  her  mate  and  pilot,  seem  to  have 
had  any  communication  with  the  Dutch.  But  Goppin  had 
certainly  been  on  the  coast  of  New  England  at  least  onco 

*  Bradford,  in  Young,  121 ;  Morton's  Memorial,  37  ;  Bau'iroft,  i.,  309. 
I 


130  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap. IV.  before;*  and  in  navigating  the  Mayflower  by  the  northern 
passage,  toward  Cape  Cod,  he  only  followed  his  former  track, 
and  adhered  to  the  usual  English  practice  since  Gosnold's 
time.  Neither  Bradford  nor  Winslow,  in  their  contem- 
porary histories,  question  the  fidelity  of  the  master  or  the 
pilot  of  the  ship,  both  of  whom  seem  to  have  been  English- 
men, in  the  interest  of  their  London  employers ;  and  the  si- 
lence of  Bradford  and  Winslow  ought  to  be  conclusive  on  a 
point  which,  if  true,  must  unquestionably  have  had  a  con- 
spicuous place  in  every  faithful  account  of  the  "old  colony." 
No  allusion  is  made  to  the  story  in  the  early  correspondence 
between  New  Netherland  and  New  Plymouth  in  1627. 
Dudley,  in  his  letter  to  Lady  Lincoln  in  1631,  is  silent. 
If  the  tale  had  been  true,  the  Dutch  would  assuredly  have 
been  taunted  with  it  in  1633,  and  afterward,  when  the  New 
Plymouth  colonists  quarreled  with  them  about  the  title  to 

The  story   tlic  vallcy  of  thc  Conuccticut.    In  short,  Morton's  Parthian 

ny."  "  calumny"  seems  to  be  a  sheer  falsehood,  too  eagerly  re- 

peated by  more  recent  writers.     After  a  boisterous  voyage 
of  more  than  two  months,  and  "long  beating  at  sea,"  says 

«Nov.  Bradford,  "they  fell  in  with  the  land  called  Cape  Cod; 
the  which  being  made,  and  certainly  kno^^^l  to  be  it,  they 
were  not  a  little  joyful."  A  consultation  was  held,  and 
the  ship  was  tacked  to  the  southward,  "to  find  some  place 
about  Hudson's  River,  according  to  their  first  intentions." 

18 No^  But  they  soon  fell  among  the  "perilous  shoals  and  break- 
ers" of  Cape  Malebarre,  which  embarrass  the  navigator 
to  this  day ;  and  they  bore  up  again  for  Cape  Cod.  Neither 
Dutch  intrigue  nor  a  bribed  pilot  had  brought  the  May- 
flower there — it  was  the  Providence  of  God.t 

Finding  that  they  were  now  far  beyond  "  the  northern 

*  Bradford  and  Winslow's  Journal,  in  Young,  148,  159.  "Robert  Coppin,  our  pilot, 
made  relation  of  a  great  navigable  river  and  good  harbor  on  the  other  headland  of  the  bay, 
almost  right  over  against  Cape  Cod,  being  in  a  right  line  not  much  above  eight  leagues 
distant,  in  which  he  had  been  once."  Young  supposes  the  "  other  headland"  to  be  Ma- 
nomet  Point,  and  the  "  great  navigable  river"  to  be  the  North  River,  in  Scituate. 

t  Morton's  Memorial,  34  ;  Bradford,  in  Young,  100-103,  117  ;  T>e  Laet,  iii.,  cap.  iv.,  p. 
80  ;  Dudley,  in  Young's  Mass.,  308  ;  Holmes's  Annals,  i.,  161 ;  Moulton,  352-357.  Gra 
hame,  in  his  History  of  the  United  States  (Am.  ed.),  i.,  194  ;  ii.,  161, 162,  records  and  em. 
bellishes  the  story.  See,  however.  Dr.  Young's  admirable  remarks  at  the  "  Old  Colon v 
festival  at  Boston,  December,  1844,  in  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Proc.,  1844,  ^pp.,  p.  lOfi. 


THE  COMPACT  OF  THE  PILGRIMS  AT  CAPE  COD.  13^ 

parts  of  Virginia,"  and  that,  consequently,  their  patent  chap.  iv 
from  the  Virginia  Company,  under  which  they  had  left 
Holland,  expecting  "  to  become  a  body  politic,"  was  "  made 
void  and   useless,"*  the  emigrants,  the  day  before  they 
came  to  harbor,  "observing  some  not  well  affected  to  unity 
and  concord,"  and  "  some  appearance  of  faction"  among 
their   company,  signed   an   agreement,  combining  them-  compact  ai 
selves  together  into  "  a  civil  body  politic,"  for  their  "  bet- 
ter ordering  and  preservation."     This  instrument,  which  ii  n&v 
the  pressure  of  disaffecting  circumstances  made  suddenly 
expedient,  has,  by  degrees,  become  magnified  into  "  the 
birth  of  popular  constitutional  liberty,"  and  the  exclusive 
claim  is  now  distinctly  set  up  that  "  in  the  cabin  of  the 
Mayflower  humanity  recovered  its  rights."! 

No  class  of  persons  in  the  world  has,  perhaps,  on  the 
one  hand,  been  loaded  with  more  extravagant  eulogy,  and, 
on  the  other,  been  covered  with  more  undeserved  ridicule 
than  the  English  Puritans,  and  their  descendants  in  Amer- 
ica. An  incessant  repetition  of  stereotyped  panegyric  may, 
indeed,  be  excused  on  those  periodical  occasions  when  a 
large  posterity  is  accustomed  to  commemorate,  with  filial 
pride,  the  many  worthy  attributes  of  a  devout,  active, 
acute,  independent,  and  resolute  ancestry.  The  honest 
reputation  of  that  renowned  ancestry  no  candid  mind  can 
depreciate  ;  and  the  real  services  which  the  Puritans  ren- 
dered to  the  cause  of  civil  liberty  it  is  grateful  to  ap- 
plaud.   But  there  is  danger  lest  zeal  should  outrun  knowl- 

*  It  may  cause  misapprehension  to  say  that  the  passensers  in  the  Mayflower  left  Europe 
"  without  any  uspful  charter  from  a  corporate  body."  The  only  reason  why  their  "  large 
patent"  from  the  Virginia  Company,  with  which  they  adventured,  "  was  never  made  use 
of,"  as  stated  by  Bradford,  was,  because  they  settled  themselves — contrary  to  their  inten- 
tion when  they  sailed — out  of  the  bounds  of  Virginia.  Several  years  afterward,  they  ob- 
tained a  charter  from  the  New  England  Council,  within  the  limits  of  whose  patent  they 
had  accidentally  established  their  plantation. 

t  Bradford  and  Winslow,  in  Young,  95, 120,  121  ;  Morton's  Memorial,  28,  37  ;  Bancroft, 
i.,  308-310.  Young,  in  a  note  to  his  "  Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrims,"  p.  120,  says,  "Here, 
for  the  first  time  in  the  world'.s  history,  the  philosophical  fiction  of  a  social  compact  was 
realized  in  practice.  And  yet  it  seems  to  me  that  a  great  deal  more  has  been  discerned  in 
this  d)cumcnt  than  the  signers  contemplated.  It  is  evident  that  when  they  left  PloUand, 
they  expected  '  to  become  a  body  politic,  using  among  themselves  civil  government,  and 
to  choose  their  own  rulers  from  among  themselves.'  Their  purpose  in  drawing  up  and 
signing  this  compact,  was  simply,  as  they  state,  to  restrain  certain  of  their  number  who 
had  manifested  an  unruly  and  factious  disposition.  This  was  the  whole  philosophy  of  the 
instrument,  whatcvpr  may  since  h..ve  been  discovered  and  deduced  from  it." 


132  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK: 

Chap.  IV.  edge,  and  lest  ideal  pictures,  drawn  by  self-adulatory  rhet' 
oric,  should  gradually  come  to  be  received  as  faithftil  por- 
traits of  reality.  And  while  naught  should  be  set  down 
in  malice,  no  temptation  to  flatter  self-conceit,  nor  anxiety 
to  demonstrate  hypotheses ;  no  reluctance  to  oppose  the 
most  eloquent  ability,  nor  fear  of  provoking  cherished  prej- 
udice which  unwelcome  candor  may  offend,  should  ever 
warp  those  who  assume  the  responsible  task  of  recording 
the  annals  of  their  race,  from  the  duty  of  clearly  exposing 
historical  truth. 
Example  of  Howcvcr  ample  may  have  been  the  true  scope  of  their 
republic,  compact  ou  board  of  the  Mayflower  at  Cape  Cod,  it  can 
not  be  denied,  and  it  ought  not  to  be  concealed,  that  the 
Pilgrims,  before  they  left  their  asylum  in  Holland,  had 
seen,  in  her  tolerant  government,  an  early  and  illustrious 
assertion  of  the  rights  and  the  power  of  the  people,  and  a 
noble  protest  against  oppression  and  tyranny.  While  the 
fugitive  Puritans,  unmolested  at  Leyden,  observed  the 
popular  principle  of  majorities  triumphant,  even  in  severe 
ecclesiastical  decisions,  they  found  that  sublimest  element 
of  all  in  civil  liberty — freedom  of  conscience — more  fully 
realized  in  the  United  Netherlands  than  in  any  other 
country  in  the  world.  The  same  immunities  which  the 
Dutch  had  won  from  Spain  were  freely  granted  to  the 
non-conforming  refugees  from  England.  In  the  Batavian 
Republic,  too,  they  saw  the  happy  working  of  that  Federal 
system  which  afterward  bound  together  the  American  col- 
onies. And,  in  the  Constitution  of  self-governing  Holland, 
those  refugees  had  before  them  the  practical  example  of  a 
representative  administration,  imperfect,  indeed,  but  nev- 
ertheless a  marvel  of  the  age  ;  founded  on  large  principles 
of  popular  liberty ;  maintaining  those  principles  with  splen- 
did success ;  and  deser\'ing  the  lasting  gratitude  of  man- 
kind for  its  earnest,  consistent,  and  magnanimous  vindi- 
cation of  the  rights  of  humanity.  All  this  was  observed 
in  the  United  Provinces,  at  a  period  when  James  I.  was 
king  of  Great  Britain,  Louis  XHI.  king  of  France,  and 
Philip  III.  king  of  Spain.     Such  lessons  could  not  possi- 


THE  LANDING  OF  THE  PILGRIMS.  133 

hly  have  been  lost  upon  the  Pilgrims  ;  to  their  value  they  chap.  iv. 
had  themselves  borne  testimony,  in  soliciting  encourage- 
ment  to  emigrate  to  New  Netherland  "  under  the  order 
and  command"  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  and  the  States 
General ;  and  when  they  are  found  affirming,  in  New  En- 
gland, some  of  substantially  the  same  principles  as  those 
which  they  had  seen  operative  in  the  Dutch  republic,  and 
which  at  that  time  were  developed  no  where  else,  it  can 
not  be  just  to  monopolize  for  them  the  glory  of  having 
originated  "  popular  constitutional  liberty."* 

Several  weeks  were  spent  by  the  emigrants  in  examin- 
ing the  concave  shores  behind  Cape  Cod.     At  last,  a  more  Landing  at 

111  r  ^  New  I'lyni 

advantageous  harbor  than  any  they  had  seen  was  found  outn. 

on  the  west  side  of  the  bay ;  and  an  exploring  party  land-  " 

ed  at  New  Plymouth,  on  the  spot  which  Block  and  Smith 

had  visited  several  years  before,  and  marked  on  their  maps, 

and  which  Dermer,  just  five  months  previously,  though 

without  their  knowledge,  had  indicated  as  a  fitting  place 

for  "  the  first  plantation."!     In  a  few  days  the  Mayflower  ^|  Dec. 

was  brought  up  from  the  Cape,  and  the 

"  band  of  exiles  moored  their  bark 

On  the  wild  New  England  shore." 

Thus  the  Puritan  pilgrims  left  their  home  at  Leyden, 
and  sought  the  New  World  under  the  banner  of  Saint 
G-eorge ;  and  thus  they  came  to  plant  on  the  bleak  bor- 
ders of  eastern  New  England  the  institutions  which  it  had 
once  been  their  purpose  to  cultivate,  under  the  protecting 
flag  of  Holland,  in  the  genial  regions  of  New  Netherland. 

*  This  subject  will  be  further  considered  in  subsequent  chapters. 
+  Morton's  Memorial,  56,  57. 


134  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


CHAPTER  V. 

1621-1625. 

Chap.  V.       The  projcct  for  a  general  Dutch  "West  India  Company, 
which  Usselincx  had  so  early  and  zealously,  yet  unsuc- 
Dutdi       cessfully,  urged  upon  the  attention  vof  the  statesmen  of 
^}^^'^J|'^'^  Holland,  at  length  obtained  its  accomplishment.     It  was 
ted*"^"""^*   the  age  of  great  monopolies  and  grasping  charters.     The 
East  India  Company  had,  since  1602,  pursued  a  prosper- 
ous career ;  and  its  success  had  provoked  emulation.    The 
Twelve  Years'  truce  with  Spain  had  expired  in  the  spring 
of  1621 ;  and  the  United  Provinces  were  warned  to  pre- 
pare for  a  renewed  struggle  with  their  mighty  enemy. 
The  obstacles  which  had  hindered  the  consummation  of 
Usselincx's  views  were  not  only  now  cleared  away,  but 
opposition  was  succeeded  by  encouragement ;    and  the 
long-pending  charter  was   hurried  to  completion,  within 
three  months  after  the  termination  of  the  Spanish  truce. 
3  June.  On  the  third  of  June,  1621,  the  States  G-eneral  passed 

'  ^^^^'  a  formal  patent  under  their  great  seal,  declaring  that  the 
welfare  and  happiness  of  the  United  Netherlands  depend- 
ed mainly  upon  their  foreign  trade  and  navigation,  and  that 
those  great  interests  could  be  properly  encouraged  in  dis- 
tant regions  only  by  the  combined  and  united  action  of  a 
general  incorporated  company.  For  these  and  other  rea- 
sons, they  accordingly  ordained  that,  for  the  term  of  twen- 
ty-four years  from  the  first  of  July,  1621,  none  of  the  in- 
habitants of  the  United  Provinces  should  be  permitted  to 
sail  thence  to  the  coasts  of  Africa,  between  the  tropic  of 
Cancer  and  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  nor  to  the  coasts  of 
Evtentof   Amcrica  or  the  West  Indies,  between  Newfoundland  and 

territory.  ' 


THE  DUTCH  WEST  INDIA  COMPANY.  135 

the  Straits  of  Magellan,  except  in  the  name  or  by  the  con-  chap.  v. 
sent  of  the  West  India  Company,  upon  pain  of  forfeiture 
of  ships  and  cargoes.  At  the  same  time,  it  was  provided 
that  such  parties  as  had,  before  the  granting  of  the  char- 
ter, been  engaged  in  commerce  with  those  countries, 
"  might  continue  their  trade  for  the  sale  of  their  goods," 
and  make  their  homeward  voyages. 

The  West  India  Company  was  invested  with  enormous  Political 

.  .  powers  ol 

powers.  In  the  name  of  the  States  General,  it  might  make  the  comp* 
contracts  and  alliances  with  the  princes  and  natives  of  the 
countries  comprehended  within  the  limits  of  its  charter ; 
build  forts  ;  appoint  and  discharge  governors,  soldiers,  and 
public  officers ;  administer  justice ;  and  promote  trade. 
It  was  bound  to  "  advance  the  peopling  of  those  fruitful 
and  unsettled  parts,  and  do  all  that  the  service  of  those 
countries,  and  the  profit  and  increase  of  trade  shall  re- 
quire." It  was  obliged  to  communicate  to  the  States  Gren- 
eral,  from  time  to  time,  all  the  treaties  and  alliances  it 
might  make,  and  also  detailed  statements  of  its  forts  and 
settlements.  All  governors  in  chief,  and  the  instructions 
proposed  to  be  given  to  them,  were  to  be  first  approved  of 
by  the  States  Greneral,  who  would  then  issue  formal  com- 
missions ;  and  all  superior  officers  were  held  to  take  oaths 
of  allegiance  to  their  High  Mightinesses,  and  also  to  the 
company. 

The  government  of  the  company  was  vested  in  five  sep-  chambL-rs 
arate  chambers  of  managers  ;  one  at  Amsterdam,  manag- 
ing four  ninth  parts  ;  one  at  Middleburg,  in  Zealand,  two 
ninth  parts ;  one  at  Dordrecht,  on  the  Maeze,  one  ninth 
part;  one  in  North  Holland,  one  ninth  part;  and  one  in 
Friesland  and  Grroningen,  one  ninth  part.  G-eneral  exec- 
utive powers  for  all  purposes — except  that,  in  case  of  a  dec- 
laration of  war,  the  approbation  of  the  States  General  was 
to  be  asked — were  intrusted  to  a  board  of  Nineteen  dele-  coiie^e  ot 
gates.  Of  these,  eight  were  to  come  from  the  Chamber  at 
Amsterdam,  four  from  Zealand,  two  from  the  Maeze,  two 
from  North  Holland,  and  two  from  Friesland  and  Grron- 
ingen ;  while  one  delegate  was  to  represent  the  States  Gen- 


186  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  V.  eral,  for  the  purpose  of  "helping  to  direct  the  affairs  of  the 
■"""  company  to  the  best  advantage  in  the  aforesaid  meeting." 
interMt  of  ^hc  Statcs  Grcneral  likewise  promised  to  "defend  this  com- 
ttenerai?^  pany  against  every  person,  in  free  navigation  and  traffic, 
and  assist  them  with  a  million  of  guilders ;"  and  also,  hi 
case  of  war,  to  "give  them  for  their  assistance"  sixteen 
ships  of  war  of  tliree  hundred  tons  burden,  and  four  yachts 
of  eighty  tons,  all  fully  equipped.  These  vessels,  however, 
were  to  be  manned  and  supported  by  the  company,  which 
was  also  obliged  to  provide  and  maintain  an  equal  num- 
ber. The  whole  fleet  was  to  be  under  the  command  of  an 
admiral  appointed  by  the  States  Greneral.  All  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  Netherlands,  "  and  also  of  other  countries," 
might  become  stockholders  of  the  company  during  the 
year  1621 ;  after  which  time  no  new  members  were  to  be 
admitted.* 

Thus  the  Dutch  government,  leaving  to  the  East  India 
Company  the  consolidation  of  a  magnificent  empire  in  Asia, 
gave  to  a  new  mercantile  corporation  almost  boundless 
powers  to  subdue,  colonize,  and  govern  the  unoccupied  re- 
.\ew  Neth-  gious  of  Africa  and  America.     New  Netherland,  though 
eluded       not  specifically  named  in  the  charter,  was  clearly  compre- 
charter,      hcudcd  withiu  its  purview;  and  though  the  Dutch  gov- 
ernment did  not  formally  guarantee  any  absolute  title  to 
the  territory,  it  nevertheless  expressly  bound  the  compa- 
ny to  promote  the  colonization  of  those  "  fruitful  and  un- 
settled parts."     The  charters  of  Henry  for  the  colonization 
of  Canada,  and  the  patents  of  James  for  the  settlement  of 
Virginia  and  New  England,  were  no  more  favorable  to  co- 
lonial freedom  than  was  the  grant  of  the  States  G-eneral  to 
Powers  and  the  Wcst  India  Company.     While  that  corporation  might 

'iuliesof  .  1    /  11-  ■    1  •  • 

tiie  compa-  conqucr  provmces,  and  lorm  alhances  with  native  princes 
at  its  own  risk,  it  was  bound  to  submit  the  instructions  of 
its  governors  to  the  approval  of  the  states ;  and  the  para- 
mount authority  and  appellate  jurisdiction  of  the  central 
government  at  home  was  affirmed  and  maintained  by  the 

*  See  charter  at  length  in  the  Groot  Piacaatbook,  i.,  566  ;  De  Laefs  Jaenvek  Vchae.  , 
Hazard,  i.,  121 ;  O'Call.,  i.,  399. 


PRIVATE  SHIPS  SENT  TO  l^EW  NETHERLAND.  137 

oath  of  allegiance  to  the  States  Greneral,  which  was  re-  cuAr.  v. 
quired  from  all  superior  officers  of  the  company. 

The  leading  objects  of  the  incorporation  of  this  armed  ^p^ji^g „^ 
commercial  monopoly  were,  nevertheless,  "the  profit  and {!;[i^^,°^ '^'" 
increase  of  trade,"  and  the  humbling  of  the  power  of 
Spain  and  Portugal  in  Africa  and  America.  How  suc- 
cessfully these  purposes  were  accomplished,  the  annals  of 
the  Netherlands  proudly  tell.  Yet  triumph  eventually 
led  to  disaster ;  and  the  intoxication  of  brilliant  success 
was  followed,  before  long,  by  the  mortification  of  over- 
whelming bankruptcy.  And  it  was  an  evil  day  for  New 
Netherland,  when  the  States  General  committed  to  the 
guardianship  of  a  close  and  grasping  mercantile  corpora- 
tion, the  ultimate  fortunes  of  their  embryo  province  in 
America. 

Various  impediments,  however,  delayed  for  two  years  organiza- 
the  final  organization  of  the  West  India  Company.     The  d°  w.  i. 
original  charter  was  twice  amplified  in  some  points  of  de-   '^^''"^ 
tail ;  and  the  managers  having  adopted  articles  of  internal 
regulation,  which  were  formally  approved  by  the  States 
General  on  the  twenty-first  of  June,  1623,  closed  their   1623. 
books  of  subscription,  and  prepared  with  energy  to  prose-  ^^  ^''"^' 
cute  their  designs.* 

In  the  mean  time,  the  merchants,  who  had  lately  formed  Private 
the  United  New  Netherland  Association,  continued  to  send  to  Nevv*^" 
separate  trading  ventures  to  the  North  and  South  Rivers.  land. 
Hendrick  Eelkens,  Adriaen  Jansen  Engel,  and  Hans  Joris 
Houten  of  Amsterdam,  who,  the  year  before,  had  so  stren- 
uously opposed  the  grant  of  any  exclusive  privileges  to 
May's  ship-owners,  obtained  from  the  States  General  a 
special  license  to  send  their  vessel,  the  "White  Dove,"  to   1621 
"  New  Virginia,"  under  the  command  of  Captain  Joris  ^^^^p'" 
Houten.     The  next  week,  Dirck  Volckertscn,  Doctor  Ve- 
rus.  Doctor  Carbasius,  and  others,  of  Hoorn,  in  North  Hol- 
land, some  of  whom  were  the  owners  of  May's  first  ship, 
the  Fortune,  obtained  a  similar  permission  to  send  a  ves-  24  sept. 
sel  to  trade  "  in  the  Virginias."     A  few  days  afterward, 

*  De  Lact,  Jaerlyck  Verhacl ;  Hazard,  i.,  149,  174,  181 :  O'Call.,  i.,408,  411. 


138  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1621 


ciur.  V.  upon  the  petition  of  "  Claes  Jacobsen  Haringcarspel,  coun- 
selor and  former  schepen  of  Amsterdam,  Peter  Plancius,* 
minister  of  the  word  of  G-od,  Lambrecht  van  Tweenhuy- 
sen,  Hans  Claessen  and  Company,  trading  to  certain  lands, 
coasts,  and  rivers  discovered  by  them,  lying  between  Vir- 
ginia and  New  France,  in  the  latitude  of  from  forty  to 
forty-five  degrees,  named  New  Netherland,  and  also  to 
the  adjacent  lands  and  a  great  river,  lying  in  the  latitude 
of  from  thirty-eight  to  forty  degrees,"  the  States  General 

28  Sept.  authorized  them  to  dispatch  two  ships,  to  trade  on  the 
North  and  South  Rivers.t  These  special  licenses  were 
granted  under  the  proviso  in  the  charter  of  the  West  In- 
dia Company.  But  in  order  to  prevent  any  interference 
with  its  privileges,  the  grantees  of  these  special  licenses 
were  required  to  complete  their  voyages,  and  have  all 
their  vessels  back  in  Holland,  by  the  first  day  of  July,  1622. 

British  pat-      Mcanwhilc,  the  King  of  England,  notwithstanding  the 

England,  actual  posscssiou  of  Canada  by  the  French,  and  New  Neth- 
erland by  the  Dutch,  had,  as  we  have  seen,  asserted  a 
claim  of  sovereignty  over  the  regions  lying  between  Vir- 
1620.  ginia  and  Newfoundland.  The  New  England  patent,  by 
which  James  granted  to  the  council  at  Plymouth  an  ab- 
solute property  in  all  the  American  territory  extending 
from  the  fortieth  to  the  forty-eighth  degree  of  latitude,  and 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  passed  the  great  seal  about 
a  week  before  the  Mayflower,  with  the  first  Puritan  emi- 
grants, arrived  at  Cape  Cod.  The  monopoly  conferred  by 
the  charter  was  immense.  "  Without  the  leave  of  the 
Council  of  Plymouth,  not  a  ship  might  sail  into  a  harbor 

*  Plancius  was  an  eminent  Calvinistic  clergyman  of  Amsterdam,  and  a  member  of  the 
famous  Synod  of  Dort,  wliere  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  revisers  of  the  new  translation  of 
the  Bible.  (Brandt,  xxxiii.,  53.)  He  was  no  less  distinguished  as  a  geographer  ;  and,  as 
has  been  stated  (ayite,  p.  23,  45),  was  an  earnest  promoter  of  Dutch  maritime  enterprise. 
Plancius  constructed  the  charts  by  which  the  first  Holland  ships  sailed  to  the  East  Indies ; 
he  also  counseled  the  expeditions  to  discover  a  new  passage  to  China  by  way  of  Nova 
Zembla.  In  1608  and  1609,  Jeannin,  the  French  ambassador  at  the  Hague,  wishing  to  in- 
duce his  king  to  embark  in  the  East  India  trade,  frequently  consulted  Plancius,  "  from 
whom  he  procured  the  most  light."  (Wagenaar,  Hist.  Amst.,  iii.,  219.)  Witsen,  one  of 
the  original  grantees  of  the  New  Netherland  charter  of  1614,  whose  coat  of  arms  is  paint- 
ed in  a  window  in  the  old  church  of  Saint  Nicholas  at  Amsterdam,  was  no  doubt  an 
intimate  friend  of  his  liberal-minded  pastor,  whom  we  now  find  associated  with  Van 
Tweenhuysen  and  others,  in  sending  an  expedition  to  the  North  and  South  Rivers, 
Plancius  died  on  the  25th  of  May,  1622.  t  Hoi.  Doc  ,  i.,  109-113. 


3  Nov. 


THE  NEW  ENGLAND  PATENT  A  "GRIEVANCE."      13y 

from  Newfoundland  to  the  latitude  of  Philadelphia ;  not  a  chap.  v. 
skin  might  be  purchased  in  the  interior  ;  not  a  fish  might  ~~~ 
be  caught  on  the  coast ;  not  an  emigrant  might  tread  the  "*  " 
soil."  The  only  qualification  which,  even  nominally,  lim- 
ited the  enormous  grant,  was  the  proviso  which  excepted 
any  territories  "  actually  possessed  or  inhabited  by  any 
other  Christian  prince  or  state."  But  the  grant  was  so 
sweeping  and  exclusive,  that  its  very  extent  impaired  its 
value,  by  awakening  the  jealousy  of  Parliament.  The 
next  spring,  after  the  patent  was  sealed,  the  House  of  Com-  25  Apiu. 
mons  turned  its  attention  to  the  "  grievance  ;"  and  Sir  Ed- 
ward Coke,  from  the  chair  of  the  House,  informed  Gorges 
of  the  complaints  "  in  respect  of  many  particulars  therein 
contained,  contrary  to  the  laws  and  privileges  of  the  sub- 
jects,, as  also  that  it  was  a  monopoly,  and  the  color  of 
planting  a  colony  put  upon  it  for  particular  ends  and  pri- 
vate gain."  Before  its  dissolution,  the  House  presented 
the  patent  as  "  the  first"  of  "  the  public  grievances  of  the 
kingdom ;"  and  the  French  ambassador  protested  against 
it,  as  unwarrantably  including  Canada  within  its  assigned 
limits.* 

The  king,  however,  determined  to  maintain  the  monop-28Seps. 

oly  which  he  had  granted  ;  and,  at  the  solicitation  of  the  traders  h 
■^  °  ...  N.E.  re- 

Plymouth  Company,  the  Privy  Council  directed  the  mayors  strained. 

of  Bristol,  and  other  sea-port  towns  in  the  south  and  west 
of  the  kingdom,  to  prohibit  all  persons  from  attempting  to 
trade  to  New  England  "  contrary  to  his  majesty's  said 
gi-ant."t  Domestic  interference  being  thus  prevented,  the 
watchful  jealousy  of  the  grantees  of  the  charter  was  awak- 
ened to  the  movements  of  the  Dutch  in  New  Netherland. 
The  intelligence  communicated  by  Dermer  of  what  he  had 
observed  while  at  Manhattan,  was  now  confirmed  by  the 
news  which  came  from  Amsterdam,  of  the  equipment  and  octobGi 
dispatch  of  several  private  ships  to  New  Netherland,  in  an- 
ticipation of  the  more  definite  arrangements  of  the  "West 

*  Pari.  Deb.,  1620-1, 260,  318,  319 ;  Commons'  Journal,  i.,  591,  592,  640-669  ;  Chalmers, 
83, 100,  101  ;  Gorges,  Brief  NaTration,  in  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  xxvi.,  60,  71, 72  ;  Bancroft,  i., 
272,  327  ;  Grahame's  Hist.  U.  S.,  i.,  199 ;  ii.,  161,  162,  Am.  ed. ;  Chalmers's  Revolt  of  tho 
Colonics,  i.,  25,  26.  t  London  IJoc,  i.\,  12 ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  5. 


MO  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  V.  India  Company.  Notwithstanding  the  proviso  in  their  pat- 
ent, the  Plymouth  Company  resolved  to  lose  no  time  in 
vindicating  their  claim  of  English  title  against  the  Hol- 


1621. 


landers,  who,  they  alleged,  "  as  interlopers,  fell  into  the 
middle  between"*  Virginia  and  New  England, 
Complaints      Avarice  and  self-interest"rarely  right"  adjust  the  "wa- 
Dutchoc-   vering  balance;"  and  the  ethics  of  corporations  are  pro- 
New  Netu-  verbially  convenient  and  pliable.     The  policy  of  the  Plym- 
outh Company  was,  from  the  first,  grasping  and  arrogant. 
Finding  the  king  on  their  side,  they  determined  to  main- 
tain the  exclusive  privileges  which  they  had  won  from  the 
crown.     A  formal  complaint  was,  therefore,  presented  by 
the  Earl  of  Arundel,  Sir  Ferdinando  G-orges,  Sir  Samuel 
Argall,  the  superseded  governor  of  Virginia,  and  Captain 
John  Mason,  against  the  "  Dutch  intruders"  into  New 
Netherland.     Tliree  days  before  the  dissolution  of  Parlia- 
ment, James  accordingly  directed  the  lords  of  his  council 
to  instruct  Sir  Dudley  Carleton,  the  British  ambassador 
at  the  Hague,  to  bring  the  subject  to  the  special  notice  of 
Letter  of    the  Statcs  General.     The  council  at  once  addressed  a  dis- 
councii  to  patch  to  Carleton,  in  which  the  English  government,  for 
ambassa-    thc  first  timc,  distinctly  asserted  the  unlawfulness  of  the 
iiague.      Dutch  occupation  of  New  Netherland.     "  Whereas,"  said 
15 Dec.      their  lordships,  "his  majesty's  subjects  have  many  years 
since  taken  possession  of  the  whole  precinct,  and  inhabited 
some  parts  of  the  north  of  Virginia  (by  us  called  New  En- 
gland), of  all  which  countries  his  majesty  hath,  in  like  man- 
ner, some  years  since,  by  patent,  granted  the  quiet  and  full 
possession  unto  particular  persons ;  nevertheless,  we  under- 
stand that,  the  year  past,t  the  Hollanders  have  entered  upon 
some  part  thereof,  and  have  left  a  colony,  and  given  new 
names  to  the  several  ports  appertaining  to  that  part  of  the 
country,  and  are  now  in  readiness  to  send  for  their  supply 

*  Letter  of  Captain  John  Mason,  in  Lond.  Doc,  i.,  47,  and  in  N.  V.  Col.  MSS.,  iii., 
16,  17  ;  Gorges,  in  iii.  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  vi.,  72. 

t  This  allegation  certainly  does  not  support  Plantagenet's  story  of  Argall's  visit  to  Man- 
hattan in  1613.  If  Argall  had  actually  been  there  that  year,  and  found  "  a  pr>;tended  Dutch 
governor,"  &c.,  &c.,  he  would  hardly  havo  joined  in  a  representation  to  the  king,  in  the 
autumn  of  1621,  which  alleged  that  the  Hollanders  had  settled  themselves  there  only  "  the 
year  past,"  that  is,  in  1620 ;  see  Appendix,  Note  E. 


JAMES  LAYS  CLAIM  TO  NEW  NETHERLAND.  141 

six  or  eight  ships  ;  whereof  his  majesty  being  advertised,  chap.  v. 
we  have  received  his  royal  commandment  to  signify  his 
pleasure  that  you  should  represent  these  things  to  the 
States  General  in  his  majesty's  name  {who,  jure  piitncB 
occupationis,  hath  good  and  sufficient  title  to  those  parts), 
and  require  of  them  that  as  well  those  ships  as  their  further 
prosecution  of  that  plantation  may  he  presently  stayed."* 

But  the  Plymouth  Company,  in  their  overreaching  zeal,  Faiiaci.ius. 
betrayed  the  Privy  Council  into  serious  errors  in  this  im-  Ensush 

•  1         oi  1    1  claim. 

portant  state  paper.  After  the  failure  of  the  Sagadahoc 
colony,  we  have  seen  that  no  English  subjects  inhabited 
any  part  of  the  deserted  territory  north  of  Yirginia,  until 
the  arrival  of  the  Mayflower  at  Cape  Cod.  The  interme- 
diate region,  between  that  Cape  and  the  Chesapeake,  was 
unexplored  by  the  English,  and  was  almost  unknown  to 
them,  until  Dermer  sailed  through  Long  Island  Sound  in 
1619.  Yet,  in  contradiction  to  Dermer's  statements,  that 
the  Dutch  were  quietly  "  settled"  at  Manhattan  in  the 
spring  of  1620,  and  that  they  had  "  had  a  trade  in  Hud- 
son's River  some  years  before  that  time,"  the  Plymouth 
Company  induced  the  Privy  Council  of  England  to  affirm, 
at  the  close  of  1621,  that  the  Hollanders  had  "entered" 
into  occupation  there  only  "  the  year  past." 

Carleton,  on  the  receipt  of  the  Privy  Council's  dispatch,   1622. 
proceeded  to.  make   inquiries   on  the   subject,  before  he  ^''"'^'"^^ ' 
brought  it  to  the  notice  of  the  States  Greneral.     All  he  Result  of 

~  .  Carleton's 

learned  was,  that  about  four  or  five  years  previously,  two  inquiries  if 
"  particular  companies  of  Amsterdam  merchants"  had  be- 
gun a  trade  to  America,  between  the  fortieth  and  forty- 
fifth  degrees  of  north  latitude,  to  which  regions  they  had, 
"  after  their  manner,"  given  the  names  of  New  Nether- 
land,  North  and  South  Sea,  Texel,  Vlieland,  and  the  like, 
and  had  ever  since  continued  to  send  there  vessels  of  six- 
ty or  eighty  tons  burden,  at  most,  to  fetch  furs,  which 
was  "all  their  trade."  For  this  purpose,  they  had  kept 
"  factors  there,  continually  resident,"  to  trade  with  the 
savages.     But  Carleton  could  not  learn  that  any  colony 

*  London  Doc,  i.,  17,  47;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  0,  10,  17  ;  Hubbard,  226. 


142  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  V.  had  as  yet  been  planted  there  by  the  Dutch,  or  was  "  so 
much  as  intended."* 


1622 

carieton's       Fortified  with  this  partial  information,  the  ambassador 

w^tiTtim     asked  an  audience  of  the  States  Greneral,  and  presented  a 

swtesGen-^^j^^gjj  memorial,  in  which  he  claimed  that  the  "  tran- 

9  Feb.  q^j]^  ^j^^j  plenary  possession"  of  the  whole  country  north 
of  Virginia  was  vested,  by  patent,  "  in  several  private  per- 
sons," subjects  of  the  King  of  England,  whose  title,  ^'  by 
right  of  first  occupation,"  he  boldly  affirmed  was  "  not  to 
be  contradicted."  And,  in  the  name  of  the  king,  he  per- 
emptorily demanded  that  the  States  G-eneral  should  not 
only  arrest  the  ships  already  equipped  for  voyages  to  the 
Dutch  plantation,  but  should  also  expressly  prohibit  any 
further  prosecution  of  the  enterprise.! 

9  Feb.  When  Carleton's  memorial  was  read  in  the  meeting  of 

the  States  G^eneral,  the  deputies  from  the  Province  of  Hol- 
land, professing  to  be  ignorant  of  the  circumstances,  re- 
quested that  it  might  be  referred  to  them.     But  no  report 

If.  March,  camc  fi-om  the  Holland  delegation.  A  month  afterward, 
the  ambassador  having  asked  definite  action,  the  States 
General  directed  Burgomaster  Pauw,  one  of  their  mem- 
bers, to  write  to  the  "  participants  in  the  trade  to  New 
Netherland"  for  information.     Carleton  continuing  to  press 

2T  April,  the  States  for  a  decisive  answer,  they  resolved  that  in- 
quiries should  be  made  "  for  what  had  been  printed  at 
Amsterdam  on  this  subject."  Here  the  whole  question 
seems  to  have  ended.  The  States  Greneral,  engrossed 
with  warlike  preparations  against  Spain,  knew  little  about 
New  Netherland ;  which,  besides,  was  now  placed  under 

Result  of    the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the  West  India  Company.    It 

Carleton's  j  i    j      ji 

intcrfer-     docs  uot  appear  that  any  answer  was  ever  returned  to  the 

British  government,  either  through  Carleton,  or  through 

Caron,  the  Dutch  ambassador  at  London.     Captain  John 

1 632.  Mason,  it  is  true,  in  writing  to  Secretary  Coke,  ten  years 

2  April,  afterward,  asserted  that  Caron  had  disclaimed,  on  the 
part  of  the  States  General,  "  any  such  act  that  was  done 

*  London  Doc,  i.,  19;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  7. 
t  London  Doc,  i.,  22  ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  8. 


THE  BRITISH  CLAIM  TO  NEW  NETHERLAND  INVALID.       143 

by  their  people  with  their  authority."     But  nothing  to  chap.  v. 
that  effect  has  been  found  after  recent  diligent  searches,      ~     ' 
both  in  the  Archives  at  the  Hague  and  in  the  State  Paper 
Office  at  London.* 

With  respect  to  the  claim  of  sovereignty  over  New  Futility  ot 
Netherland,  which  James  directed  his  ambassador  to  as- claim. 
sert  so  boldly,  it  is  remarkable  that  the  Parliament  of  En-  1621 
gland,  somewhat  earlier  in  the  same  year,  insisted  fiiat 
"  occupancy  confers  a  good  title  by  the  law  of  nations  and 
Nature  ;"t  and  upon  this  principle  the  right  of  Spain,  un- 
der the  gift  of  Pope  Alexander  VI.  was  again  denied,  be- 
cause, if  admitted,  it  would  have  defeated  the  English 
title  to  Virginia  and  Bermuda.  In  this  the  Parliament 
only  reaffirmed  the  position  taken  by  Queen  Elizabeth  in 
1580,  when  she  refused  to  recognize  the  Spanish  claim, 
and  insisted  that  "  prescription  without  possession  is  of  no 
avail."$  Under  this  rule,  thus  formally  confirmed,  it  is 
clear  that  the  "  prescription"  of  England,  by  reason  of  Ca- 
bot's voyage,  was  entirely  annulled,  so  far  as  regards  those 
parts  of  North  America  which  were  not  actually  possessed 
or  occupied  by  English  subjects. 

The  British  right  to  Virginia  and  Bermuda  was,  nev-Lawofna 
ertheless,  readily  admitted  by  other  European  nations ;  specting 
among  which  it  had  become  the  established  law,  that  oc-  and  posse* 

,,        ,,        .  1  r  •    •  -1  sions. 

cupation  IS  the  "  primary  mode  ot  acquirmg  a  title  to 
unowned  territory."^^  This  law  was  recognized  and  acted 
upon  by  France  with  respect  to  Canada,  and  by  Holland 
with  respect  to  New  Netherland.  The  title  of  England 
to  Virginia  was  never  questioned  by  the  Dutch ;  their 
government  had  distinctly  admitted  it  in  1608  and  1610.11 
In  the  original  trading  charter  granted  by  the  States  Gren- 
eral  in  1614,  the  regions  which  the  Dutch  had  first  ex- 
plored, and  named  New  Netherland,  were  unambiguously 

*  IIoI.  Doc,  i.,  117,  119 ;  Lond.  Doc,  i.,  31,  47 ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  11,  16  ;  Gorges, 
in  Mas.-*.  Hist.  Coll.,  xxvi.,  72  ;  Address  before  N.  Y.  H.  S.,  1844,  p.  25,  26. 

t  Chalmers,  6  ;  Pari.  Debates,  1G20-1,  p.  250.  i  Ante,  p.  4. 

I)  Grotius,  ii.,  2.  "  Primus  acquirendi  modus  qui  juris  gentium  a  Romanis  dicitur,  est 
occupatio  eorum  quae  nullius  sunt."  Chalmers,  6,  however,  states  the  law  to  be,  "  that 
the  countries  which  each  should  explore  shall  be  deemed  the  ab.solute  property  of  the  dis- 
coverer." U  Ilol.  Doc,  i.,  5,  6,  35.  38 ;  Winwood's  Mem.,  iii.,  239 


144  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  V.  declared  to  be  between  Virginia  on  the  south  and  Canada 


1621. 


on  the  north.  The  actual  occupation  of  the  coasts  of 
Maine  by  the  English  as  early  as  1607 — though  it  was 
soon  discontinued  for  several  years — gave  England  a  suf- 
ficient title  to  that  quarter ;  and  the  Hollanders  never  at- 
tempted to  interfere  with  the  British  claim  to  the  territo- 
ry north  of  Cape  Cod.  But  with  respect  to  the  regions 
between  that  Cape  and  Virginia,  which  they  had  them- 
selves so  thoroughly  explored  before  any  other  Europeans, 
The  Dutch  tlic  Dutch  insisted  upon  the  validity  of  their  own  rights. 
Netheriand  When  the  Amsterdam  Company  built  their  Fort  Nassau 
on  the  North  River  in  1614,  it  is  quite  certain  that  there  had 
been  no  English  "  occupancy"  of  any  portion  of  New  Neth- 
eriand south  of  Cape  Cod,  so  as  to  confer  a  title  according 
to  the  opinions  of  Q,ueen  Elizabeth  and  of  Parliament.  The 
English,  in  fact,  until  Dermer's  voyage,  were  entirely  ig- 
norant even  of  the  geography  of  that  part  of  the  coast. 
Holland  vessels  alone  had  explored  it ;  Hollanders  alone 
had  occupied  it.  By  British  law,  and  by  the  law  of  na- 
tions, the  Dutch  title  to  New  Netheriand  was  complete. 
The  New  England  patent  of  King  James,  so  far  as  it  in- 
terfered with  the  rights  of  the  Dutch,  might,  therefore, 
according  to  the  judgment  of  Q,ueen  Elizabeth,  and  of  the 
Parliament  of  Great  Britain  itself,  be  at  least  as  fairly  de- 
rided, as  was  the  Pontiff's  earlier  grant  to  the  Spaniards. 
1622.  The  Plymouth  Company,  however,  if  they  did  not  suc- 
tionlgainst  ceed  in  obtaining  from  the  States  Greneral  a  renunciation 
tradwlTo  of  the  right  of  the  Dutch  to  New  Netheriand,  had  influence 
giand.^"  enough  to  procure  from  King  James  a  further  measure  of 
protection  against  the  acts  of  British  subjects.  Complaints 
were  made  to  the  crown  that  "  sundrie  interlopers"  into 
New  England  had  committed  "intolerable  abuses,"  inter- 
fered with  "some  of  the  planters  there,"  "ruined  whole 
woods,"  traded  promiscuously  with  the  savages,  supplied 
them  with  fire-arms,  and  overthrown  the  trade  and  com- 
merce, which  were  "  the  principal  hopes  for  the  advance- 
ment of  that  plantation,  next  unto  the  commodities  that 
23  October,  coast  affords  for  fishing."    An  order  in  covmcil  was  prompt- 


DUTCH  TRADERS  IN  LONG  ISLAND  SOUND.  145 

ly  made  for  the  issuing  of  a  royal  proclamation  against  ir-  chap.  v 

resrular  traders  to  New  England.     A  few  days  afterward,      ~ 

1622 
the  king  accordingly  proclaimed   and   commanded  that  g  ^^^ 

none  of  his  subjects  whatsoever,  "not  adventurers,  inhab- 
iters,  or  planters  in  New  England,  presume  from  hence- 
forth to  frequent  those  coasts,  to  trade  or  traffic  with  those 
people,  or  to  intermeddle  in  the  woods  or  freehold  of  any 
of  the  planters  or  inhabitants,"  except  by  the  license  of 
the  Plymouth  Company,  or  according  to  the  orders  of  the 
Privy  Council.* 

Meanwhile,  the  Amsterdam  ships  had  been  quietly  pur-  special 

■!.  •/    1  voyages  to 

suing  their  voyages  to  New  Netherland,  under  the  special  New  Neth- 
licenses  of  the  Dutch  government ;  and  some  of  them  de- 
layed their  return  to  Holland  so  long,  that  their  owners 
were  obliged  to  ask  of  the  States  General  an  extension  of  is  June. 
the  time  limited  for  their  arrival  home.t     The  trade  in  Pe'trj  trade 

of  the 

peltry  was  industriously  prosecuted,  not  only  on  the  North  Dutch  in 
and  South  Rivers,  but  on  the  "  Fresh"  or  Connecticut  Riv-  sett  Bay. 
er ;  and  Dutch  shallops  constantly  visited  the  shores  of 
Long  Island  Sound,  and  trafficked  with  the  native  Indian 
tribes  as  far  east  as  Narragansett  and  Buzzard's  Bays. 
Their  favorite  resort  was  Manomet,  at  the  head  of  Buz- 
zard's Bay,  and  within  about  twenty  miles  of  the  recent 
Puritan  settlement  at  New  Plymouth.  $     But  the  pioneers 
of  New  Ij^ngland,  occupied  with  the  pressing  cares  of  their 
infant  colony,  were  not  yet  prepared  to  interfere  with  the 
lucrative  trade  which  their  more  ancient  neighbors  in  New 
Netherland  were  now  carrying  on,  almost  at  their  very 
doors.     With  the  native  tribes  the  Dutch  generally  culti-  Relations 
vated  the  most  amicable  relations.     The  treaty  made  on  dians. 
the  banks  of  the  Tawasentha  continued  to  be  faithfully 
observed  with  the  Mohawks,  the  Mahicans,  and  the  North 
River  Indians,  who  were  the  immediate  neighbors  and  al- 
lies of  the  Dutch.     At  Esopus,  a  large  traffic  was  main- 
tained with  boats  and  shallops.     But  the  more  distant 
tribes  were  treated  with  less  consideration.     Jacob  Eel- 

*  Lond.  Doc,  i.,  32;  N.  Y.  Col.,  MSS.,  iii.,  11  ;  Rymer  Fedora,  xvii.,  416;  Morton's 
Memorial,  98  ;  Prince's  Annals,  218.  t  Hoi.  Doc,  i.,  120.  t  Prince,  208. 

K 


146  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  V.  kcns,  who  had  remained  in  superintendence  of  the  trade 
near  Castle  Island,  made  frequent  visits  to  the  eastern 

Eeikens^s    ^o^^ts  and  rivers  of  New  Netherland  ;  and  in  the  summer 

ducr°"'  of  1622,  having  ascended  the  Connecticut  to  traffic  with 
the  Sequins,  near  the  present  town  of  Wethersfield,  he 
treacherously  imprisoned  their  chief  on  board  his  yacht, 
and  would  not  release  him  until  a  ransom  of  one  hundred 
and  forty  fathoms  of  wampum  had  been  exacted.  This 
outrage  naturally  alienated  the  eastern  Indians  ;  and  the 
Sequin  chief,  refused  to  have  any  more  dealings  with  the 
treacherous  Eelkens,  who  was  soon  afterward  discharged 
by  his  offended  superiors  from  the  post  he  had  dishonored.* 

Walloons  Thc  Fathcrlaud  was  now  preparing  to  send  permanent 
emigrants  to  subdue  the  wilderness  of  New  Netherland. 
Early  in  this  year,  while  Carleton  was  engaged  in  obtain- 
ing the  preliminary  information  which  he  desired  before 
presenting  his  memorial  to  the  States  Greneral,  he  had 

January,  bccu  applied  to  by  some  families  of  "Walloons,  settled  at 
Amsterdam,  for  permission  to  emigrate  to  Virginia  and 
establish  a  colony,  to  be  governed  by  magistrates  of  their 
own  election.!  These  Walloons,  whose  name  was  de- 
rived from  their  original  "  AVaalsche,"  or  French  extrac- 
tion,t  had  passed  through  the  fire  of  persecution.  They 
inhabited  the  Southern  Belgic  Provinces  of  Hainault,  Na- 
mur,  Luxemburg,  Limburg,  and  part  of  the  ancient  Bish- 
opric of  Liege ;  and  spoke  the  old  French  language.  When 
the  northern  provinces  of  the  Netherlands  formed  their  po- 
litical union  at  Utrecht  in  1579,  the  southern  provinces, 
which  were  generally  attached  to  the  Roman  Church,  de- 
clined joining  the  Confederation.  Many  of  their  inhabit- 
ants, nevertheless,  professed  the  principles  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. Against  these  Protestant  Walloons  the  Spanish  gov- 
ernment exercised  the  most  rigid  measures  of  inquisitorial 
vengeance ;  and  the  subjects  of  an  unrelenting  persecution 

*  Wassenaar,  xii.,  39  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  45  ;  De  Vries,  113. 

t  Lond.  Doc,  i.,  24  ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  9,  10. 

t  "  Bordering  on  France,  and  speaking  the  French  language,  they  were  termed  Gallois, 
which  was  changed,  in  Low  Dutch,  into  Waalsche,  and  in  English  into  Walloon." — Rev 
Dr.  De  Witt,  in  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Proc,  1848,  p.  75. 


THE  WALLOONS  IN  HOLLAND.  I47 

emigrated  by  thousands  into  Holland,  where  they  knew  cuAr.  v. 
that  stranger^  of  every  race  and  creed  were  sure  of  an 
asylum  and  a  welcome.     Carrying  with  them  a  knowl-    ^"'^'^' 
edge  of  the  arts,  in  which  they  were  great  proficients, 
they  were  distinguished  in  their  new  home  for  their  taste- 
ful and  persevering  industry.     To  the  Walloons  the  Dutch 
were  probably  indebted  for  much  of  the  repute  which  they 
gained  as  a  nation  in  many  branches  of  manufactures.* 
Finding  in  Holland  a  free  scope  for  the  enjoyment  of  their 
religious  opinions,  the  Walloons  soon  introduced  the  pub- 
lic use  of  their  church  service,  which,  to  this  day,  bears 
witness  to  the  characteristic  toleration  and  liberality  of 
the  Fatherland.     By  degrees,  the  fame  of  the  New  World  Walloons 
reached  the  cars  of  the  artisans  of  Amsterdam ;  and  some  cense  to  go 
of  the  Belgian  refugees  applied  to  Carleton  for  formal  en- 
couragement to  emigrate  to  Virginia.     The  ambassador, 
having  no  powers  to  make  arrangements  with  them,  com- 
municated their  application  to  the  king,  by  whom  it  was 
ordered  to  be  referred  to  the  Virginia  Company.     But  the 
conditions  which  the  company  offered  did  not  appear  to  Are  not  en 
have  been  satisfactory  to  the  Walloons  ;  and  the  abortive 
negotiation  ended.t     Thus  Virginia  lost  the  advantage  of 
having  an  ingenious,  brave,  and  industrious  race  added  to 
her,  perhaps,  too  homogeneous  population. 

What  Virginia  lost  New  Netherland  gained.  Cosmo- 
politan Amsterdam  was  to  impress  its  character  upon  cos- 
mopolitan Manhattan.  In  the  New  World,  a  metropolis 
soon  arose,  giving  a  home  to  emigrants  from  all  climes 
and  of  all  races  ;■  and  where  the  lavish  gifts  of  beneficent 
nature  are  enjoyed  in  common  by  the  multifarious,  enter- 
prising, and  prosperous  inhabitants  who  crowd  its  busy 
streets.  The  city  which  Amsterdam  originated  can  never 
forget  the  magnanimous  policy  and  liberal  example  of  its 
sagacious  founder. 

The  Provincial  States  of  Holland,  ascertaining  that  sev-  The  stau., 
eral  families  of  Walloons  had  applied  to  Carleton  for  per-iayoruie' 
mission  to  emigrate  to  Virginia,  thought  that  "  they  should  20  April.' 

*  McCulIagh,  ii.,  267.  t  London  Doc,  i.,  29 ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  10. 


148        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1622. 


CHAP.  V.  rather  be  secured  for  the  West  India  Company  ;"  and  the 

subject  was  referred  to  the  du"ectors  of  that  corporation, 

to  consider  "  what  could  be  therein  done  for  their  service." 

21  April.     The  directors  promptly  reported  that  the  emigration  of 

these  Walloons   would   be  "  very  advantageous"   to  the 

company ;  and  that  immediate  measures  should  be  taken 

to  secure  them,  and  to  give  them  employment,  until  the 

company  should  be  formally  organized,  and  be  able  to 

send  them  out  as  colonists.     The  views  of  the  directors 

were  approved  by  the  Provincial  States,  and  the  attention 

of  the  magistracy  of  Amsterdam  was  officially  directed  to 

the  subject.* 

1623.       At  length,  after  two  years  of  preliminary  preparation, 

Finai"or-    the  Wcst  India  Company  obtained  the  assent  of  the  States 

of  the  wTst  Greneral  to  its  articles  of  internal  government,  in  June, 

pany.  ^°'"  1623,  and  began  to  prosecute  Avith  energy  the  objects  of 

its  incorporation.     The  same  month,  three  pioneer  ships, 

the  Orange  Tree,  the  Eagle,  and  the  Love,  were  dispatched 

to  the  West  Indies,  "  to  maintain  the  course  of  traffic,  and 

in  the  hope  of  realizing  their  first  returns."! 

New  Neth-      The  Colonization  of  New  Netherland,  however,  became 

made  a      the  first  carc  of  the  company.     That  somewhat  indefinite 

province.  ,    .  t->         • 

territory  was  formally  erected  into  a  Provmce,  and  "hon- 
ored" by  the  States  Greneral  with  a  grant  of  the  armorial 
distinction  of  a  count.!  As  soon  as  the  stock  of  the  com- 
pany was  secured,  and  the  several  boards  of  directors  were 
Assigned    cliosen,  the  Colles^e  of  the  XIX.  assigned  the  particular 

to  the  care  '  ^  ,  p  '■ 

of  the  Am-  manafifement  of  the  affairs  of  the  province  to  the  Chamber 

sterdam  ~  ^    , 

Chamber,  ^t  Amsterdam.  Among  the  prominent  members  of  that 
chamber  were  Jonas  Witsen,^  one  of  the  grantees  of  the 
original  trading  charter  of  1614,  Hendrick  Hamel,  Samuel 
Grodyn,  Samuel  Blommaert,  John  de  Laet,  the  historian, 
Kiliaen  van  Rensselaer,  Michael  Pauw,  and  Peter  Evert- 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  i.,  118  ;  Res.  Hoi.  and  West  Friesland  ;  Muilkerk,  Bydragen,  B.  11. 

t  De  Laet,  Jaerlyck  Verhael ;  Hazard,  i.,  174-178  ;  Wassenaar,  v.,  91. 

t  Hoi.  Doc,  iv.,  39.  The  Provincial  seal  of  New  Netherland  was  a  shield  bearing  a 
beaver,  proper,  surmounted  by  a  count's  coronet,  and  encircled  by  the  words  "  SigiUum 
Novi  Belgii." 

tj  Jonas  Witsen  died  at  Amsterdam  in  October,  1626 :  Garret  Jacobsen  Witsen  died  k 
January  of  the  same  year. — Wassenaar,  x.,  llfi. 


THE  WTST  INDIA  COMPANY  POSSESS  NEW  NETHERLAND.  I49 


*  1622. 


sen  Hulft,  whose  names  are  identified  with  the  first  Eu-  chap.  v 
ropean  possession   of  the  five  states  of  New  York,  New 
Jersey,  Delaware,  Pennsylvania,  and  Connecticut. 

Aware  of  the  jealousy  of  the  English  government,  the  The  west 
West  India  Company  did  not  delay  arrangements  to  se-pany  takes 
cure  their  title  to  New  Netherland  by  more  extended  act-  of  New 

Nether- 

nal  occupation.     "  By  virtue  of  their  charter,"  and  before  land. 
their  final  organization,  they  "took  possession  of  the  coun- 
try" in  the  year  1622  ;t  and  trading  vessels  were  prompt- 
ly sent  out,  bearing  instructions  to  the  officers  at  Manhat- 
tan, and  on  the  North  River.     The  voyages  of  the  Dutch 
ships,  at  this  time,  generally  occupied  about  seven  or  eight 
weeks.     On  clearing  the  channel,  they  laid  their  course  circuitous 
for  the  Canary  Islands  ;  whence  they  stretched  across  the  tiie  Dutch 
Atlantic  toward  Guiana  and  the  Carribees,  and  then  ran 
obliquely  toward  the  northwest,  between  the  Bahamas  and 
the  Bermudas,  until  they  made  the  coasts  of  Yirginia.l^ 
By  steering  this  circuitous  southern  course,  they  avoided 
the  severe  gales  of  the  North  Atlantic,  and  had  the  oppor- 
tunity of  refitting,  when  it  was  necessary.     But  their  voy- 
ages were  sometimes  protracted  by  the  temptation  to  lin- 
ger at  anchor  ;  and  the  yacht  Mackarel,  which  sailed  from 
the  Texel  in  June,  consumed  so  much  time  among  the  le  Jur.^. 
Carribee  Islands  in  unsuccessful  fishing,  that  she  did  not 
arrive  at  Manhattan  until  the  middle  of  December,  which  12  Dec. 
was  "  somewhat  late,"  remarks  the  quaint  chronicler.s^ 

The  situation  of  the  redoubt  on  the  Tawasentha  proving  a  new  fon 
inconvenient,  arrangements  were  now  made  to  build,  on  on  the 
the  west  bank  of  the  river,  a  few  miles  further  north,  a  er. 
larger  and  more  permanent  fortification,  "  with  four  an- 
gles," and  to  be  named  "Fort  Orange,"  in  honor  of  the 
stadtholder.     At  the  same  time,  preparations  were  made 
for  the  permanent  occupation  of  the  genial  valley  of  the 
South  River ;  and  by  order  of  the  Amsterdam  Chamber, 

•  MouUon,  369  ;  De  Laet,  Jaerlyck  Verhael.  t  IIoI.  Doc.,  ii.,  370. 

i  Wassenaar,  vi.,  144.  Guiana  was  frequently  calleil  by  the  Dutch  "  do  Wilde  Gusto," 
and  he  Carribees  "de  Wilde  Eylanden."— De  Vries,  Voyages,  p.  120,  137;  Otto  Keye's 
Kurtzer  Entwurff,  &c. 

t>  Wassenaar,  vii.,  11 ;  De  Lact,  App..  3  :  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  36. 


150  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1622. 

A  fort  on 
the  South 
River  also 


Chap.  V.  somc  of  the  traders  from  Manhattan  selected  a  position  on 
its  east  bank,  at  a  spot  which  the  natives  called  "  Te- 
kaacho."     It  was  near  the  present  town  of  Gloucester,  in 
New  Jersey,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Timmer  Kill,  or  Timber 
projected.    Qj-eek,  then  called  "  Sassackon."     Here,  among  the  rem- 
nants of  the  once  formidable  Lenni-Lenape  tribes,  a  few 
Dutch  traders  projected  the  first  European  fort  on  the 
shores  of  the  Delaware.* 
1623.       The  spring  of  the  year  1623  was  the  era  of  the  first  per- 
manem  ag-  maucut  agricultural  colonization  of  New  Netherland,  un- 
coionrza"-    dcr  the  authority  of  the  West  India  Company.     Anxious 
Nrther-  ^^  to  commence  their  colony  with  willing  and  active  emi- 
grants, the  Amsterdam  Chamber  equipped  the  "  New  Neth- 
erland," a  ship  of  two  hundred  and  sixty  tons  burden,  and 
embarked  on  board  of  it  a  company  of  thirty  families.    The 
greater  part  of  these  colonists  were  Walloons,  who,  dis- 
appointed in  their  first  application  to  Carleton,  now  emi- 
grated to  America  under  the  auspices  of  the  West  India 
Company.     The  superintendence  of  the   expedition  was 
corneiis     iutrusted  to  the  experienced  Cornells  Jacobsen  May,  of 
May  and    Hoom,  who  was  to  remain  in  New  Netherland  as  the  First 
rts  superin-  Dircctor  of  the  colony ;  while  Adriaen  Joris,  of  Thienpoint, 

tend  the  ex-  ,  ,  ,    .  •,   , 

pedition.     went  out  as  second  in  command.! 

The  New  Netherland  sailed  from  the  Texel  in  the  be- 

March.  ginning  of  March ;  and,  shaping  her  course  by  the  Canary 
Islands  and  the  coast  of  G-uiana,  arrived  safely,  in  the  be- 

May.  ginning  of  May,  at  the  North  River.  At  the  mouth  of  the 
river,  a  French  vessel  was  found  lying  at  anchor,  whose 
captain  wished  to  set  up  the  arms  of  the  King  of  France, 
and  take  possession  in  the  name  of  his  sovereign.  But 
"the  Hollanders,"  faithful  to  the  States  Greneral  and  to  the 
Directors  of  the  West  India  Company,  whose  designs  they 
were  unwilling  to  see  frustrated,  "  would  not  let  him  do 
it."  The  yacht  Mackarel  having  just  then  returned  from 
up  the  North  River,  where  she  had  been  trading  with  the 


Colonists 
arrive  in 
the  prov- 
ince. 


*  Wassenaar,  vii.,  11,  12;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  35,  36;  Moulton,  366-368;  Mickle's 
Reminiscences,  3  ;  S.  Hazard's  Annals  of  Pennsylvania,  13  ;  Appendix,  Note  K. 

t  Wassenaar,  vii.,  11  ;  xii.,  38 ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  35,  43 ;  Hoi.  Doc,  ii.,  368  ;  Alb. 
Rec,  xxiv.,  167 


FORT  ORANGE  BUILT.  |5| 

[ndians,  was  armed  at  once  with  a  couple  of  pieces  of  can-  chap.  v. 
Qon,  and  under  her  convoy  the  Frenchman  was  forced  to        [ 
i5ea.     Unwilling  to  be  balked  in  his  pertinacious  loyalty,  pegig„g  „(• 
the  French  captain  immediately  sailed  to  the  South  Riv-  bi^k^j*"'''' 
er,  and  attempted  the  samfe  experiment ;   "  but  he  was 
foiled  in  a  similar  manner  by  the  settlers  there."* 

This    affair    having   been    satisfactorily   accomplished,  The  west 
eight  men  were  left  at  Manhattan  "to  take  possession" pany takes 
for  the  West  India  Company.     Several  families,  together  of  Manhat- 
with  a  number  of  sailors  and  men,  were  also  detailed  for 
service  and  colonization  on  the  South  River,  and  to  the 
eastward  of  Manhattan.     The  New  Netherland  then  went  colonists 
up  the  North  River  to  Castle  Island.     When  she  had  pro-  North  riv- 
ceeded  "  as  far  as  Sopus,  which  is  half  way,"  her  draft  of  '^^' 
water  was  found  to  be  a  serious  impediment.     The  ship 
was,  therefore,  lightened  "  with  some  boats  that  were  left 
there  by  the  Dutch,  that  had  been  there  the  year  before,  a 
trading  with  the  Indians  upon  their  own  accounts,  and 
gone  back  again  to  Holland."     By  this  means,  they  at 
length  "  brought  the  vessel  up."t 

On  the  west  shore  of  the  river,  just  above  Castle  Island, 
"  a  fort  with  four  angles,  named  Orange,"  which  had  been  Fort  or- 

.  .  , .         ,  ange  built 

projected  the  previous  year,  was  immediately  "  thrown 
up  and  completed."  The  colonists  forthwith  "  put  the 
spade  in  the  earth,"  and  began  farming  operations  so  vig- 
orously, that,  before  the  yacht  Mackarel  returned  to  Hol- 
land, their  corn  "  was  nearly  as  high  as  a  man,  so  that 
they  were  getting  along  bravely."  About  eighteen  fami- 
lies settled  themselves  at  Fort  Orange,  under  Adriaen  Jo- 
ris,  who  "  staid  with  them  all  winter,"  after  sending  his 

*  Wasscnaar,  vii.,  11  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  35. 

t  Depositions  of  Catelina  Trico,  in  Deed  Book,  vii.,  and  in  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  xxxv. ;  Doc. 
Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  49-51.  These  depositions  were  made  in  1685  and  1688,  in  which  latter 
year  the  deponent  was  eighty-three  years  old.  Trico  states  that  she  was  born  in  Paris, 
and  that  she  came  out  to  New  Netherland  in  the  year  1623,  in  the  "  ship  called  the  Unity 
(Ecndragt?),  whereof  was  commander  Arien  Joris,  belonging  to  the  West  India  Company, 
being  the  first  ship  that  came  here  for  the  said  company."  There  is  a  slight  discrepancy 
between  Trico's  testimony  and  Wassenaar's  account,  which  states  the  name  of  the  ship 
as  the  "  New  Netherland."  Wassenaar's  account  was  contemporaneous,  and  it  is  con- 
firmed by  llol.  Doc,  ii.,  370 ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  depositions  of  Trico  were  sworn  to 
when  she  was  eighty-three  years  old,  and  they  describe  events  which  happened  sixty-five 
yeara  before,  when  she  was  only  eighteen  years  of  age. 


152  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  V.  ship  liome  to  Holland  in  charge  of  his  son.     As  soon  as 

the  colonists  had  built  themselves  "some  huts  of  bark" 
1623 
New  aiii-    around  the  fort,  the  Mahikanders,  or  River  Indians,  the 

uveen  tile   Mohawks,  the  Oneidas,  the  Onondagas,  the  Cayugas,  and 
ihe'in-""*^  the  Senecas,  with  the  Mahawawa  or  Ottawawa  Indians, 
(imns.        u  QQ^YHQ   and   made  covenants   of  friendship"  with  Joris, 
"  bringing  him  great  presents  of  beaver  or  other  peltry, 
and  desired  that  they  might  come  and  have  a  constant 
free  trade  with  them,  which  was  concluded  upon."     For 
several  years  afterward,  the  Indians  "  were  all  as  quiet  as 
lambs,  and  came  and  traded  with  all  the  freedom  unag- 
inable."* 
Jacob  Eel-       Eclkcns,  whosc  basc  conduct  the  year  before,  in  im- 
seded.       prisouiug  the  Sequin  chief  on  board  his  yacht,  had  pro- 
duced general  disgust,  was  no  longer  employed  by  the 
Daniel  van  Company  ;  and  Daniel  van  Krieckebeeck  was  installed  as 
beeck  ctm-  Dcputy  Commissary  at  Fort  Orange.     The  new  command- 
Fort  or-"'  er,  whose  name,  "  for  brevity's  sake,"  the  colonists  soon 
^°^^'        contracted  into  "  Beeck,"  became  very  popular  among 
them,  and  executed  his  functions  so  satisfactorily,  "  that 
he  was   thanked."     The   management  of  the   fur  trade 
along  the  river,  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  Manhattan, 
Peter  Ba-   was  iutrusted,  after  Eelkens's  supersedure,  to  Peter  Ba- 

rentsen  su-  c  i  i  •       i       • 

perintend-  rcntscn,  who,  for  several  years,  performed  his  duties  to  the 
Indian       mutual  satisfaction  of  the  Indians  and  of  the  company.! 

trade.  ^        '' . 

After  the  construction  of  Fort  Orange,  the  colonists 
"  also  placed  upon  the  Prince's  Island,  formerly  called  the 
Murderer's  Island,  a  fort,  which  was  named  by  them 
Fort  "Wii- '  Wilhelmus ;'  open  (plat)  in  front,  with  a  curtain  in  the 
rear,  and  garrisoned  by  sixteen  men  for  the  defense  of  the 
river  below."t 

*  Wassenaar,  vii.,  11  ;  Trico's  Deposition,  in  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  xxxv. ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y., 
iii.,  35,  51.  Wassenaar  says  that  Fort  Orange  was  built  on  the  island.  In  this  he  is  in- 
accurate. Fort  Nassau,  which  was  swept  away  and  abandoned  in  161",  was  on  Castle 
Island.  "  Fort  Orange  was  built  on  the  alluvion  ground  now  occupied  by  the  business 
part  of  the  city  of  Albany.  The  site  was  that  on  which  stands  the  building  lately  known 
as  the  '  Fort  Orange  Hotel,'  formerly  the  mansion  of  the  late  Simeon  De  Witt." — D.  D. 
Barnard's  Address  before  the  Albany  Institute,  1839.  The  Fort  Orange  Hotel  was  de- 
stroyed in  the  great  fire  of  1847. 

t  Wassenaar,  vii.,  II  ;  xii.,  38,  39 ;  De  Vries,  113  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  36,  44,  45. 

i  I  limit  the  text  to  the  exact  words  of  Wassenaar,  vii.,  1 1  (and  translated  in  Doc.  Hist 


FORT  NASSAU,  ON  THE  SOUTH  RIVER.  153 

The  pertinacious  attempt  which  the  French  captain,  chap.  v. 
who  had  been  convoyed  out  of  the  waters  of  Manhattan,   ^n.-yn 
made  to  set  up  the  arms  of  France  on  the  South  River, 
though  it  had  been  promptly  thwarted  by  the  Dutch  trad- 
ers whom  he  found  there,  showed  the  necessity  of  a  per- 
manent post  to  protect  the  rights  of  the  Dutch.     May, 
whose  previous  voyages  to  that  region  had  made  him  well 
acquainted  with  the  country,  now  hastened  to  construct  a 
log-fort,  on  the  point  at  the  mouth  of  the  "  Timmer  Kill," 
which  had  been  previously  selected.     This  post,  like  thcFonNas- 
nrst  Dutch  establishment  on  Castle  Island,  was  named  the  south 

River. 

"  Fort  Nassau,"  in  compliment  to  the  family  of  the  Prince 
of  Orange.     About  three  weeks  after  the  arrival  of  the 
New  Netherland  at  Manhattan,  four  couples,  who  had  been  June. 
married  at  sea,  on  their  voyage  from  Holland,  together  with 
eight  seamen,  were  sent  in  a  yacht  to  the  South  River,  First  Euro- 
"  by  order  of  the  Dutch  governor,"  to  settle  themselves  msts  set- 
there.     The  new  home  of  the  pioneers  was  on  the  east,  or 
Jersey  shore,  near  G-loucester,  about  four  miles  below  the 
present  city  of  Philadelphia.* 

A  few  of  the  New  Netherland's  passengers,  consisting  of 
"  two  families  and  six  men,"  it  is  said,  were  sent,  directly 
the  ship  arrived  at  Manhattan,  to  the  Fresh  or  Connecticut  May. 

-r»  •  •  /•    1  r  "r**®  Fresh 

River,  to  commence  the  actual  occupation  of  that  part  of  or  connec- 

iT\i  •  >  IIP  T  1      *'''Ut  River 

tho  Dutch  province.     A  small  fort,  or  trading  post,  the  occupied  by 

,  ^        -,   ^r  ,,  .  .  1   J      1  1  1  .   ^  '  -the  Dutch. 

"  (rood  Hope,"  IS  said  to  have  been  also  now  projected  and 
begun  ;  but  it  was  not  finished  until  1633,  ten  years  aft- 
erward.! 

Another  portion  of  the  colonists,  who  came  out  in  the  Walloons 
New  Netherland,  consisting  chiefly  of  Walloons,  soon  set- long  is°n 
tied  themselves  at  a  "  bogt,"  or  small  bay,  on  the  west  waai-bogt. 

N.  Y.,  iii.,  p.  35),  without  adding  any  suggestions  of  my  own  as  to  the  position  of  Fort 
"  Wilhelnius."    The  subject,  however,  is  considered  in  note  K,  in  the  Appendi.x. 

*  Wassenaar,  vii.,  11  ;  Vertoogh  Van  N.  N.,  in  IIoI.  Doc,  iv.,  71-207,  and  in  ii.,  N.  V. 
H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  272, 280 ;  IIol.  Doc,  ii.,  370 ;  viii.,  73  ;  De  Vries,  102 ;  i.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll., 
iii.,  375;  Depositions,  in  iii..  Doc  Hist.  N.  Y.,  49,  50,  51;  Moulton,  366;  Ferris,  19; 
O'Call.,  i.,  100  ;  Mulford's  N.  J.,  49  ;  S.  Hazard's  Ann.  Penn.,  12, 13  ;  Appendix,  note  K. 

t  Deposition  of  Catelina  Trico,  in  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  xxxv.,  and  in  iii..  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y., 
p.  50 ;  Vertoogh  van  N.  N.,  in  Ilol.  Doc,  iv.,  71-207,  and  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  276, 
277.  Trico  says,  thai  "  as  soon  as  they  came  to  Mannatans,  now  called  New  York,  they 
sent  two  families  and  six  men  to  Harford  River." 


154  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  ISEW  YUKK. 


1623. 


Chap.  V.  shore  of  Long  Island,  nearly  opposite  to  "  Nechtonk,"  or 
Corlear's  Hook,  on  Manhattan.  This  settlement,  which 
was  just  north  of  "  Marechkawieck,"  or  Brooklyn,*  before 
long  became  familiarly  known  as  the  "  Waal-bogt,"  or 
Walloon's  Cove.  These  early  colonists  are  not  to  be  con- 
founded with  the  Waldenses,  who  subsequently  emigrated 
from  Amsterdam.  The  descendants  of  the  Walloons  soon 
spread  themselves  over  the  country  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Waal-bogt ;  and  the  names  of  many  of  the  most  respecta- 
ble families  on  Long  Island  to  this  day  attest  their  French 
and  Belgian  origin,  t 

c.  J.  May,       Cornelis  Jacobsen  May  was  now  formally  installed  in 

First  Di-  /  •' 

rector  of    his  office  as  the  First  Director  of  New  Netherland,  under 

New  Neth- 

eriaiid  the  Dutcli  Wcst  India  Company.  His  administration, 
1624.  however,  lasted  only  one  year.  In  Holland,  it  was  hoped 
that  the  colony,  so  prosperously  begun,  would,  with  proper 
management,  go  on  thriftily.  Whoever  was  placed  as 
commander  over  the  colonists,  should  exercise  his  author- 
ity "as  their  father,  and  not  as  their  executioner;  leading 

May's  ad-   them  witk  a  gentle  hand.     For  he  who  governs  them  as  a 

ministra-      ».        ,  ,.  -nini  iii 

tion  friend  and  associate,  will  be  beloved  by  them;  but  he  who 

shall  rule  them  as  a  superior,  will  overthrow  and  bring  to 
naught  every  thing,  yea,  will  stir  up  against  him  the 
neighboring  provinces,  to  which  the  impatient  will  fly. 
'Tis  better  to  govern  by  love  and  friendship  than  by  force." 
During  May's  brief  directorship.  Fort  Orange  was  com- 
pleted on  the  North  River,  and  Fort  Nassau  on  the  South 
River.    The  fur  trade  was  more  systematically  prosecuted ; 

*  The  namo  of  this  beautiful  and  prosperous  city  is  a  corruption  of  its  original  Dutch 
appellation,  "  Breuckelen,"  which  was  derived  from  that  of  the  pretty  village  about  eight- 
een miles  from  Amsterdam,  on  the  road  to  Utrecht.  The  Walloons,  as  has  been  stated 
(.ante,  p.  146),  derived  their  name  from  their  "  Waalsche,"  or  French  origin.  In  the  prog- 
ress of  years,  their  old  "  Waal-bogt"  has  become  Englished  into  the  present  "  Walla- 
bout."    See  also  post,  p.  292,  421. 

t  Benson's  Memoir,  04  ;  Moulton,  370,  371  ;  Alb.  Rec,  xi.,  332  ;  Dr.  De  Witt,  in  N.  Y 
II.  S.  Proc,  1844,  p.  55,  and  1848,  p.  75  ;  Holgate's  American  Genealogy. 

The  precise  time  of  the  first  settlement  of  the  Walloons  at  the  Waal-bogt  is  tincertain. 
It  has  been  asserted  and  generally  believed  that  Sarah  Rapelje,  who  was  bom  in  June, 
1625,  and  was  the  first  "  Christian  daughter  in  New  Netherland,"  was  a  native  of  Long 
Island.  But  Mr.  Riker,  in  a  paper  read  before  the  N.Y.  Historical  Society  in  May,  1857, 
shows  that  Sarah  (who  was  the  daughter  of  Joris  Rapelje  and  Catelina  Trico,  see  ante, 
p.  151,  note)  was  actually  born  at  Fort  Orange.  As  the  famdies  there  were  directed  to 
remove  down  the  river  to  Manhattan  in  1626,  it  was  probably  soon  after  that  time  that  the 
Waal-bogt  was  settled.     See  post,  p.  170,  1S3,  268. 


I 


CORNELIS  JACOBSEN  MAY,  DIRECTOR.  I55 

and  the  West  India  Company  were  soon  gladdened  with  chap.  v 
the  favorable  intelligence  which  reached  them  from  their 
infant  colony.  On  his  return  to  Amsterdam,  Joris  report-  December 
ed  that  "  all  was  in  good  condition"  in  New  Netherland, 
where  the  colonists  were  "getting  bravely  along,"  and  cul- 
tivating friendly  relations  with  the  savages.  All  trade  now 
inuring  to  the  exclusive  benefit  of  the  West  India  Com- 
pany, the  cargo  of  valuable  furs  which  Joris  brought  back 
to  Holland,  as  a  first  year's  remittance  from  New  Nether- 
land, on  its  public  sale  at  Amsterdam,  added  over  twenty- 
eight  thousand  guilders  to  their  treasury.* 

Meanwhile,  the  attention  of  the  directors  of  that  corpo-  west  India 

,    .     -  .  ,        Company 

ration  had  been  drawn  to  a  supposed  infrmgement,  under  arrests  ve 

-^       •  m-  Vries'sshir- 

their  own  eyes,  of  their  close  monopoly.  David  rietersen  at  noom 
de  Vries,  an  enterprising  mariner  of  Hoorn,  having  made 
several  voyages  to  the  Mediterranean  and  the  banks  of 
Newfoundland,  procured  a  commission  from  the  King 
of  France,  and,  in  partnership  with  some  Rochelle  mer- 
chants, bought  a  small  vessel,  for  the  purpose  of  going 
to  the  fisheries,  "  and  to  the  coast  of  Canada,  to  trade  in 
peltries."  The  directors  of  the  West  India  Company,  learn- 
ing the  circumstance,  sent  a  committee  to  Hoorn,  and 
seized  the  ship,  which  was  lying  there  ready  to  sail.  De  24  March 
Vries  protested  that  the  end  of  his  proposed  voyage  was 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  company's  charter ;  but  he  pro- 
tested in  vain.  The  jealousy  of  the  directors  was  aroused ; 
they  were  determined  to  prevent  any  vessels  but  their  own 
from  sailing  out  of  Holland  to  the  coasts  of  North  Amer- 
ica. De  Vries,  however,  was  not  disheartened.  He  ap- 
pealed to  the  States  General,  and  laid  before  them  his 
commission  from  the  King  of  France,  countersigned  by 
Admiral  Montmorency.  The  government  at  the  Hague  cApni. 
promptly  interfered.  A  letter  was  addressed  to  the  Col-  General  in 
lege  of  XIX.,  warning  them  not  to  engage,  in  the  begin- 
ning of  their  career,  in  needless  disputes  with  neighboring 
European  powers,  especially  with  the  French  ;  and  advis- 

•  Wasscnaar,  vii.,  11 ;  viii.,  85 ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii!,  36,  37 :  IIol.  Doc.,  ii.,  368  ;  De 
Laet,  App.,  29 ;  Budartius,  in  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  131,  132. 


The 
ange 


156        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

cnxv.  V.  ing  them  to  arrange  the  affair  amicably  with  De  Vries,  whose 
proposed  voyage  was  to  Canada,  and  beyond  the  bounds  of 
Devries-'s  ^^^^  Company's  charter.     The  directors,  after  great  delay, 
le^ased!"      reluctantly  freed  the  vessel  from  arrest,  enjoining  De  Vries 
"  not  to  go  within  their  limits."     But  the  voyage  was  en- 
tirely frustrated  by  their  vexatious  proceedings ;  and  De 
Vries,  in  the  end,  sold  his  ship  to  the  Dordrecht  Chamber. 
The  jealous  directors  refused  to  make  any  compensation 
for  the  losses  De  Vries  had  suffered,  who  declared  to  them 
that  he  had  undertaken  his  enterprise  only  wdth  the  patri- 
otic design  "  to  make  our  Netherlands  nation  acquainted 
with  those  regions  ;  since  our  trade  subsists  by  the  sea."* 
1625.        English  jealousy,  which  had  slumbered  for  three  years 
Tree,"  since  Carleton's  first  application  to  the  States  General  to 
w  New" ^^  restrain  the  Hollanders  from  trading  to  New  Netherland, 
iand,Tr-     was  uow  again  aroused.     Information  was  communicated 
piymourh.  to  thc  Privy  Council  that  a  Dutch  ship,  the  "  Orange  Tree" 
-^-^      of  Amsterdam,  had  arrived  at  Plymouth,  on  a  voyage  "to 
a  place   in  America  which  is  comprehended  in  a  grant 
made  by  His  Majesty,  upon  just  consideration,  to  divers 
of  his   subjects."     The  Lords   of  the  Council,  therefore, 
immediately  directed  Gorges  and  the  authorities  at  Plym- 
outh to  arrest  the  ship,  and  send  the  captain,  "  with  his 
commission  and  the  plat  which  he  hath,"  up  to  London. 
No  other  result,  however,  than  the  detention  of  the  Orange 
Tree,  appears  to  have  followed  the  action  of  the  Privy 
Council.    James  L  was  drawing  near  the  end  of  his  days ; 
and  though,  personally,  he  was  never  cordially  disposed 
toward  the  Dutch,  the  foreign  relations  of  England  had 
lately  become  so  critically  situated,  that  he  had  found  it 
1624.  expedient  to  form  an  alliance  with  the  States  General.! 
15  June.     Under  these  circumstances,  he  wisely  judged  it  impolitic 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  i.,  126,  129,  133  ;  Voyages  of  D  P.  de  Vries,  41,  42.  I  quote  from  the  orig- 
inal work  of  De  Vries,  published  at  Alckmaer  in  1655.  This  very  rare  book,  in  its  com- 
plete form,  has  never  before  been  consulted  by  any  of  our  writers,  who,  relying  upon  the 
wretched  version  from  the  Du  Simitifire  MSS.  at  Philadelphia  (published  in  ii.  N.  Y.  H. 
S.  Coll.,  i.,  250-273),  have  been  betrayed  into  grave  errors,  which  it  will  be  my  duty  to 
notice  and  correct.  A  translation  of  De  Vries,  by  Mr.  II.  C.  Murphy,  has  just  been  pub- 
lished by  the  N.  Y.  Hist.  Soc,  in  the  third  volume  (Second  Series)  of  its  Collections. 

t  Lond.  Doc,  i.,  34  ;  N.  V.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  12  ;  Wassenaar,  v.,  01  ;  Corps.  Dip.,  v.,  2, 
458  ;  Clarendon  State  Papers,  i  ,  41  ;  Aitzema,  i.,  691, 


J 


CORNELIS  JACOBSEN  MAY,  DIRECTOR.  I57 

to  oftend,  in  any  way,  the  powerful  commercial  company  chap.  v. 
which  it  was  his  evident  interest  to  conciliate.  ~~ 

Early  in  the  year  1625,  the  attention  of  the  inhabit- p^yi^Jj/^ 
ants  of  the  United  Provinces  was  attracted  to  the  publica-  ?!^^^^^^" 
tion,  at  Leyden,  of  a  black-letter  folio  History  of  the  "  New  J^y^'g^'  *' 
World,  or  Description  of  the  "West  Indies,"  by  John  de  Laet, 
one  of  the  most  influential  directors  of  the  West  India 
Company.  This  work,  which  was  dedicated  to  the  States 
Greneral,  was  composed  from  "  various  manuscript  journals 
of  different  captains  and  pilots,"  whose  names  occur  in  the 
course  of  the  descriptions  ;  and  from  this  circumstance  its 
historical  authority  is  nearly  equal  to  that  of  an  original 
record.  Among  others,  Hudson's  own  private  journal  is 
largely  quoted  from.  This  journal  was  probably  handed 
to  De  Laet  by  the  Amsterdam  directors  of  the  East  India 
Company,  to  whom  it  had  been  transmitted  from  En- 
gland. It  is  a  very  remarkable  coincidence,  that  au- 
thentic extracts  of  Hudson's  own  report  of  his  adventures 
should  thus  have  appeared  in  Holland,  in  the  same  year 
that  Purchas  was   publishing   at  London,  in  his  "  Pil- Purchas-s 

^  .  .  "Pilgrims'" 

grims,"  the  formal  log-book  in  which  Juet,  the  mate  of  in  London 
the  Half  Moon,  recorded  the  discovery  of  New  Nether- 
land.  Besides  Hudson's  private  journal,  De  Laet  appears 
to  have  had  in  his  possession  the  original  reports  of  Block, 
Christiaensen,  and  May.  Until  the  recent  reference  to  the 
earlier  "Historical  Relation"  of  Wassenaar — which  con-wasse- 
tains  a  general  statement  of  interesting  events  in  Europe  "insto- 

riscliG  Vcr 

and  America  from  1621  to  1632 — the  work  of  De  Laet uaer-pui)- 
was  thought  to  contain  the  first  published  account  of  the  Amstp.. 
Dutch  province.  Its  authority  is  deservedly  very  high  ; 
and  had  English  and  American  writers  consulted  its  ac- 
curate pages,  less  injustice  would,  perhaps,  have  been  done 
to  the  Hollanders  who  explored  the  coasts  of  New  Nether- 
land,  and  piloted  their  adventurous  yachts  along  the 
shores  of  its  bays  and  streams,  years  before  a  British  ves- 
sel ascended  the  North  or  South  Rivers,  or  passed  through 
Long  Island  Sound.* 

*  There  are  four  editions  of  De  Lact's  "  New  World."    The  first  was  published  by  the 


15S  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  v  F  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  V.       The  Capacity  of  New  Netherland  for  cultivation  and 
production  being  now  favorably  known  to  the  public,  the 
*  "West  India  Company  determined  to  prosecute  vigorously 
the  work  of  colonization.     The  yacht  Mackarel  was  again 
dispatched  to  Manhattan,  with  a  cargo  of  "  necessaries" 
25  April,     for  the  use  of  the  colonists  already  there.     But  when  only 
27  April,    two  days  out  from  the  Texel,  the  vessel  was  captured  in 
a  fog  by  some  of  the  enemy's  privateers,  and  carried  a  prize 
into  Dunkirk.*     This  mischance,  however,  was  soon  re- 
fium  sends  paired.     Peter  Evertsen  Hulft,  one  of  the  directors  of  the 
to  New  '^^  Amsterdam  Chamber,  promptly  undertook  to  convey  to  the 
at  his  own  colouy,  at  his  own  risk,  such  necessary  articles  as  might 
be  provided.     Two  ships,  each  of  two  hundred  and  eighty 
tons  burden,  were   accordingly  fitted  out  in  the   same 
April.        spring,  and  loaded  with  one  hundred  and  three  head  of 
cattle,  among  which  were  stallions  and  mares,  bulls  and 
cows,  for  breeding,  as  well  as  swine  and  sheep.     The  an- 
imals were  carefully  provided  for  on  shipboard,  almost  as 
well  as  on  shore.     "  Each  beast,"  says  the  exact  Wasse- 
naar,  "  had  its  own  separate  stall,"  arranged  upon  a  floor- 
ing of  sand,  three  feet  deep,  which  was  laid  upon  a  deck 
specially  constructed  in  the  vessel.     Under  this  deck  each 
ship  carried  three  hundred  tuns  of  fresh  water,  for  the  use 
of  the  cattle.    Hay  and  straw  were  provided  in  abundance 
for  the  voyage  ;  and  all  kinds   of  seeds,  and  plows  and 
other  farming  implements,  were  sent  on  board  for  the  use 
of  the  colony.     Hulft  also  added  a  third  ship  to  the  ex- 
pedition, "that  there  should  be  no  failure"  in  carrying  out 
tlie  enterprise  he  had  undertaken.    Along  with  these  three 
A  yacht      vessels  wcut  a  fast-sailing  yacht  or  "  fluyt,"  fitted  out  by 

also  sent  by  ^  "^  .  ''  mi 

the  compa-  the  dircctors  of  the  company  on  their  own  account.    These 
vessels  carried  out  six  entire  families,  besides  several  free 

Elzeviers  of  Leyden,  in  Dutch,  in  1625  ;  the  second,  also  in  Dutch,  revised  and  enlarged, 
in  1630  ;  the  third,  in  Latin,  in  1633 ;  and  the  fourth,  in  French,  in  1640.  Translations 
of  extracts  from  the  third  book  of  De  Laet  have  been  published  in  the  second  series  of  N. 
Y.  H.  S.  Collections,  i.,  289-315  ;  ii.,  373.  De  Laet  also  wrote  a  "  History  of  the  West 
India  Company,"  which  was  published  by  the  Elzeviers  in  1644  ;  but  it  has  not  been  trans- 
lated. While  I  was  in  Holland  in  1841,  efforts  were  made  to  ascertain  .he  fate  of  De  Laet'a 
papers,  and  procure  the  original  documents  from  which  he  wrote.  But  in  vain. 
*  Wassenaar,  ix,.  37 ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  361. 


WILLIAM  VERHULST,  DIRECTOR.  I59 


1625. 


emigrants  ("  vrye  persoonen") ;  so  that  forty-five  new  set-  chap.  v. 
tiers  were  thus  added  to  the  population  of  New  Nether-' 
land.     "  This  colony  has  a  great  scope,  lying  close  by  the 
track  of  the  Spaniards  from  the  West  Indies,"  said  the  sa- 
gacious merchants  of  Amsterdam,  as  the  little  squadron 
sailed  gayly  into  the  Zuyder  Zee.* 

The  voyage  was  entirely  successful ;  only  two  of  the  .luiy. 
beasts  died  at  sea.     On  their  arrival,  they  were  first  land-  the  voyage. 
ed  at  "  Nutten,"  or  Governor's  Island  ;  but  that  spot  fur- landed  on 

•  1  •  rr-    •  1  1  Nutten  Isl- 

nishmg  no  surncient  pasture,  they  were  taken,  a  day  or  and. 
two   afterward,  by   shallops    and   barges,  to   Manhattan,  xransfer- 

11         1  ^1-1  red  to  Man. 

There  they  eventually  tlirove  very  well  on  the  rich  grass,  uattan. 
"  as  beautiful  and  long  as  one  could  wish,"  which  abound- 
ed in  the  valleys.     But,  being   at  first   allowed  to  run 
wild,  about  twenty  in  all  died,  from  eating  some  poison- 
ous herbage,  which  covered  the  fallow  soil  with  its  rank 
luxuriance.     In  the  same  summer  and  autumn,  the  Am-  juiy. 
sterdam  directors  were  gladdened  by  the  arrival  of  two  ves-    °^'^'".'" 
sels  from  New  Netherland,  "loaded  mostly  with  peltries," 
and  bringing  news  of  the  "  great  contentment"  of  the  ad- 
venturers.! 

Strengthened  by  this  last  arrival,  the  growing  colony  wiiuam 
now  numbered  over  two  hundred  souls  ;  and  Cornells  Ja-  succeeds 
cobsen  May,  who  had  administered  its  simple  government  ond  Direct- 
during  the  year  1624,  was  succeeded  by  William  Verhulst,  Nether- 
as  the  second  Director  of  New  Netherland.    Yerhulst's  ad- 
ministration, like  that  of  his  predecessor,  lasted,  however, 
only  one  year ;  at  the  end  of  which,  he  returned  to  Hoi-   1626. 
land.     He  seems  to  have  visited  the  South  River  in  per-    """^"^  ^"^^ 
son,  to  examine  into  the  state  of  affairs  there ;  and  his 
name  was  for  a  long  time  commemorated  by  "  Verhulsten  verhuisten 
Island,"  near  the  bend  of  the  Delaware  at  Trenton.     Upon  theTrentuu 
this  island,  which  is  described  as  being  "  near  the  falls  of 
that  river,  and  near  the  west  side  thereof,"  the  West  India 

*  Wassenaar,  ix.,  40  ;  xii.,  37  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  V.,  iii.,  38,  39,  42. 

t  Wassenaar,  ix.,  123  ;  X.,  82  ;  xii.,  37  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y  ,  iii.,  41,  42;  Benson,  94.  De 
Lact,  cap.  ix.,  says  tliat  the  Dutch  originally  gave  what  is  now  known  as  "  Governor's 
Island,"  opposite  the  Battery,  in  Now  York  harbor,  the  name  of  "  Nutten  Island,  because 
Hxcellent  nut-trees  grew  there." 


160  HISTROY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  AEW  YORK. 

Chap. V.  Company  established  a  trading  house,  "where  there  were 
three  or  four  families  of  Walloons."     These  families,  how- 


waiioons   ©ver,  did  not  remain  very  long  in  their  lonely  frontier 

settled  homp  * 

there  IlUIue. 

Death  of         The  year  1625  was  marked  by  two  important  public 
prtncro'f    events  in  Europe,  which  incidentally  influenced  the  affairs 
23  Aifni.     of  New  Netherland.     After  thirty  years  of  active  military 
service,  Maurice,  Prince  of  Orange,  the  "  Fabius  of  the 
Netherlands,"  died  at  the  Hague.     Equal  to  the  most  cel- 
ebrated captains  of  any  age  or  nation,  Maurice  appeared  to 
far  less  advantage  in  his  political  capacity,  as  the  stadt- 
holder  of  the  United  Provinces.     Many  a  deed  of  glory  il- 
lustrates his  splendid  military  career  ;  but  the  eye  of  pos- 
terity will  never  cease  to  look  with  reproach  upon  that 
darkest  spot  which  blots  his  checkered  escutcheon — the 
Succeeded  blood  of  Oldcu  Bamcveldt.     Upon  the  death  of  Maurice, 

by  his  ^ 

brother,     thc  Statcs  Grcneral  conferred  the  vacant  offices  of  captain 

Frederick  _  r 

Henry.  and  admiral  general  on  his  brother,  Frederick  Henry,  who 
succeeded  him  as  Prince  of  Orange,  and  who  was  also, 
soon  afterward,  created  Stadtholder  by  a  majority  of  the 
provinces.  The  new  prince,  who  far  excelled  his  brother 
in  prudence,  moderation,  and  capacity  for  government, 
entered  upon  the  administration  of  affairs  under  circum- 
stances which,  though  discouraging,  gave  promise  of 
brighter  days.  Religious  hostilities  were  soon  restrained 
to  the  precincts  of  the  consistories  ;  and  the  voice  of  pa- 
triotism, which  for  awhile  had  been  stifled  by  the  clamor 
of  polemical  discussion  and  the  vehemence  of  party  strife, 

*  Wassenaar,  xii.,  37,  38;  xvi.,  13;  xviii.,  94;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  42,  43,  47,  48; 
Van  der  Donck's  Map  of  N.  N. ;  Deposition  of  Peter  Laurensen,  in  Deed  Book,  vii.,  and 
in  Doc.  Hist.  N.  y.,iii.,  50.  Laurensen's  deposition  was  made  before  Governor  Dongan. 
on  the  24th  of  March,  1685.  He  says  that  "  he  came  into  this  Province  a  servant  to  the 
West  India  Company,  in  the  year  1628 ;  and  in  the  year  1630  (1631  .'),  by  order  of  the 
West  India  Company,  he,  with  seven  more,  were  sent  in  a  s!oop  with  hoy  saile  to  Dela- 
ware, where  the  company  had  a  trading  house,  with  ten  cr  twelve  serv'ants  belonging 
to  it,  which  the  deponent  himself  d;d  see  there  settled.  And  he  further  saith,  that  at 
his  return  from  Delaware  River,  the  said  vessel  stopped  at  the  Horekill,  where  the  depo- 
nent did  also  see  a  settlement  of  a  brick  house,  belonging  to  the  West  India  Company. 
And  the  deponent  further  saith,  that  upon  an  island  near  the  falls  of  that  river,  and  near 
the  west  side  thereof,  the  said  company,  some  three  or  four  years  afore,  had  a  trading 
house,  where  there  were  three  or  four  families  of  Walloons.  The  place  of  their  settlement 
he  saw  ;  and  that  they  had  been  seated  there,  he  was  informed  by  some  of  the  said  Wal- 
loons themselves,  when  they  were  returned  from  thence.'' — G.  Thomas'  W.  Jersey,  p.  14 


WILLIAM  VERHULST,  DIRECTOR.  '16-1 

once  more  aroused  men  of  all  sects  and  all  opinions  to  chap  a 
unite  in  defense  of  their  Fatherland.* 


The  death  of  James  I.,  which  happened  about  a  month  37  MarcV 
before  that  of  Maurice,  led  the  government  at  the  Hague  K^n' j^mes 
and  the  directors  of  the  West  India  Company  to  hope  that '" 
the  hostilities,  which  had  just  broken  out  between  En- 
gland   and    Spain,  would    be    vigorously   prosecuted    by 
Charles  I.,  and  would  assist  the  military  operations  of  theAccessior 

-  •  1  nil  T      "^  Charles 

republic  agamst  the  common  enemy,      ihey  were  not  dis-i- 
appointed.     In  revenge  for  the  failure  of  the  Prince  of 
Wales's  intended  marriage  with  the  Infanta,  James  had 
been  hurried  into  a  war  with  his  former  ally.     Still  fur- 
ther to  humble  her,  he  had,  in  1624,  entered  into  a  de- 
fensive alliance,  for  two  years,  with  the  Dutch ;  and  had 
agreed  to  allow  the  States  General  to  levy  six  thousand 
men  within  his  kingdom,  and  at  his  cost,  upon  condition 
that  their  expenses  should  be  repaid  at  the  conclusion  of 
a  peace  between  the  United  Provinces  and  Spain.     With- 
in six  months  after  his  accession,  Charles  I.  took  a  still 
more   decided   step.     He   concluded,  at   Southampton,  a  {^  sept. 
treaty  with  the  States  General,  by  which  he  entered  into  somhamp- 
an  ofFensive  and  defensive  alliance  with  the  Dutch,  to  con-  tween  the 
tinue  as  long  as  the  King  of  Spain  should  prosecute  his  anl uutch. 
designs  "  against  the  liberty  and  rights  of  the  United  Prov- 
inces," and  occupy  the  Palatinate  with  his  troops.     The 
allies  bound  themselves  to  equip  fleets  for  the  purpose  of 
destroying  the  Spanish  commerce  in  the  East  and  West 
Indies ;  and  the  treaty  expressly  stipulated  that  the  ports 
of  the  two  countries  should  be  reciprocally  open  to  the  war 
and  merchant  vessels  of  both  parties.!     The  king,  how- 
ever, accompanied  his  ratification  of  the  Treaty  of  South- 
ampton with  a  protest  that  it  should  not  prevent  his  de- 
manding proper   satisfaction  for  the  injuries  which  the 
Dutch  were  alleged  to  have  done  the  English  at  Amboy- 
na,  the  year  before.     A  few  weeks  afterward,  Charles  dis- 17  October 
patched  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  and  the  Earl  of  Hol- 

*  Davics,  ii.,  557,  566. 

t  Corps.  Dip.,  v.,  2,  458,  478  ;  Clarendon  State  Papers,  i.,  41,  53  ;  Aitzema,  i.,  691, 1226 , 
Lond.  Doc.,  i.,  36  ;  IIol.  Doc,  ix.,  292  ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  13. 


162 


HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1625. 


Peter  Min- 
uit  suc- 
ceeds Ver- 
hulst  as 
Director 
General  of 
New  Neth- 
erland. 
19  Dec. 

1626. 

4  May. 
Arrives  at 
Manhattan 


land  as  ambassadors  extraordinary  to  the  States  General, 
charged  with  instructions  to  negotiate  a  still  closer  alli- 
ance ;  to  "  remember"  the  States  Greneral  "  that  the  only 
foundation  and  principal  cement  of  their  estate  being  their 
unity,  they  must  by  all  means  conserve  that ;"  and  to  as- 
sure them  of  the  king's  sincere  desire  to  interpose,  "by 
way  of  mediation,  in  all  differences  within  their  state," 
and  continue  in  "  every  office  and  duty  of  a  good  neighbor, 
friend,  and  ally."* 

These  circumstances  favorably  affected  the  rising  for- 
tunes of  New  Netherland.  G-reat  Britain  and  the  United 
Provinces  were  now  allies.  The  "West  India  Company, 
presuming  that  the  same  causes  that  had  induced  Charles 
to  open  his  ]3orts  to  their  vessels,  and  postpone  retaliation 
for  the  alleged  barbarities  at  Amboyna,  would  prevent  his 
interfering  with  their  design  to  found  a  stable  colony  in 
America,  immediately  commissioned  Peter  Minuit,  of  We- 
sel,  to  succeed  "William  Verhulst,  in  the  chief  command  in 
New  Netherland,  as  its  Director  Greneral.  Minuit  left  Am- 
sterdam, accordingly,  toward  the  end  of  December,  in  the 
ship  "  Sea-Mew,"  Captain  Adriaen  Joris.  The  ship  sailed 
from  the  Texel  on  the  ninth  of  January,  1626,  and  arrived 
at  Manhattan  on  the  fourth  of  the  following  May.t 

*  Rymer  Federa,  xviii  ,  77,  20ft 

*  Wassenaar,  xii ,  39  ;  xvi.,  13  ;  Pc  l.aol,  Apiv,  4  ;  Poc.  Hist.  N.  Y  ,  iii.,  46,  47 


PETER  MJNUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  1(^3 


CHAPTER  VI. 
1626-1629. 

The  College  of  Nineteen  of  the  West  India  Company,  chap.  vi. 
immediately  on  its  organization,  intrusted,  as  we  have 
seen,  to  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  the  particular  manage-  provmciai 
ment  of  its  North  American  Province.      Sworn  to  the  ^"^'.^^''""^ 
double   allegiance  which   the   charter  required,  Director  ^^^^^1^^^,''" 
Peter  Minuit,  on  his  arrival  at  Manhattan,  commenced  ^J'^'iillfj"^'' 
an  administration  which  was  to  be  a  faithful  reflection  of  *  '^^^-  ■ 
the  peculiar  commercial  policy  of  his  immediate  princi- 
pals.     Their  will,   as   expressed   in  instructions,   or  de- 
clared in  ordinances,  was  to  be  the  supreme  law  of  New 
Netherland :  in  cases  not  thus  specifically  provided  for, 
the  civil  law,  and  the  statutes,  edicts,  and  customs  of  the 
Fatherland  were  to  be  paramount.* 

To  assist  the  director,  a  council  was  appointed,  which  council. 
was  invested  with  all  local,  legislative,  judicial,  and  ex- 
ecutive powers,  subject  to  the  supervision  and  appellate 
jurisdiction  of  the  Chamber  at  Amsterdam.  Criminal 
justice  was  administered  by  the  council  to  the  extent  of 
fine  and  imprisonment,  but  not  to  the  taking  away  of  life. 
If  any  person  was  capitally  convicted,  "  he  must  be  sent, 
with  his  sentence,  to  Holland."!  Next  in  authority  to 
the  director  and  council  was  the  chief  commissary  or 
"Koopman,"  who  was  the  book-keeper  of  the  company's 
affairs,  and  also  acted  as  Secretary  of  the  Province.  Sub- 
ordinate to  these  was  the  "  Schout,"$  whose  responsible  sthnut 

•  Moulton,  369.  t  Was.senaar,  xii.,  38  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  43. 

t  According  to  Grotius,  this  term  is  an  abbreviation  of  "  Schuld-rechter,"  a  judjje  of 
irimes. — Grotius,  Inleydinge,  127;  Davie."!,  i.,  77;  post,  p.  454. 


164  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  VI.  officG  Combined  the  double  duties  of  Public  Prosecuto; 
and  Sherifl'.  He  was  not  a  member  of  the  council,  but 
their  executive  officer ;  and,  besides  his  other  ordinary 
functions,  he  was  specially  charged  with  the  due  inspec- 
tion and  enforcement  of  the  revenue  regulations  of  the 
Colonial  Custom-house.  During  Minuit's  direction  of  af- 
fairs, his  council  consisted  of  Peter  Byvelt,  Jacob  Elbert- 
sen  Wissinck,  Jan  Janssen  Brouwer,  Simon  Dkcksen  Pos, 
and  Reynert  Harmenssen.      The   schout,  or  sheriff,  was 

Provincial  Jan  Lampo,  of  Cantelberg.  Isaac  de  Rasieres  was  book- 
keeper and  provincial  secretary  for  about  two  years,  and 
was  then  succeeded  by  Jan  van  Remund. 

Minuit's  administration  began  vigorously.  Up  to  this 
period,  the  Dutch  had  possessed  Manhattan  Island  only 
by  right  of  fu'st  discovery  and  occupation.  It  was  now 
determined  to  superadd  a  higher  title,  by  purchase  from 

Purchase  of  the  aborigiucs.     As  soon  as  Minuit  was  installed  in  his 

Manhattan  '-' 

Island  from  government,  he  opened  negotiations  with  the  savages ;  and 

the  aborig-  °  .  o       ' 

ines.  a  mutually  satisfactory  treaty  was  promptly  concluded,  by 
which  the  entire  island  of  Manhattan,  then  estimated  to 
contain  about  twenty-two  thousand  acres  of  land,  was 
ceded  by  the  native  proprietors,  to  the  Dutch  West  India 
Company,  "  for  the  value  of  sixty  guilders,"  or  about 
twenty-four  dollars  of  our  present  currency.*  This  event, 
one  of  the  most  interesting  in  our  colonial  annals,  as  well 
deserves  commemoration,  as  the  famous  treaty,  immortal- 
ized by  painters,  poets,  and  historians,  which  ^\^illiam 
1 682.  Penn  concluded,  fifty-six  years  afterward,  under  the  great 
elm-tree,  with  the  Indians  at  Shackamaxon. 

A  short  time  after  Minuit  sailed,  another  ship,  the 
"Arms  of  Amsterdam,"  was  dispatched  from  Holland, 
having  on  board  Isaac  de  Rasieres,  a  protege  of  Samuel 
Blommaert,  one  of  the  leading  directors  of  the  "West  India 
1626.  Company.  De  Rasieres  reached  New  Netherland  in  July, 
and  immediately  entered  on  his  duties  as  "  opper  kooj)- 

*  llol.  Dqc,  i.,  155  ;  Mr.  S.  Lawrence's  Re|)ort  to  tlio  Senate  of  the  State  of  N.  Y.,  ."^d 
February,  1844,  No.  42,  p.  4,  5 ;  Mr.  G.  Folsom's  Report  to  the  Senate,  5th  May,  1M3 
No.  Ill,  p.  5,  6;  DeLaet,  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  H  S.  Coll.,  i,,  308. 


2T  July. 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  10;^ 

man,"  or  chief  commissary,  and  secretary  of  the  province  chap  vi 

under  Director  Minuit.*     As  yet,  no  arrangements  had  '~7~Z~~ 

been  made  for  a  regular  clergyman ;  but  his  place  was, 

to  a  certain  extent,  supplied  by  two  "  Krank-besoeckers," 

or  "consolers  of  the  sick,"  Sebastian  Jansen  Krol  and  Jan  comfortors 

TT11  j-iii'j  1  1  of  the  Sick. 

Huyck,  whose  particular  duty  it  was  to  read  to  the  peo- 
ple, on  Sundays,  "  some  texts  out  of  the  Scriptures,  to- 
gether with  the  Creeds. "t  Francois  Molemaecker  was  also 
employed  in  building  a  horse-mill,  with  a  spacious  room 
above  to  serve  for  a  large  congregation  ;  and  a  tower  was 
to  be  added,  in  which  the  Spanish  bells  captured  at  Porto 
Rico,  the  year  before,  by  the  West  India  Company's  fleet, 
were  intended  to  be  hung.t 

The  island  of  Manhattan  having  now  become,  by  pur- 
chase, the  private  property  of  the  West  India  Company, 
no  time  was  lost  in  providing  for  its  permanent  security. 
A  large  fort,  "with  four  angles,"  and  to  be  faced  with Fon com- 
solid  stone,  was  staked  out  by  the  engineer,  Kryn  Fred- Manhattan 
erycke,   on  the   southern   point  of  the   island. §      "  This 
point,"  suggested  De  Rasieres,  "might,  with  little  trouble, 
be  made  a  small  island,  by  cutting  through  Blommaert's 
valley,  so  as  to  afford  a  haven,  winter  and  summer,  for 
sloops  and  ship;^."     Its  commandinsr  position  was  well  ap- conminnd- 
preciated  ;  and  its  future  destiny  prophesied.     "It  ought,  t>oii '^n'"' 
from  its  nature,  to  be  a  Royal  Fort,  so  thai)  it  could  be  preeiatod. 
approached"  by  land  only  on  one  side  ;  as  it  is  a  triangle 
bounded  by  the  two  rivers.     Three  angles  are  indicated 
by  nature.     The  most  northern  is  opposite  to,  and  com- 
mands within  the  range  of  a  cannon  shot,  the  Great  Mau- 

*  De  Rasieres's  Letter,  in  ii.  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  3«. 

t  In  the  Church  of  Holland,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  "  Krank-besoeckers,"  or  "  Zieken- 
troostcrs,"  to  visit  and  pray  with  the  sick.  See  also  Liturgy  of  the  R.  D.  Church,  part  vi. 
The  translation  of  Wassenaar,  in  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  42,  erroneously  renders  "  met  de 
gclofsen,"  "iritk  the  comment."  The  "  Geloof  really  means  "the  Creed;"  which  the 
"  voorlee/.cra,"  or  clerks,  in  the  churches  in  Holland,  to  this  day,  read  from  the  "  Doop- 
tiuysjc."  or  baiitistcry,  under  the  pulpit.  Until  a  recent  period,  this  custom  was  kept  up 
in  the  Reformed  Dutch  churches  in  this  country. 

X  Wassenaar,  xii.,  38  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  42,  43. 

1/  Wassenaar,  xii.,  38  ;  xvi.,  13  ;  Hoi.  Doc,  ii.,  370.  Moulton,  367,  affirms,  that  the  fort 
"  was  a  mere  block-house,  surrounded  with  red-cedar  p.llisades."  The  circumstance  that, 
in  1790  and  179),  several  cedar  palisades  were  dug  up  under  the  ruins  of  the  old  forf,  seems 
10  bu  the  only  authority  for  this  statement. 


166  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  VI.  ritius  Rivcr  and  the  land.  The  southernmost,  on  the  wa- 
ter  level,  commands  the  channel  between  Nutten  Island 
"  "*■  and  the  fort,  together  with  the  Hell-gate  ;  the  third  point, 
opposite  to  Blommaert's  valley,  commands  the  low  land. 
The  middle,  which  ought  to  be  left  as  a  landmark,  is  the 
height  of  a  hillock  above  the  surrounding  land,  and  should 
always  serve  as  a  Battery,  which  might  command  the 
three  points,  if  the  streets  should  be  arranged  according- 

Housesat  ly."*     The  "  Comutoir,"  or  counting-house  of  the  compa- 

ManUattan.    -^  .         ^  i      -i  t  i  i       i         ■   i  i 

ny,  was  kept  in  a  stone  buildmg,  thatched  with  reeds. 
Some  thirty  other  "  ordinary  houses,"  constructed  chiefly 
of  the  bark  of  trees,  were  clustered  along  the  east  side  of 
the  river,  "  which  runs  nearly  north  and  south."  Each 
colonist  had  his  own  house.  The  director  and  the  koop- 
man  and  secretary  lived  together.  As  soon,  however,  as 
the  fort  should  be  built,  it  was  intended  that  all  the  set- 
tlers should  betake  themselves  within  its  walls,  so  as  to 
be  secure  from  any  sudden  attack  of  the  savages. t 
The  fort  In  advaucc  of  its  completion,  the  post  was  named  "  Fort 
"Fort  Am-  Amsterdam."^  While  it  was  in  progress  of  building,  an 
event  occurred  which,  though  its  criminal  authors  may 
have  escaped  detection  and  punishment,  was  destined  to 
cause  much  of  the  misery  which  afterward  visited  the 
province.  A  Weckquaesgeek  Indian,  with  his  nephew, 
"  a  small  boy,"  and  another  savage,  came  down  from  the 
abode  of  their  tribe  in  "West  Chester,  bringing  with  them 
some  beaver-skins  to  barter  with  the  Dutch  at  the  fort. 
The  beaten  trail  of  the  savages,  coming  from  the  north  and 
east  to  Manhattan,  was  along  the  shore  of  the  East  River, 
from  which,  just  north  of  what  is  now  called  "Kip's  Bay," 
it  diverged  to  the  westward,  and  passed  near  the  swampy 
ground  forming  the  "  Kolck,"  or  pond  of  fresh  water,  until 
Aiurderof  receiitlv  kuowu  as  the  "  Collect."    When  the  Indian  trad- 

a  Week- 

quaesgeek  ing-party  reached  this  pond,  they  were  met  by  three  farm- 
the  Kolck.  servauts,  in  the  employ  of  Commander  Minuit,  who  robbeil 

*  De  Rasieres's  Letter,  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  345,  346. 
t  Wassenaar,  xii.,  38  ;  xvi.,  13  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  42,  47. 
X  Wassenaar,  xvi.,  131  ;  De  Laet,  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  1.,  308. 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  I67 

the  Weokquaesgeek  of  his   peltries,  and  then   murdered  chap.  vi 
him.     The  atrocious  deed  seems  to  have  remained  for  a' 


1  coc 

long  time  unknown  to  the  Dutch  authorities ;  and  its  act- 
ual perpetrators  probably  escaped  punishment.  But  the 
young  savage,  who  witnessed  his  uncle's  murder,  vowed 
that,  when  he  grew  up,  "  he  would  revenge  himself  on  the 
Dutch."  And,  in  after  years,  the  duty  which  Indian  jus- 
tice inexorably  imposed  was  awfully  executed.* 

Such  were  the  "  rude  beginnings"  of  Manhattan.  Its 
first  settlers  brought  with  them  the  characteristics  of  their 
Fatherland.  "  They  were  as  busy  and  industrious  as  in 
Holland."  One  traded  with  the  natives,  southward  and 
northward ;  another  built  houses ;  a  third  cultivated  the 
land.  Each  farmer  had  his  homestead  upon  the  compa- 
ny's land,  and  was  also  furnished  with  cows,  the  milk  of 
which  was  his  own  profit.t  "  The  island  of  the  Manha- 
tas,"  wrote  De  Rasieres  to  his  patron  Blommaert,  "  is  full  Description 
of  trees,  and,  in  the  middle,  rocky.  On  the  north  side,  "an  by"De 
there  is  good  land  in  two  places,  where  two  farmers,  each 
with  four  horses,  would  have  enough  to  do,  without  much 
clearing  or  grubbing  at  first.  The  grass  is  good  in  the 
forests  and  valleys  ;  but  when  made  into  hay,  it  is  not  so 
nutritious  for  the  cattle  as  the  hay  in  Holland,  in  conse- 
quence of  its  wild  state ;  yet  it  annually  improves  by  cul- 
tivation. On  the  east  side  there  rises  a  large  level  field, 
of  about  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  through  which  runs 
a  very  fine  fresh  stream  ;t  so  that  that  land  can  be  plow- 
ed without  much  clearing.  It  appears  to  be  good.  The 
six  farms,  four  of  which  lie  along  the  River  Hell-gate, 
stretching  to  the  south  side  of  the  island,  have  at  least 
one  hundred  and  twenty  acres  ready  to  be  sown  with 

*  De  Vries's  Voyages,  164  ;  Journal  van  N.  N.,  IIol.  Doc.iii.,  105;  v.,  314.  The'-  Versch 
Water,"  or  Fresh  Water,  mentioned  by  De  Vries  as  the  scene  of  this  murder,  was  tlie  large 
pond  formerly  about  midway  between  Broadway  and  Chatham  Street,  known  as  "  hot 
Koick,"  or  "the  Pond."  From  this  Kolck  a  stream,  over  which  there  was  a  bridge,  near 
I  he  corner  of  Chatham  and  Roosevelt  Streets,  flowed  into  the  East  River.  The  "  Kolck" 
was  afterward  Anglicized  into  "  Collect ;"  and  Judge  Benson  affirms  that,  as  it  collected 
the  v^raters  from  the  adjacent  high  grounds,  "  an  etymologist  not  long  since  chose  to  im- 
agme  the  true  original  name  to  have  been  an  English  one."— Memoir,  <tc.,  p.  83. 

t  Wassenaar,  xii.,  38 ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  43. 

i  The  Kolck. 


168  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap  VI.  winter  seed,  which,  at  the  most,  may  have  been  plowed 

eisrht  times."* 
Affairs  at'  While  evcry  thing  was  thus  thriving  at  Manliattan,  the 
orange,  settlcrs  at  Fort  Orange,  who,  independently  of  ten  or 
twelve  sailors  in  the  company's  service,  forming  the  gar- 
rison, now  numbered  eight  families,  were  quietly  pursu- 
ing their  farming  operations,  and  maintaining  the  most 
friendly  relations  with  the  neighboring  savages.  This  was 
the  most  northern  point  at  which  the  Hollanders  had  trad- 
ed ;  and  Commissary  Krieckebeeck,  who  had  now  been 
for  three  years  in  command  of  the  post,  had  hitherto  giv- 
en general  satisfaction,  both  to  the  colonists  and  the  na- 
tives. The  superintendence  of  the  fur  trade,  however,  aft- 
er Eelkens's  supersedure,  was  conducted  by  Peter  Barent- 
sen,  who,  from  time  to  time,  went  up  the  river,  and  along 
the  coasts  to  the  eastward,  visiting  all  the  neighboring  wa- 
ters in  his  shallops,  and  bringing  back  large  cargoes  to 
Manhattan,  Barentsen  soon  became  very  popular  among 
the  various  savage  tribes  to  the  north  and  east,  from  the 
Mohawks  and  Mahicans  to  the  Wapenoos  around  Narra- 
gansett  Bay,  and  "  traded  with  them  for  peltries  in  great 
friendship."  The  chief  of  the  Sequins,  inhabiting  the  val- 
ley of  the  Connecticut,  and  "  to  whom  all  the  clans  of  the 
north  coast  were  tributary,"  whom  Eelkens  had  treach- 
erously imprisoned  on  board  his  yacht  in  1622,  for  a  long 
time  would  have  no  intercourse  with  the  Dutch.  Barent- 
sen at  length  succeeded  in  making  a  treaty  with  the  chief; 
who,  however,  "  would  trust  no  one  but  him."t 

An  event  now  occurred  which  affected  very  materially 
the  prosperity  of  the  settlement  at  Fort  Orange.  The 
stockaded  village  of  the  Mahicans  was  situated  on  the  east 
side  of  the  river,  nearly  opposite  the  Dutch  fort ;  and  a 
constant  intercourse  was  kept  up  between  the  two  parties. 
Since  the  Treaty  at  Tawascntha,  the  Mohawks  and  Ma- 
hicans had  lived  in  harmony  with  each  other,  and  with 

*  De  Rasieres's  Letter,  in  ii.  N.  Y.  TI.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  345.  The  name  of"  Hell-gate,"  which 
is  now  confined  to  the  whirlpool  near  Ilallctt's  Cove,  was,  as  has  been  stated  (ante,  p  56, 
note),  applied  by  the  Dutch  to  the  East  River  generally. 

t  Wassenaar,  xii.,  39  ;  Doc.  Ilist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  45. 


1 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  169 

the  Dutch  settlers,  who  had  continued  to  observe  a  strict  cha.).  vi. 
neutraUty.     Peace,  however,  was  now  interrupted  ;  and  a 
war  party  of  the  Mahicans  crossing  the  river,  asked  the  command- 
Dutch  commander  to  join  them,  with  six  of  his  men,  on  a  ^ceck'at-''^' 
hostile  expedition  against  the  Mohawks.     Krieckebeeck  Mo5',awks. 
inconsiderately  assenting,  accompanied  them  a  few  miles 
into  the  interior  from  Fort  Orange,  where  they  met  the 
Mohawks,  "who  fell  upon  them  so  vigorously  with  a  dis- 
charge of  arrows,"  that  the  whole  party  was  put  to  flight, 
and  many  of  them  killed.     Among  the  slain  were  Kriecke-  is  siain. 
beeck  and  three  of  his  men,  one  of  whom,  Tymen  Bou- 
wensen,  "  was  eaten  by  the  savages  after  he  had  been  well 
roasted."     The  bodies  of  the   commander  and  his  other 
two  men  were  buried  side  by  side.     Three  of  the  party, 
two  of  whom  were  Portuguese,  and  one  a  Hollander  from 
Hoorn,  escaped.     One  of  the  Portuguese  was  hit  in  the 
back  by  an  arrow  as  he  was  swimming  for  his  life.*     A 
leg  and  an  arm  of  the  slain  were  carried  home  by  the  vic- 
torious Mohawks,  to  be  distributed  among  their  wigwams, 
"as  a  proof  that  they  had  overcome  their  adversaries." 

A  few  days  after  this  occurrence,  Peter  Barentsen  ar- 
rived at  Fort  Orange  in  his  trading  shallop.  The  Mo- 
hawks immediately  justified  their  conduct.  "  We  have 
done  nothing,"  said  the  red  men,  "  against  the  whites — 
why  did  they  meddle  with  us  ?  Had  it  been  otherwise, 
this  would  not  have  happened  from  us."t 

As  there  was  now  no  commander  at  Fort  Orange,  Di-  Barentsen 
rector  Minuit  ordered  Barentsen  to  take  charge  of  the  post,  in  ms  place 
After  a  short  time,  having  succeeded  in  placing  affairs 
there  once  more  upon  a  good  footing  with  the  Mohawks, 
he  was  relieved  by  Sebastian  Jansen  Krol,  one  of  the  "con-  suc(eeded 
solers  of  the  sick"  at  Manhattan  ;  who,  for  several  years, 
continued  in  command  of  Fort  Orange,  as  the  company's 
commissary  and  "vice-director."     Soon  afterward,  Barent- 23  sept. 
sen  embarked  for  Holland,  in  the  "Arms  of  Amsterdam,"  returns  to 
Caplain  Adriaen  Joris,  in  charge  of  a  very  valuable  cargo 

*  The  Mohawks  do  not  appear  to  have  been,  as  yet,  provided  with  flre-arin< 
+  Wassenaar,  xii.,  38 ;  Doc.  Hist,  N.  Y.,  iii.,  43,  44. 


L70  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1626. 


Chap.  VI.  of  furs  and  ship  timber ;  and  brought  to  the  Amsterdam 
Chamber  the  interesting  intelligence  of  the  purchase  of 
Manhattan  Island,  and  of  the  diligence  and  prosperity  of 
the  colonists  there,  "whose  wives  had  borne  them  chil- 
dren."* 

The  tragical  result  of  Krieckebeeck's  inconsiderate  con- 
duct interrupted  for  a  time  the  progress  of  colonization  at 
Fort  Orange.     Minuit,  distrustful  of  the  safety  of  the  set- 

coioni&ts    tiers  there,  who  were  so  far  off  from  the  succor  of  their 

removed 

from  Fort   countrvmen,  now  directed  the  eight  families  to  remove, 

Orange  to  ,       -^  '  °  ' 

Manhattan,  during  tlic  course  of  the  year,  down  the  river  to  Manhat- 
tan. A  garrison  of  sixteen  men  only,  "  without  any  wom- 
en," was  left  at  Fort  Orange,  under  the  command  of  Krol, 
who  was  assisted  by  Dirck  Cornelissen  Duyster,  as  under 
commissary. 
verhuisten  At  thc  Same  time,  the  Walloons  at  "  Verhulsten  Island," 
Fort  Nas-  on  the  South  River,  seem  to  have  returned  from  their  lone- 

sau  desert- 
ed by  the    ly  post,  to  Manhattan  and  Long  Island.     Fort  Nassau  was 

Dutch.  J   r        '  o    ^ 

also  evacuated  by  its  small  garrison,  which  was  transfer- 
red to  Manliattan ;  and,  for  the  sake  of  economy,  a  single 
yacht  only  was  employed  in  trading  in  that  region.  At 
this  early  period,  the  intermediate  regions  between  Man- 
hattan and  the  South  River  were  very  little  known  to  the 
colonists.  The  Indian  tribes  of  New  Jersey  were  in  a  state 
of  constant  enmity,  and  the  mland  passage  "was  seldom 
made."  When  the  Dutch  had  occasion  to  send  letters 
overland,  they  were  dispatched  "across  the  bay,"  and  car- 
ried forward  from  tribe  to  tribe,  by  different  runners,  un- 
less "  one  among  them  might  happen  to  be  on  friendly 
terms,  and  might  venture  to  go  there."  The  chief  motive 
for  these  arrangements  was  to  concentrate  as  many  house- 
holders as  possible  at  the  chief  colony  on  Manhattan,  where 
the  natives  were  "becoming  more  and  more  accustomed 
to  the  presence  of  foreigners."t 

The  Puri-       Thc  Puritau  Pilgrims  had,  meanwhile,  been-  quietly  set- 
tans  at  New    1      ,  ^  -^  -p.,  ,  T-v        •  1   •  •      1 

Plymouth,  tied  for  five  years  at  New  Plymouth.     During  this  period, 

*  Hoi.  Doc  ,  1.,  155 ;  Wassenaar,  xii.,  39. 

t  Wassenaar,  xii.,  38 ;  xvi.,  13  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  50  ;  De  Rasieres's  Letter,  in  ii., 
N.  Y.  H.  S   Coll ,  ii.,  344,  345  ;  ante,  page  160,  note. 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  17] 

their  attention  had  been  chiefly  confined  to  the  domestic  cha,  •.  vi. 
concerns  of  their  colony ;  and  so  little  were  they,  at  first, 
aware  of  the  geography  of  the  country  directly  around 
them,  that,  relying  upon  the  vague  reports  of  the  Indians, 
they  supposed  New  England  to  be  an  island.*  With  Mas- 
sasoit,  the  sachem  of  the  Wapanoos,  or  Wampanoags, 
around  Narragansett  Bay,  they  had  early  concluded  a 
treaty  of  friendship.  In  the  spring  of  1623,  intelligence  162'J. 
reached  New  Plymouth  that  a  Dutch  ship  had  been  driven  "^^""^ '' 
ashore  by  stress  of  weather  in  Narragansett  Bay,  near  the 
residence  of  Massasoit,  who  was,  at  the  same  time,  re- 
ported to  be  dangerously  ill.  Grovernor  Bradford  accord- 
ingly determined  to  send  "  some  acceptable  persons"  to 
visit  the  sachem,  as  well  as  "  to  have  some  conference  with 
the  Dutch,  not  knowing  when  we  should  have  so  fit  an 
opportunity."  Edward  Winslow,  who  had  formerly  been 
in  Holland,  and  understood,  "  in  some  measure,  the  Dutch 
tongue,"  was  therefore  selected  for  the  service.  But  the 
Dutch  ship  had,  meanwhile,  got  afloat,  and  sailed  away 
about  two  o'clock  of  the  day  that  Winslow  reached  the 
Narragansett  Bay;  "so  that,  in  that  respect,"  his  journey 
"  was  frustrate."! 

From  their  priority  in  discovery  and  their  commercial  commer- 
superioritv,  the  Dutch  had  hitherto  enioyed  decided  ad-norityor 

n-i       •  111  the  Dutch 

vantages  over  the  Pilgrims.     Almost  all  the  fur  trade  inatManhat- 

tan. 

the  neighborhood  of  Narragansett  and  Buzzard's  Bays  was 
monopolized  by  the  enterprising  schippers  from  Manhat- 
tan. This  the  Pilgrims  felt,  and  grieved  ;  and  one  of 
Bradford's  chief  motives  in  hurrying  Winslow  off"  to  Mas- 
sasoit's  country,  was  to  endeavor  to  dissuade  the  Dutch 
from  interfering  with  a  trade  in  which  they  so  greatly 
overmatched  the  Plymouth  colonists.  These  enterprising 
rivals  of  the  Puritans  supplied  the  Indian  tribes  with  the 
various  fabrics  imported  from  Holland,  and  obtained  in 
return  the  furs,  corn,  and  venison  of  the  savages.  When 
a  circulating  medium  was  required,  the  Indians,  reject- 
ing the   coins   of  Europe,  with  which  they  were   unac- 

♦  Winslow,  in  Young,  371.  t  Ibid.,  313,  317. 


172 


HISTORY   OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


CHiAP.  VI 

1626. 

Sewan  or 
wampum. 


Its  value 
and  uses. 


bong  Isl- 
and its 
chief  man- 
ufactory. 


quainted,  substituted  their  own  aboriginal  money,  which 
they  called  Seioari.  Of  this  there  were  two  kinds ;  Wam- 
pum, or  white  beads,  made  of  the  stem  of  the  periwinkle, 
and  Suckauhock,  or  black  beads,  made  of  a  part  of  the 
inside  of  the  clam-shell.  The  black  beads  were  the  gold 
of  the  Indians — of  double  the  value  of  the  white  ;  but 
either  were  of  more  esteem  with  the  red  men  than  the 
coinage  of  Europe.  The  ascertained  value  of  Sewan,  or, 
as  it  was  usually  called  by  the  English,  Wampum,  ren- 
dered it  the  most  convenient  medium  of  trade,  not  only 
between  the  European  and  the  savage,  but  between  the 
various  tribes  of  Indians  themselves.  It  was  not  only 
their  money,  but  their  jewelry.  Universal  in  its  use 
and  unquestioned  in  its  value,  it  ornamented  their  per- 
sons, distinguished  the  rich  from  the  poor,  paid  ransoms, 
satisfied  tribute,  sealed  contracts,  atoned  for  injuries.  In 
the  form  of  a  belt,  it  entered  largely  into  the  ceremonial 
of  Indian  diplomacy  ;  and  it  recorded  the  various  public 
transactions  of  the  tribes.*  The  chief  manufacturers  of 
this  aboriginal  currency  were  the  Indians  of  Long  Island, 
or  "  Sewan-hacky ;"  and  the  primitive  colonial  mint  which 
the  Dutch  at  Manhattan  thus  early  possessed,  almost  at 
their  very  doors,  gave  them  an  immense  advantage  in 
their  trade  with  the  neighboring  savages. t  Of  this  they 
had  not  failed  to  avail  themselves.  Their  sloops  contin- 
ually visited  the  Narragansett,  and  penetrated  the  adja- 
cent rivers.  From  the  Indians  with  whom  they  traded, 
the  New  Netherland  settlers  had  often  heard  of  the  Pil- 
grims nestled  at  New  Plymouth  ;  but,  hitherto,  they  had 
not  met. 

The  native  courtesy  of  the  Dutch  colonists  now  prompt- 


*  Moultun,  376,  377  ;  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  i.,  152  ;  iii.,  231. 

t  "  Sewan-hacky,"  the  name  frequently  applied  by  the  Dutch  to  Long  Island,  was  com- 
pounded from  "  Sewan,"  and  the  Delaware  word  "hacky,"  or  "hacking,"  "the  land." — 
Moulton,  342.  "  The  Mohawks,  the  Pequods,  and  other  powerful  tribes,  made  frequent 
wars  upon  the  Long  Island  Indians,  and  compelled  them  to  pay  tribute  in  this  almost  uni- 
versal article  of  trade  and  commerce.  The  immense  quantity  that  was  manufactured  ac- 
counts for  the  fact  that,  in  the  most  extensive  shell-banks  left  by  the  Indians,  it  is  rare  to 
find  a  whole  shell,  all  having  been  broken  in  the  process  of  making  wampum.  And  it  is 
not  unlikely  that  many  of  the  largest  heaps  of  shells  still  existing  arc  the  remains  of  b 
wampum  manufactory." — Thompson's  Long  Island,  i.,  67  ;  ante,  p.  373. 


i 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  I73 

ed  them  to  open  a  friendly  correspondence  with  the  foi-  chap.  vi. 
mer  guests  of  their  Fatherland.     De  Rasieres,  the  secre- 
tary  of  New  Netherland,  by  Director  Minuit's  order,  ac-g^j^^^,, ' 
cordingly  drew  up  a  letter,  dated  at  "  Manhattas,  in  Fort  Jp'J,*;,^"^^!' 
Amsterdam,"  which,  with  a  counterpart  in  French,  "  writ- g^,%°"^!|t';, 
ten  in  a  very  fair  hand,"  was  dispatched  to  Bradford,  thejgj;^^""' 
Governor  of  New  Plymouth.     This  was  the  first  commu- 
nication between  the  Pilgrims  and  their  Dutch  neighbors, 
"  of  whom,"  said  Bradford,  "  we  had  heard  much  by  the 
natives,  but  never  could  hear  from  them  or  meet  with 
them,  before  they  themselves  thus  wrote  to  us,  and  after 
sought  us  out."     The  New  Netherland  authorities  con- 
gratulated the  Grovernor  of  New  Plymouth  on  the  pros- 
perous condition  of  his   people ;    proffered  good-will  and 
reciprocity ;  alluded  to  the  propinquity  and  long-contin- 
ued friendship  of  their  native  countries  ;    and  inviting 
friendly   commercial    relations,   offered    to    accommodate 
their  English  neighbors  with  any  commodities  or  mer- 
chandise they  might  want.* 

The  G-overnor  of  New  Plvmouth  at  once  answered  the  Bradford 

**  replies. 

friendly  overture  from  Manhattan ;  and,  unwilling  to  be  ^  Marcn 
outdone  in  courtesy,  translated  his  reply  into  the  Dutch 
language.  Deprecating  the  "  over  high  titles"  which  Ba- 
tavian  politeness  required,  and  which  Puritan  usage  re- 
jected, Bradford  reciprocated  the  friendly  greetings  of  his 
neighbors  in  New  Netherland,  and  congratulated  them 
upon  the  recent  alliance  of  their  native  countries  against 
their  "  common  enemy  the  Spaniards."  This  of  itself 
was  enough  to  unite  the  two  colonies  together  "  in  love 
and  good  neighborhood  ;"  "  yet,"  he  added,  "are  many  of 
us  further  tied  by  the  good  and  courteous  entreaty  which 
we  have  found  in  your  country,  having  lived  there  many 
years  with  freedom  and  good  content,  as  many  of  our 
friends  do  to  this  day  ;  for  which  we  are  bound  to  be 
thankful,  and  our  children  after  us,  and  shall  never  forget 
the  same."     The  Plymouth  colony  being,  for  this   year, 

*  Morton's  Memorial,  133    Prince;  Bradford's  Letter  Book,  in  Mass    Hist.  Coll.,  iii., 
51  ;  and  ii.,  N.  V.  II.  S.  Coll..  i.,  355,  360  ;  liradford's  Plymouth,  223. 


174  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1627. 


Chap.  VI.  '' fully  Supplied  with  all  necessaries,"  Bradford  suggested 
that,  at  some  future  occasion,  they  might,  perhaps,  have 
dealings  with  their  Holland  neighbors,  if  their  "  rates  he 
reasonable."      At   the    same    time,   his   English   loyalty 
prompted  him  to  question  the  right  of  the  Dutch  "to  trade 
or  plant"  within  the  limits  of  New  England,  "which  ex- 
tend to  forty  degrees."     Yet  the  Plymouth  colonists,  de- 
sirous to  continue  "  good  neighborhood  and  correspond- 
ence" with  the  Dutch,  would  not  "go  about  to  molest  or 
Asks  the    trouble"  them  in  any  thing,  if  only  they  would  "  forbear 
forbear      to  trade  with  the  natives  in  this  Bay  and  River  of  Narra- 
Narragan-  gausctt  and  Sowamcs,  which  is,  as  it  were,  at  our  doors."* 

sett  Bsy. 

The  claim  of  English  supremacy  over  New  Netherland, 
which  the  Grovernor  of  the  New  Plymouth  colony  thus  set 
up,  could  not  be  admitted  by  the  authorities  at  Fort  Am- 

May.  sterdam.  A  few  weeks  afterward,  Director  Minuit  ac- 
cordingly dispatched  a  letter  to  Bradford,  which,  though 
expressed  in  very  friendly  terms,  firmly  maintained  the 

Minuit       "right  and  liberty"  of  the  Dutch  to  trade  with  the  Nar- 

maintains  iiii/»  -i 

the  right  of  ragansetts,  as  they  had  done,  for  many  years,  without 
question  or  interruption.     "As  the  English  claim  author- 
ity under  the  King  of  England,  so  we,"  said  Minuit,  "de- 
rive ours  from  the  States  of  Holland,  and  will  defend  it."t 
Bradford         Thinking  that  this  correspondence  of  the  Plymouth  col- 
iesofthe    onists  witli  thc  Dutch  would  give  their  enemies  at  home 
ence  to  En-  "  occasioH  to  raisc  slandcrs  and  frame  accusations"  against 
them,  Bradford  took  care  to  send  copies  of  De  Rasieres's 
"  first  letter,  with  our  answer  thereto,  and  their  reply  to 
if  June,    the  same,"  to  the  Council  of  New  England.     He  wrote,  at 
the  same  time,  another  letter  to  Sir  Ferdinando  G-orges, 
and  intrusted  his  dispatches  to  the  care  of  Isaac  Allerton, 
who  was  now  sent  out  a  second  time  to  London,  as  agent 

*  Bradford's  Letter  Book  ;  Moulton,  379  ;  ii.  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  1.,  360,  361. 

t  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  362.  Bradford,  in  his  Letter  Book,  does  not  give  the  second 
letter  from  the  Dutch  in  full,  nor  even  their  third  letter,  of  the  7th  of  August,  by  the  hands 
of  Jan  Jacobsen.  The  tenor  of  the  two  is,  however,  gathered  from  Bradford's  reply  to 
both,  of  the  14th  (24th)  August.  The  second  Dutch  letter  must  have  been  written  about 
May,  for  Bradford,  along  with  his  letter  to  the  Council  of  New  England,  of  iSth  (25th) 
June,  sent  copies  "  of  their  first  letters,  of  our  answer,  and  of  their  reply,"  to  which  h« 
adds,  he  had  "  as  yet  no  opportunity  to  give  answer."— Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  iii.,  56  ;  ii.,  N 
Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  365,  366;  Bradford's  Plymouth,  225,  note. 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  17." 

for  the  colony.  In  his  letters  to  England,  Bradford  stated  chap.  vi. 
that  the  Dutch,  "for  strength  of  men  and  fortification,  far 
exceed  us,  and  all  in  this  land."  "  They  have  used  trad- 
ing here,"  he  added,  "this  six  or  seven  and  twenty  years, 
but  have  begun  to  plant  of  later  time  ;  and  now  have  re- 
duced their  trade  to  some  order,  and  confined  it  only  to 
their  company,  which  heretofore  was  spoiled  by  their  sea- 
men and  interlopers,  as  ours  is,  this  year,  most  notorious- 
ly." And,  besides  spoiling  their  trade,  the  Dutch  still  con- 
tinued "  to  truck  pieces,  powder,  and  shot,"  with  the  In- 
dians, "  which  will  be  the  overtlirow  of  all,  if  it  be  not 
looked  into."* 

Meanwhile,  no  answer  was  returned  to  the  last  commu- 
nication from   Fort  Amsterdam.     Minuit,  after   waiting 
three  months  longer,  accordingly  dispatched  Jan  Jacob- :  August. 
sen,  of  Wiringen,  the  captain  of  the  ship  "Three  Kings,"  sends  a 

IT-  •!  messengei 

which  then  happened  to  be  m  port,  as  a  special  messen-  with  pres- 

11  •  ■  c-ii  ents  to 

ger,  with  another  letter,  reiterating  the  most  friendly  sen-  Bradford, 
timents,  and  inviting  the  English  to  send  an  authorized 
agent  to  Manhattan,  to  confer  "  by  word  of  mouth  touch- 
ing our  mutual  commerce  and  trading;"  or,  if  that  should 
be  inconvenient,  offering  "  to  depute  one"  themselves.  At 
the  same  time,  in  token  of  their  good- will,  the  Dutch  au- 
thorities sent "  a  rundlet  of  sugar  and  two  Holland  cheeses," 
as  a  present  to  the  governor  of  New  Plymouth. 

The  Dutch  messenger  was  kindly  received,  and  hand- 
somely entertained  by  Bradford ;  and,  a  few  days  after- 
ward, brought  back  to  the  authorities  at  Fort  Amsterdam  ^|  August 
the  reply  of  the  Puritans  to  their  two  last  letters.  Ac- 
knowledging their  acceptable  presents,  and  reciprocating 
their  expressions  of  friendship,  Bradford  requested  that  the  The  ruri- 

t3,ns  ask  iht? 

Dutch  would  delegate  a  commissioner  to  New  Plymouth,  Dutch  to 
and  excused  himself  from  sending  one  to  Manhattan,  be-egateto 

•        1  1  1  1  NewPly.Ti 

cause  "  one  of  our  boats  is  abroad,  and  we  have  much  bus-  outn. 
iness  at  home."     With  friendly  zeal,  he  added  a  warning 
to  his  neighbors  against  "  those  of  Virginia,  or  the  fishing 
ships  which  come  to  New  England,"  which  might  make 

»  Bradford's  Letter  Book,  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  iii.,  48,  49,  56,  57. 


176  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap,  vl  prize  of  them,  "  as  they  surprised  a  colony  of  the  French 
not  many  years  since,  which  was  seated  within  these 
bounds."  And  against  the  Dutch  claim  of  rights,  hy  rea- 
son of  their  early  and  long-continued  trade,  and  the  charter 
from  their  government,  Bradford,  pleading  prior  English 
title,  under  Elizabeth's  grant  of  Virginia,  and  James's 
sweeping  patents,  suggested  that  the  States  Greneral 
should  come  to  some  "  agreement  with  the  king's  majesty 
and  state  of  England  hereabout,  before  any  inconvenience 
befall ;  for  howsoever  you  may  be  assured  for  ourselves, 
yet  we  should  be  sorry  to  hear  you  should  sustain  harm 
from  any  of  our  nation."* 

Minuit,  on  receiving  the  report  of  the  "kind  and  friend- 
ly entertainment"  with  which  Bradford  had  treated  his 
messenger,  determined  to  send  a  formal  embassy  to  New 
Plymouth,  conformably  to  the  governor's  request.    Isaac  de 

Isaac  de     Raslcrcs,  the  Secretary  of  the  Province,  and  second  in  rank 

Rasieres  _^.  iiif 

disjiatehed  to  tlic  Dircctor,  was  sclcctcd  as  the  first  ambassador  of  New 

on  an  em- 

bassytothe  Nctlierland.     He  was  "  a  man  of  fair  and  genteel  behav- 

Puritans.      ,  ,      _  '-' 

ior,"  and  well  fitted  for  a  mission,  which  was  of  as  much 
relative  importance,  in  the  primitive  days  of  the  Dutch 
and  English  colonies,  as  the  more  stately  embassies  of  Eu- 
rope. Freighting  the  "  barque  Nassau"  with  a  few  arti- 
cles for  traffic,  and  manning  her  with  a  retinue  of  soldiers 
^September,  and  trumpcters,  De  Rasieres  set  out  from  Manhattan,  late 
in  September ;  and,  sailing  through  Hell-gate,  and  along 
the  shores  of  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,  arrived,  early 
the  next  month,  off  "Frenchman's  Point,!  at  a  small  riv- 
er, where  those  of  Patuxet  (New  Plymouth)  have  a  house 
made  of  hewn  oak  planks,  called  Aptuxet ;  where  they 
keep  two  men  winter  and  summer,  in  order  to  maintain 
Arrives  at  the  trade  and  possession."t  This  was  Manomet,  near  an 
on  Buz-  '  Indian  village,  at  the  head  of  Buzzard's  Bay — the  site  of 
the  present  village  of  Monumet,  in  the  town  of  Sandwich.^ 
Hither  the  Dutch  and  French  had  "  both  used  to  come" 
to  traffic  with  the  natives.     It  was  about  eight  miles  from 

*  Bradford's  Letter  Book,  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  iii.,  53  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  IT.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  362,  363. 
t  Morton's  Memorial,  61.  t  De  Rasieres's  Letter,  f    N.  V  II.  S   Coll.,  ii.,  350. 

1)  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  338. 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  I77 

Cape  Cod  Bay,  into  which  flowed  a  creek,  afTording  a  ready  chap.  vi. 
channel  of  communication  across  the  peninsula.*     "For 
greater  convenience  of  trade,"  says  Bradford,  "  to  discharge        '^  ' 
our  engagements,  and  maintain  ourselves,  we  build  a  small 
pinnace  at  Manomet,  a  place  on  the  sea,  twenty  miles  to  Manomii, 
the  south ;  to  which,  by  another  creek  on  this  side,  we  man's 
transport  our  goods  by  water  within  four  or  five  miles, 
and  then  carry  them  overland  to  the  vessel.     We  thereby 
avoid  compassing  Cape  Cod,  with  those  dangerous  shoals, 
and  make  our  voyage  to  the  southward  with  far  less  time 
and  hazard.     For  the  safety  of  our  vessel  and  goods,  we 
there  also  build  a  house,  and  keep  some  servants,  who  plant 
corn,  rear  swine,  and  are  always  ready  to  go  out  with  the 
bark,  which  takes  good  effect,  and  turns  to  advantage."! 
The  Dutch  trumpets  awoke  unusual  echoes,  as   they 
saluted  the  advanced  post  of  the  English  colony,     De  Ra- 
sieres  at  once  dispatched  a  courier  with  a  letter  to  Brad-  4  October. 
ford,  announcing  his  arrival  on  the  part  of  the  director  and 
council  of  New  Netherland,  to  have  a  friendly  conference 
"  by  word  of  mouth  of  things  together,"  and  to  assure  him 
of  the  "  good-will  and  favor"  of  the  Dutch  AVest  India 
Company.     Specifying  the  articles  which  composed  the 
Nassau's  cargo,  he  requested  Bradford  to  furnish  him  with 
the  easiest  conveyance  to  New  Plymouth.    "  John  Jacob- 
sen  aforesaid  hath  told  me,"  wrote  the  Dutch  envoy,  "that 
he  came  to  you  overland  in  six  hours ;  but  I  have  not  gone 
so  far  this  three  or  four  years,  wherefore  I  fear  my  feet 
will  fail  me."     Bradford  promptly  complied,  and  sent  a 
boat  to  the  head  of  the  Manonscussett  Creek.     A  short 
portage  of  five  miles  divided  its  waters  from  those  of  the  De  Ra- 
Manomet  River.     Crossing  this  portage,  De  Rasieres,  withreach^ 
"  the  chief  of  his  company,"  embarked  in  the  English  boat,  ouT.    ' '^ 

*  Win.slow's  relation,  in  Young's  Chronicles,  306.  Prince,  208  (writing  in  1736),  says, 
•'  this  creek  runs  out  easterly  into  Cape  Cod  Bay,  at  Scussett  Harbor  ;  and  this  river  runs 
out  westerly  into  Monumct  Bay.  The  distance  overland,  from  bay  to  bay,  is  but  si.\  miles. 
-The  creek  and  river  nearly  meet  in  a  low  ground  ;  and  this  is  the  place  through  which 
there  has  been  a  talk  of  making  a  canal  this  forty  years,  which  would  be  a  vast  advantage 
to  all  these  countries,  by  saving  the  long  and  dangerous  navigation  round  the  Caps,  and 
through  the  shoals  adjoining." 

t  Bradford,  in  Prince,  241  ;  Old  Colony  Records  ;  Book  of  Court  Orders,  vol.  iii.,  p.  82. 
See  al,so  Russell's  "  Pilgrim  Memorials,"  p.  122-121  ;  Bradford's  Plymouth,  221. 

M 


178 


HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  i\'EW  YORK. 


Chap.  VI. 


1627. 


De  Ra- 

sieres  at 
New  Plym- 
outh 


Observes 
its  institn- 
tions. 


Describes 
the  settle- 
ment. 


which  awaited  him  at  the  head  of  the  creek  ;  and  soon 
reached  New  Plymouth,  "  honorahly  attended  with  the 
noise  of  trumpeters."* 

Here  Bradford  entertained  the  Dutch  amhassador  sev- 
eral days.  The  friendly  colonists  of  two  allied  European 
nations  now  met,  for  the  first  time,  in  the  solitudes  of 
America.  That  first  meeting,  too,  was  "the  joyful  meet- 
ing of  kindred  as  well  as  friends  ;  for  the  waves  and  chil- 
dred  of  some  of  the  Pilgrims  had  also  their  birth-place  in 
Holland."t 

The  English  colonists'  form  of  government ;  their  an- 
nual elections  ;  their  abolition  of  primogeniture,  with  only 
a  small  difference  in  favor  of  the  eldest  son,  as  an  "  ac- 
knowledgment for  his  seniority  of  birth  ;"  their  stringent 
laws  on  the  subject  of  morality,  which  they  even  enforced 
among  the  neighboring  Indian  tribes  ;  the  example  which 
they  set  to  those  savages,  of  "  better  ordinances  and  a  bet- 
ter life,"  were  noted  with  interest  by  the  envoy  of  New 
Netherland.  "  They  have  better  means  of  living  than 
ourselves,"  wrote  De  Rasieres,  "  because  they  have  the 
fish  so  abundant  before  their  doors  ;"  but  then  "  their 
farms  are  not  so  good  as  ours,  because  they  are  more 
stony."  With  these  fish  they  manured  their  barren  soil, 
which  otherwise  would  produce  no  maize.  Quaintly,  but 
graphically,  the  representative  of  Manhattan  described  the 
rival  settlement.  "New  Plymouth  lies  on  the  slope  of  a 
hill,  stretching  east  toward  the  sea-coast,  with  a  broad 
street  about  a  cannon-shot  of  eight  hundred  [paces  ?]  long 
leading  down  the  hill,  and  with  [another  street]  crossing 
in  the  middle,  northward  to  the  rivulet  and  southward  to 
the  land.  The  houses  are  constructed  of  hewn  planks, 
with  gardens  also  inclosed  behind  and  at  the  sides  with 
hewn  timber  ;  so  that  their  houses  and  court-yards  are  ar- 
ranged in  very  good  order,  with  a  stockade  against  a  sud- 
den attack.  At  the  ends  of  the  streets  are  three  wooden 
gates.  In  the  centre,  on  the  cross  street,  stands  the  govern- 
or's house ;  before  which  is  a  square  inclosure,  upon  which 

*  Bradford,  in  Prince,  248 ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  364.  t  Moultoi .  SM. 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  179 

four  swivels  are  mounted,  so  as  to  flank  along  the  streets,  chap  vi 
Upon  the  hill  they  have  a  large  square  house  with  a  flat  roof,  "77777 
made  of  thick  sawn  plank,  stayed  with  oak  beams;  upon  "''* 
the  top  of  which  they  have  six  cannon,  which  shoot  iron 
balls  of  four  and  five  pounds  weight,  and  command  the  sur- 
rounding country.  The  lower  part  they  use  for  their  church, 
where  they  preach  on  Sundays  and  the  usual  holidays. 
They  assemble  by  beat  of  drum,  each  with  his  musket  or 
firelock,  in  front  of  the  captain's  door.  They  have  their 
cloaks  on,  and  place  themselves  in  order,  three  abreast,  and 
are  led  by  a  sergeant,  without  beat  of  drum.  Behind  comes 
the  governor  in  a  long  robe.  Beside  him,  on  the  right  hand, 
comes  the  preacher,  with  his  cloak  on ;  and  on  the  left  hand 
the  captain,  with  his  side-arms  and  his  cloak  on,  and  with 
a  small  cane  in  his  hand.  And  so  they  march  in  good  or- 
der, and  each  sets  his  arms  down  near  him.  Thus  they 
are  constantly  on  their  guard  night  and  day."* 

Having  "demeaned  himself  to   his   own   credit"   andneRa- 
that  of  his  government,  De  Rasieres  pledged  to  the  Plym-  turns  m 
outh  colonists  "  assistance   against  the  French,  if  need 
were,"  and  returned  to  his  bark  at  Manomet,  accompa- 
nied by  an  escort  of  the  Puritans.     And  now  they  readily  The  run 
purchased   some   of  his  wares,  especially  the   Sewan  orchalf""^ 
Wampum,  "which   was   the    beginning   of  a    profitable Dm'di" 
trade."     The  Dutch  naturally  desired  to  retain  the  con- 
trol of  the  wampum  traffic  in  the  Narragansett,  because 
"  the  seeking  after  Sewan"  by  the  Puritans,  said  De  Ra- 
sieres, "  is  prejudicial  to  us,  inasmuch  as  they  would,  by 
so  doing,  discover  the  trade  in  furs,  which,  if  they  were 
to  find  out,  it  w^ould  be  a  great  trouble  for  us  to  main- 
tain ;  for  they  already  dare  to  threaten  that,  if  we  will 
not  leave  off  dealing  with  that  people,  they  will  be  obliged 
to  use  other  means."     The  chief  supply  of  this  universal- 
ly current  Indian  coin  came,  as  we  have  seen,  from  Long 

*  De  Rasieres's  Letter,  351,  352.  The  accuracy  of  De  Rasieres's  account  is  confirmed 
by  Morton  in  liis  Memorial,  p.  82.  Mr.  W.  S.  Russell,  in  his  "  Pilgrim  Memorials,"  p. 
28,  says  that  Leyden  Street  at  Plymouth  was  originally  named  First  Street,  and  after- 
ward Great  and  Broad  Street ;  and  that  it  received  its  present  name  in  1823,  in  grateful 
memory  of  the  kindness  and  hospitality  shown  to  the  Pilgrims  during  their  eleven  years' 
residence  in  Leyden. 


180        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1G27. 


CHAP.  VI.  Island  ;  and  De  Rasieres  now  sold  a  large  quantity  to  the 
English,  "  telling  us,"  says  Bradford,  "  how  vendible  it  is 
at  their  Fort  Orange,  and  persuading  us  we  shall  find  it 
so  at  Kennebeck."  Nor  were  the  Puritans  disappointed. 
As  soon  as  the  neighboring  Indians  learned  that  the  Plym- 
outh colonists  had  a  supply  of  wampum,  a  great  demand 
sprung  up,  which,  for  a  long  time,  yielded  them  large 
profits.  "  The  Massachusetts  and  others  in  these  parts 
had  scarce  any,  it  being  made  and  kept  among  the  Pe- 
quots  and  Narragansetts,  who  grew  rich  and  potent  by  it ; 
whereas  the  rest,  who  use  it  not,  are  poor  and  beggarly."* 
Mutual  Thus,  when  the  whole  tonnage  of  New  England  con- 

lisiiedat  sistcd  of  "  a  bass-boat,  shallop,  and  pinnace,"  a  mutually 
advantageous  trade  sprung  up  between  the  neighboring 
European  colonists.  '"After  which  beginning,"  says  Brad- 
ford, "they  often  send  to  the  same  place,  and  we  trade 
together  divers  years,  sell  much  tobacco  for  linens  and 
stuffs,  &c.,  which  proves  a  great  benefit  to  us,  till  the 
VirginiaTis  fuid  out  their  colony."! 
-j^-  Oct.  On  his  return  to  Manhattan,  De  Rasieres  carried  with 

f/pife^t'^o  him  a  letter  from  Bradford  to  ]\Iinuit,  in  which,  saving  al- 
urges'tire"*^  ways  their  allegiance  to  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  he 
ciear'their  pledged  the  Pilgrims  to  the  performance  of  all  good  offices 
New  Neth- toward  the  Dutch  colonists  in  New  Netherland.  ""We 
acknowledge  ourselves  tied,"  wrote  the  Puritan  governor, 
"in  a  strict  obligation  unto  your  country  and  state,  for 
the  good  entertauament  and  free  liberty  which  we  had, 
and  our  bretlu'en  and  countrymen  yet  there,  have  and  do 
enjoy,  under  our  most  honorable  Lords  the  States."  With 
respect  to  the  question  of  trade  and  supplies,  he  expressed 
his  regret  that  it  had  not  been  "  propounded  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  year,"  before  Allerton  had  gone  as  agent  to 
England  and  Holland,  until  whose  return  a  positive  de- 
termination must  be  postponed.  But,  in  the  mean  time, 
he  reiterated  the  desire  of  the  Puritans  that  the  Dutch 
should  "  clear  the  title"  of  their  planting  "  in  these  parts 

*  Bradford's  Letter  Book,  364  ;  Prince,  24S,  249  :  De  Rasieres's  Letter,  350. 
t  Bradford,  ut  sup.,  364  ;  Prince.  248;  Bradford's  Plymouth,  211,  225. 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  181 

which  His  Majesty  hath,  by  patent,  granted  to  divers  his  chap.  vi. 
nobles  and  subjects  of  quaUty  ;  lest  it  be  a  bone  of  division 
in  these  stirring  evil  times,  which  God  forbid.  We  per- 
suade ourselves,  that  now  may  be  easily  and  seasonably 
done,  which  will  be  harder  and  with  more  difficulty  ob- 
tained hereafter,  and  perhaps  not  without  blows.""^ 

Thus  earnestly  did  Bradford  assert  the  English  title  to  spirit  of 
New  Netherland,  and  urge  the  Ihitch  to  "  clear"  their  own.  claim. 
While  in  Holland,  the  Puritans,  by  Robinson,  their  minis- 
ter, had  solicited  protection  and  defense  in  their  proposed 
settlement  within  the  Dutch  Province.!  But  now  they 
found  it  convenient  to  plead  the  King's  patent,  which  had 
been  denounced  from  the  Speaker's  chair,  as  a  monopoly, 
containing  "  many  particulars  contrary  to  the  laws  and 
privileges  of  the  subjects,"t  and  which  was  not  sealed  un- 
til nearly  a  year  after  their  application  to  the  States  G-en- 
eral  had  affirmed  the  Dutch  title. 

Under  these  circumstances,  Minuit  hastened  to  call  the  winuit 
attention  of  the  West  India  Company  to  the  somewhat  iioiianj  ibr 
threatening    aspect    which    the    subject    had    assumed. 
"The  last  letters  from  New  Netherland,"  reported  the  lo  Nov. 
College  of  XIX.  to  the  States  General,  "  bring  word  that 
the  English  of  New  Plymouth  threaten  to  drive  away 
those  there,  or  to  disturb  them  in  their  settlement  and  lit- 
tle colony,  notwithstanding  our  people  heretofore  had  ten-  ^ 
dered  to  them  all  good  correspondence    and   friendship. 
They  therefore  request  the  aid  of  forty  soldiers  for  their 
defense.     We  would,"  added  the  College,  "rather  see  itihexlx. 
S3cured  by  friendly  alliance." § 

The   Company's  policy  of  peace  was  obvious :   for  a 
month  before  De  Rasieres  visited  New  Plymouth,  a  Brit- 
ish order  in  council,  reciting  the  terms  of  the  treaty  of  t%  sept. 
Southampton  in  1625,  declared  that  the  ships  of  the  Dutch  mvorsMHe 
West  India  Company  should  have  free  access  to  and  egress  company.' 
from  all  English  ports,  and  that  their  officers  should  be 
treated  "  with  that  respect  and  courtesy  as  is  fitting  to  be 

*  Bradford,  ut  sup.,  365.      t  IIol.  Doc,  i.,  95  ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  i.,  23  ;  see  ante,  p.  124. 
t  Sir  Edward  Coke  ;  see  ante,  p.  139. 

*  llol.  Doc,  i.,  159,  160;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  i.,  38. 


182  HISTORY  OF  THE  STxiTE  0¥  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  VI.  used  toward  the  subjects  of  a  state  with  whom  his  Majes- 
ty  is  in  firm  and  ancient  amity."*  King  Charles  having 
thus  virtually  acknowledged  their  commercial  rights,  the 
Company  was  not  called  upon  to  vindicate  their  title  to 
New  Netherland.  Their  policy  was  the  quiet  advance- 
ment of  their  American  province  and  its  trade,  which  had 
doubled  during  the  four  years  succeeding  the  first  perma- 
nent colonization  under  May.     In  1624  the  exports  from 

Increasing  Amsterdam,  in  two  ships,  were  worth  twenty-five  thou- 

Neu-  Ncth-  sand  guilders,  and  the  returns  from  New  Netherland 
twenty-eight  thousand  ;  in  1627  the  value  of  the  goods 
which  the  Company  exported  in  four  ships  had  risen  to 
fifty-six  thousand  guilders,  and  that  of  the  peltries  received 
from  their  province  had  increased  to  the  same  sum.t 
1628.  In  the  spring  of  the  next  year,  the  Mahicans,  having 
again  committed  outrages  near  Fort  Orange,  were  attack- 

Thc  Mo-    ed  by  the  Mohawks,  who  killed  and  captured  many  of 

hawks  •'  .  ,  1,      1      ,  mi  1 

drive  off  the  then*  enemies  and  expelled  the  remnant.     These,  leavin^ 

Mahicans  '  o 

loihecon-  their  lands  unoccupied,  fled  northward,  and  settled  them- 
selves near  the  "  Fresh"  or  Connecticut  River.  Although 
"  there  was  now  an  end  of  war  in  that  region,"  the  fur 
trade  of  the  Hollanders  felt  the  eftect  of  these  hostilities 
between  their  savage  neighbors.     In  obedience  to  former 

Affairs  at    ordcrs,  the  colonists  at  Fort  Orange  having  been  brought 

Fort  Or-  .   . 

aiige.  down  to  Manhattan,  there  were  now  "  no  families"  left  at 
the  Dutch  inland  post,  which  was  occupied  only  by  some 
twenty-five  traders,  under  the  command  of  Vice-director 
Krol,  who  had  succeeded  Barentsen  two  years  before.1: 

By  the  Company's  direction,  "  all  those  who  were  at  the 
l^'outh  River,"  at  Verhulsten  Island,  and  Fort  Nassau,  had 
likewise  been  removed  to  Manhattan.  A  small  vessel  only 
was  retained  there,  to  keep  up  the  fur  trade,  which,  how- 

*  IIoI.  Doc,  ix.,292;  Lond.  Doc  ,  i  ,  36  ,  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS..  iii..  12,  13  ;  ante,  ^.  ICl. 

t  De  Laet,  Jaerlyck  Verhael,  Appendix,  p.  26,  29  ;  ante,  p   135. 

t  Wassenaar,  xvi.,  13  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  47  ,  a?ite,  p.  169,  170  ;  Letter  of  Domiiie 
Jonas  Michaelius,  11th  August,  1628.  This  latter  interesting  document— next  to  that 
of  De  Rasieres  the  earliest  extant  written  by  any  of  the  adventurers  during  the  first 
years  of  the  settlement  of  New  York— was  communicated  by  Mr.  .T.  J.  Bodel  Nyenbuis 
to  the  "Kerk  Ilistorische  Archief,"  published  at  Amsterdam,  and  a  translation  of  it, 
•with  a  preface  by  Mr.  H.  C.  Murphy,  is  in  N.^'.  C.A.,  MSS.,  ii.,  p.  759-70.  See  also 
N.  Y.  Christian  Intelligencer  for  13  May,  lt-58. 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  183 

ever,  was  less  profitable  than  that  on  the  North  River,  chap  vi. 
The  factors  found  that  the  savages  would  not  barter  the 
'•lion  (or  panther)  skms  with  which  they  were  clothed,"  ^rade  oV 
bjcause  they  were  "  much  warmer  than  other  furs."     Butjif^.^tr""'" 
notwithstanding  the  provincial  trade  was  dulled  this  year, 
Minuit  dispatched  to  Holland  two  ships,  with  cargoes  of  luAugu-sr 
timber  and  furs,  worth  over  sixty-one  thousand  guilders.* 
Early  in  1628,  Jonas  Michaelius,  a  learned  and  zealous  \  Apni 

•J  '  Jonas  Mi- 

Dutch  clergyman,  came  out  from  Amsterdam,  under  thechaeiius. 

^J  '  the  first 

auspices  of  the  Synod  of  North  Holland,  and  "  first  estab- mmi^i"  |" 

1  J  '  New  Nelh- 

lished  the  form  of  a  church"  at  Manhattan.  The  religious  "'and. 
services  of  the  colonists,  which,  since  1626,  had  been  con- 
ducted by  the  "  Consolers  of  the  Sick,"  were  now  directed 
by  a  regularly  ordained  minister  of  the  Reformed  Dutch 
Church.  Although  "  somewhat  rough  and  loose,"  the  peo- 
ple received  their  Domine  with  love  and  respect ;  to  assist 
whom,  and  form  the  first  consistory,  two  elders  were  cho- 
sen, one  of  whom  was  Director  Minuit.     Fifty  communi-  The  first 

•^  _     _       Commuii- 

cants,  Walloons  and  Dutch,  partook  of  the  first  adminis->on- 
tration  of  the  Lord's  Supper.     The  Walloons,  however,  un- 
derstood the  Dutch  language  imperfectly;   and  some  of 
them  living  far  away,  could  not  always  attend  the  church 
at  Manhattan.     Michaelius  therefore  occasionally  admin- Michaeiius 

.  preaches  in 

istered  the  sacrament  and  preached  to  them  in  French,  al-  French, 
though  with  less  fluency,  as  he  was  obliged  to  use  a  writ- 
ten discourse.     The  Domine  also  took  a  deep  interest  in 
the  condition  of  the  savages,  and,  to  qualify  himself  for  in- 
structing them  as  a  missionary,  began  to  learn  their  diffi-  iiis  mis- 
cult  tongue,  which,  he  declared,  when  attempted  by  Eu- spirit. 
ropeans,  was  "like  the  language  of  Ashdod."t 

Strengthened  by  the  addition  of  the  Walloons  and  the 

*  Wassenaar,  ,\vi.,  13  ;  Doc.  Ilist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  47,  48  ;  De  Laet,  Appendix,  C9.  Was  not 
"  Vcrhulsten  Island"  the  "  Stacie's  Island"  mentioned  in  Gabriel  Thomas's  West  Jersey 
(1098),  p.  14? 

t  Letter  of  Michaelius,  of  11th  August,  1628,  ut  supra.  Director  Minuit  had  been  a 
deacon  in  the  church  at  Wesel,  whence  he  came  (ante,  p.  102)  ;  and  his  colleague  in  the 
eldership  at  Manhattan  was  his  brother-in-law,  the  storekeeper,  whom  Michaelius  names 
as  Jan  Iluyghen,  who  had  also  been  an  elder  at  Wesel.  The  latter  was  probably  the 
"Jan  Iluyck"  who  is  mentioned  (ante,  p.  105)  as  one  of  the  Krank-be.-.oeckers  in  1026. 
Krol,  it  seems,  sometimes  came  down  from  Fort  Orange,  and  sat  in  the  consistory  at 
Manhattan  as  its  fourtti  member. 


184  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  VI.  families  who  had  been  transferred  from  Fort  Orange  and 
the  South  River,  the  colonists  at  Manhattan  now  number- 

popuiltion  ^^  ^""^'o  hundred  and  seventy  souls,  including  men,  women, 

.,t  Maniiat-  ^j-^j  children.  Fearless  of  the  savages,  with  whom  they 
lived  in  peace,  they  all  continued  to  reside  outside  the 

Fort  Am-    walls  of  Fort  Amsterdam,  which  was  now  beinsr  comple- 

sierdain.  _  _  o  I 

ted  vvith  four  bastions,  and  a  facing  of  good  "quarry- 
stone." 

Agricui-  The  colonists  subsisted  chiefly  by  farming,  deficiencies 
in  the  crops  being  made  up  by  supplies  from  the  Compa- 
ny. Butter  and  milk,  as  well  as  horses  and  cows,  were 
difficult  to  obtain,  although  the  cattle  sent  out  from  Hol- 

iiarvest.  land  had  thriven  very  well.  The  harvest  was  somewhat 
meagre  this  year,  yet  it  had  been  "  better  gathered  than 
ever  before."    But  laborers  w^ere  few,  maid-servants  scarce- 

siaves.  ly  to  be  had,  and  the  Angola  slaves  proved  to  be  "  thievish, 
lazy,  and  useless  trash." 

conflagra-  A  general  conflagration  had  destroyed  some  of  the  prop- 
erty of  the  colonists ;  and  a  portion  of  the  Walloons,  whose 
engagements  with  the  Company  had  expired,  meditated  a 
return  to  the  fatherland.     The  making  of  brick,  lime,  and 

Mills.  potash  was  now  begun,  and  grist  and  saw  mills  were  built. 
Timber  in  abundance  was  prepared  for  export,  but  there 

Want  of  in- were  not  vessels  enough  provided  for  its  shipment.     A 

structions.  -i     i  i  i    • 

great  want  of  system  prevaued,  and  more  "  plam  and  pre- 
cise instructions"  were  evidently  necessary  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  provincial  authorities.* 

An  event  now  occurred  which  materially  influenced  the 
fortunes  of  New  Netherland.  The  renewal  of  hostilities 
with  S^jmin  enabled  the  Dutch  to  sweep  the  ocean,  and 
wrest  from  their  old  oppressor  the  spoil  he  had  wrung  from 
the  unoffending  princes  of  Mexico  and  Peru.  Admiral 
:.  Sept       Peter  Petersen  Hevn,  a  native  of  Delft-Haven,  having  re- 

Heyn  cap-         .  -      '  .  '  o 

turesthe    cclvcd  ordcrs  to  intercept  the  h^panish  "Silver  Fleet,"  on 

Spanish       .  '  • 

^"iver        its  annual  return   from  the  West  Indies,  took  nineteen 

Fleet.  ' 

galleons,  and  brought  all,  except  two,  safely  to  Holland. 
The  booty  was  valued  at  twelve  millions  of  guilders.     On 

*  Wassenaar,  xvi.,  13  ;  Doc.  llist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  47,  48  ;  Michaelius's  letter,  ut  supra. 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  185 

Heyn's  triumphant  return  he  received  the  thanks  of  the  chap.  vi. 
nation.  As  modest  as  he  was  brave,  he  asked  for  noth- 
ing  of  the  enormous  treasure  he  had  won.  Soon  after- 
ward the  vacant  office  of  Lieutenant  Admiral  was  forced 
upon  him,  in  spite  of  his  protestations  that  it  was  too  high 
a  dignity  for  one  of  his  mean  birth  and  unpohshed  man- 
ners. The  next  year,  Heyn  dying  gloriously  on  the  deck  it  June. 
of  his  ship,  his  body  was  interred  in  princely  state,  near 
that  of  William  of  Orange,  in  the  old  inausolean  church 
at  Delft,  where  his  grateful  government  erected  a  magnifi- 
cent monument  to  his  memory.* 

Successful  war  thus  poured  infatuating  wealth  into 
the  treasury  of  the  West  India  Company.  In  one  year 
they  divided  fifty  per  cent.  In  two  years  they  had  cap- 
tured one  hundred  and  four  prizes.!  What  Barneveldt 
had  feared  soon  came  to  pass.  To  the  lust  of  lucre  was 
now  added  the  pride  of  conquest.  The  nation  shared  the 
glory,  while  the  company  secured  the  spoil  of  the  war.  infatuatins 

\      .  •    •  1  f  1  11  •       •        effect  upon 

It  IS  not  surprismg,  therefore,  that  when  the  negotiation  nic  wesi 

•  •  ■  n  11  India  Com- 

which  the  King  of  Spain  opened,  in  1629,  to  renew  the  late  pany. 
truce  became  public,  it  should  have  met  with  general  and 
determined  opposition.  The  West  India  Company,  covet- 
ous of  gain,  presented  a  strong  remonstrance  to  the  States  23  October 
(xeneral  against  the  proposition,  and  warmly  urged  the 
advantages  of  a  longer  war;  the  clergy,  suspicious  of 
Philip's  sincerity,  opposed  the  truce,  as  detrimental  both 
to  Church  and  State ;  and  a  large  majority  of  the  people 
themselves,  encouraged  by  the  late  naval  successes,  were 
disposed  to  continue  a  contest,  now  become  not  only  glori- 
ous, but  profitable.  The  opposition  to  the  proposed  treaty 
became  so  universal  and  so  strong,  that  the  negotiations 
were  necessarily  abandoned.  The  West  India  Company, 
continuing  "  a  prince-like,  instead  of  a  merchant-like  war," 
soon  added  Brazil  to  their  possessions ;  and  the  maritime  1630. 
superiority  of  Holland  no  longer  remained  a  problem. t- 

*  Dc  Laet,  147  ;  Aitzema,  i.,  720;  CiTesier,  vi.,  40  ;  Davies,  ii.,  571-573,  657. 

t  Wagenaar,  Vad.  Ilist.,  ix.,  70  ;  Moulton,  368. 

X  Hoi.  Doc,  i.,  lOl,  107  ;  De  Witt  ;  Aitzema,  i.,  900,  996  ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  i.,  40,42. 


186  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YURK. 

Chap.  VI.  Yet  the  preservation  of  the  Dutch  territories  in  Ameri- 
ca  was  enormously  expensive ;  and  thus  far,  the  colonists 
Cost  of  "^^^°  were  settled  in  New  Netherland,  had  been  "not  a 
eriand^*^*'  Profit,  hut  a  loss  to  the  company."  The  peltry  trade,  how- 
ever, continued  to  he  "right  advantageous;"  but  it  could 
"  at  the  utmost  return,  one  year  with  another,  only  fifty 
thousand  guilders."*  Duly  appreciating  the  importance 
of  the  island  of  Manhattan  as  a  permanent  commercial 
emporium,  the  company  had  purchased  it  for  their  own 
private  property,  and  had  concentrated  in  its  neighborhood 
nearly  the  whole  European  population  of  the  province.  To 
a  contemporary  English  observer,  the  Dutch  colony  ap- 
peared "to  subsist  in  a  comfortable  manner,  and  to  prom- 
ise fah'ly  both  to  the  state  and  undertakers."  The  cause 
of  its  prosperity  was  evident.  The  emigrants  under  the 
West  India  Company,  "  though  they  be  not  many,  are 
well  chosen,  and  known  to  be  useful  and  serviceable  ;  and 
they  second  them  with  seasonable  and  fit  supplies,  cherish- 
ing them  as  carefully  as  their  own  families."!  The  trad- 
ing post  at  Fort  Orange  was  garrisoned  by  military  factors 
alone.  On  the  South  River,  a  single  vessel,  with  a  small 
crew,  sufficed  to  keep  up  the  trade  and  possession  of  the 
Dutch.  Still,  notwithstanding  their  apparent  prosperity, 
the  families  clustered  round  Fort  Amsterdam  hardly  sup- 
ported themselves  ;  and  the  annual  returns  from  New 
Netherland  did  not  satisfy  the  directors  of  a  victorious 
company,  flushed  with  the  easy  spoil  of  Spanish  fleets. 
Ph  ns  for  Tliis  statc  of  things  they  desired  to  improve  ;  and  plans 
tat  ion"  '  for  the  systematic  and  extended  colonization  of  the  whole 
province  were  earnestly  considered. 

De  Rasieres,  who  had  fallen  into  disgrace  with  Minuit, 
had  now  returned  to  Holland.  Though  deprived  of  "  his 
things  and  notes,"  he  still  was  able,  from  recollection,  to 
draw  up  a  statement  of  affairs  in  New  Netherland,  for  his 
patron,  Samuel  Blommaert,  one  of  the  leading  directors  of 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  i.,  165  ;  Lambrechtsen,  34,  35. 

+  "  The  Planter's  Plea,"  London,  1630.  This  interesting  pamphlet,  the  authorship  of 
which  is  ascribed  to  the  Rev.  John  White,  of  Dorchester,  England,  was  printed  soon  after 
the  sailing  of  Winthrop's  fleet,  8th  of  June,  1630  —Young,  Chron.  Mass.,  16. 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  137 

the  Amsterdam  Chamber,     After  much  deliberation,  it  chap.  vi 
was  determined  that  the  manifold  resources  of  its  large  "TT 
territory  could  be  best  developed  by  the  establishment  of  ^^^  ^^jj, ' 
distinct  and  independent  Colonies,  at  various  points  on  the  fomfii^'pou'. 
North  and  South  Rivers.     These  colonies  were  to  be,  in'"y'-hani5«'' 
some  respects,  analogous  to  the  lordships  and  seigneuries 
of  Europe,  yet  all  in  general  subordination  to  the  West  In- 
dia Company ;  and  it  was  thought  that  their  success  could 
be  better  secured  by  private  enterprise,  than  by  the  com- 
pany itself,  whose  attention  was  now  almost  entirely  en- 
grossed by  the  affairs  of  the  Spanish  war.     The  fostering 
of  its  own  colony  on  the  island  of  Manhattan,  and  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  fur  trade,  of  which  it  proposed  to  retain 
the  monopoly,  were  quite  sufficient  to  occupy  all  the  time 
and  capital  which  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  could  at  pres- 
ent devote  to  the  subject. 

AVith  the  view  of  inducing  private  capitalists  to  engage  charter  of 
in  the  proposed  plan,  the  College  of  XIX.  accordingly  pre-forpatroons 
pared  the  draft  of  a  charter  conferring  certain  special  priv-  ^'^"^"^^  ' 
ileges  upon  such  members  of  the  company  as  should,  at 
their  own  expense  and  risk,  plant  colonies  in  any  part  of 
New  Netherland,  excepting  the  island  of  Manhattan.    More    16*28. 
than  a  year  was  spent  in  considering  the  details ;  and  in 
the  summer  of  1629,  the  plan,  as  revised  and  amended,  in   1629. 
thirty-one  articles,  was  finally  adopted  by  the  College  of  Adopted. 
XIX.,  and  was  approved  and  confirmed  by  the  States  G-en- 
eral.     In  the  following  autumn,  their  High  Mightinesses 
established  several  articles  for  the  government  of  the  Dutch  13  October. 
transatlantic  possessions,  and  published  a  decree,  author- 
izing the  different  Chambers  of  the  West  India  Company 
to  appoint  a  council  of  nine  persons,  to  whom  the  general  commissa- 
direction  of  colonial  affairs  should  be  assigned.* 

While  the  West  India  Company  was  thus  maturing  its 
selfish  commercial  scheme  for  the  introduction  of  the  feud- 
al system  into  its  American  province,  English  emigrants  coioniza- 
were  gradually  occupying  the  territory  on  the  north  and  England. 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  ii.,  95-99 ;  Groot  Placaatbook,  ii.,  1235  ;  Notules  of  S.  G.,  1629, 683  ;  Lam- 
brechtsen,  29 ;  Moulton,  387,  399  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  112  ;  D.  D.  Barnard's  Sketch,  105  ;  De  Vries, 
162. 


188  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  VI.  east  of  New  Netherland.     Straggling  plantations,  some  ol' 
"7777"  them  but  single  families,  were  already  settled  on  portions 
of  the  coast  between  New  Plymouth  and  Piseataqua.     A 
few  persons  began  a  plantation  on  Massachusetts  Bay, 
1625.  near  what  is  now  Quincy,  which  they  called  Mount  Wol- 
Mount       laston.     The  settlement  soon  afterward  fell  under  the  Con- 
or "Merry  trol  of  Thomas  Morton,  who  changed  its  name  to  "  Merry 
Mount ;"  sold  powder  and  shot  to  the  savages ;  harbored 
runaways  ;  and,  setting  up  a  May-pole,  broached  a  cask  of 
wine  and  held  a  high  carousal.     But  the  New  Plymouth 
1628.  people,  at  the  solicitation  of  "  the  chief  of  the  straggling 
plantations,"  at  length  interfered  by  force  ;  and  Morton 
was  taken  prisoner  and  sent  back  to  England.*" 
Example  of     lu  the  mcau  time,  the  Puritans  in  England  had  grown 
outupro-""  more  and  more  uneasy  under  the  restraints  of  English 
tan emigra- law,  and  the  intolerance  of  the  English  hierarchy;  and 
the  example  of  the  New  Plymouth  colonists  had  inspired 
their  brethren  at  home  with  the  desire  of  emigrating  across 
the  Atlantic.     It  was  a  favorable  moment  to  execute  the 
design.     The  leading  members  of  the  council  for  New  En- 
gland, unable  or  unwilling  to  undertake  the  colonization 
of  the  country  which  had  been  granted  to  them  by  James 
L,  were  limiting  their  ambition  to  the  sale  of  subordinate 
Grant  of    patents.     At  the  instigation  of  John  "White,  a  Puritan  cler- 
Massachu-  gymau  of  Dorcliestcr,  Sir  Henry  Rosewell,  John  Endicott, 
obtained     and  SBVcral  other  persons  of  distinction  in  that  neighbor- 
council  of  hood,  obtained  from  the  New  England  corporation  the 
gland.       grant  of  a  belt  of  land  on  Massachusetts  Bay,  extending 
from  three  miles  south  of  the  River  Charles  to  three  miles 
north  of  the  River  Merrimack,  and  stretching  from  the  At- 
lantic to  the  Pacific.     Other  associates  from  London  and 
its  vicinity — "Winthrop,  Dudley,  Johnson,  Pynchon,  Eaton, 
Saltonstall,  and  Bellingham — soon  afterward  became  joint- 
ly interested  in  the  enterprise.     In  the  autumn  of  the  same 
year,  about  sixty  emigrants,  under  the  guidance  of  Endi- 
14  sopt.      cott,  were  dispatched  to  Naumkeag,  or  Salem,  where  they 
Salem.       wcrc  welcomcd  by  Roger  Conant,  who,  expelled  from  New 

*  Bradford,  in  Prince,  231,  240,  244,  250,  252  ;  Morton's  Memorial,  135-141. 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  lyy 

Plymouth,  had   settled  himself  there,  two  years   before,  chap.vi. 
This  was  the  first  English  emigration  to  Massachusetts  ~~7~ 
Bay.    The  "  Old  Colony,"  at  New  Plymouth,  had  preceded, 
by  about  eight  years,  Endicott's  settlement  at  Salem.* 

Early  in  the  following  spring,  a  royal  charter  passed  the    1629. 
great  seal,  incorporating  "the  governor  and  company  of  t^  "^^^J^^^- 
the  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New  England  ;"  confirming  to  g"^{,°j3^jff 
them  the  Plymovith  Company's  grant  to  Rosewell  and  his  ^^y- 
aissociates  ;  and  superadding  powers  of  government.     The 
territory  conveyed,  included  all  that  portion  of  New  Neth- 
erland  lying  north  of  Esopus  and  south  of  the  Mohawk  Riv- 
er ;  but  it  was  expressly  provided  that,  with  respect  to  such 
parts  or  parcels  as  had,  before  the  third  day  of  November, 
1620,  been  "  actually  possessed  or  inhabited  by  any  other  Excepting 
Christian  prince  or  state,"  the  grant  should  be  "  utterly 
void."     Nothing  was  said  in  the  charter  about  any  par- 
ticular religion  :  there  was  no  suggestion  that  the  new 
colony  was  to  be  exclusively  Puritan.      Nevertheless,  it 
was  declared  and  granted,  that  the  colonists  themselves 
"  shall  have  and  enjoy  all  liberties  and  immunities"  of  Brit- 
ish subjects  ;  and  no  laws  or  ordinances  were  to  be  made 
or  executed,  by  the  corporation  or  its  officers,  "  contrary 
or  repugnant  to  the  laws  and  statutes"  of  the  realm.t 

About  two  hundred  fresh  emigrants,  sent  out  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  corporation,  joined  the  settlement  at  Salem  29  June, 
in  the  course  of  the  summer.     The  whole  population  of 
Massachusetts  Bay  now  numbered  about  three  hundred  ;  settie- 
one  third  of  whom  soon  afterward  planted  themselves  a  sa7em  and 
little  south  of  Salem,  at  Cherton,  or  Charlestown.     Under  town. 

*  Chalmers,  136  ;  Young's  Ch.  Mass.,  13,  30 ;  Bancroft,  i.,  340,  341  ;  Ilildreth,  i.,  176, 
178. 

t  Original  Charter  in  the  State  House  at  Boston  ;  copies  are  in  Ancient  Charters,  in 
Hutchinson,  and  in  Hazard  ;  Chalmers,  137.  The  e.xcepting  clause  in  the  patent  is  as  fol- 
lows :  "  Provided  always,  that  if  the  said  lands,  &c.,  were,  at  the  time  of  the  granting  of 
the  said  former  letters  patent,  dated  the  third  day  of  November,  in  the  eighteenth  year  of 
our  said  dear  father's  reign  aforesaid  (1620),  actually  possessed  or  inhabited  by  any  other 
Christian  prince  or  state,  or  were  within  the  bounds,  limits,  or  territories  of  that  southern 
colony  (of  Virginia),  that  then  this  present  grant  shall  not  extend  to  any  such  parts  or 
parcels  thereof,  so  formerly  inhabited,  or  lying  within  the  bounds  of  the  southern  planta- 
tion as  aforesaid  ;  but,  as  to  those  parts  or  parcels  so  possessed  or  inhabited  by  such 
Christian  prince  or  state,  or  being  within  the  bounds  aforesaid,  shall  be  utterly  void  ; 
Ihese  presents  or  any  thing  therein  contained  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding." — Haz- 
ard, i.,  244. 


190  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  VI.  Endicott's  influence,  a  church  was  hnmediately  organized 
at  Salem,  by  the  signature  of  a  covenant  by  thirty  persons 
6  Au^st.  ^^^  ^f  th®  *^^'o  hundred  who  formed  the  settlement.  The 
polity  of  the  ecclesiastic  colony  rejected  the  Anglican  Lit- 
urgy, and  even  denied  its  use  to  those  who  were  "  sincere 
in  their  affection  for  the  good  of  the  plantation."  This 
innovation  displeased  several  of  the  colonists,  who,  headed 
by  John  and  Samuel  Brown,  both  members  of  Endicott's 
council,  demanded  the  enjoyment  of  the  right  of  all  Brit- 
ish subjects,  to  worship  Grod  according  to  the  ritual  of  the 
Religious  Established  Church.  But  Endicott,  "whose  self-will  was 
established  inflamed  by  fanaticism,"  instantly  forbade  them  the  re- 
ciiusetts.  ligious  liberty  they  desired.  The  wrongs  which  the  hie- 
rarchy had  inflicted  upon  the  Puritans  in  the  Old  World, 
were  now  retorted  upon  powerless  Episcopalian  emigrants 
in  the  wilderness  of  the  New.  The  Browns  were  arrested 
as  "  factious  and  evil-conditioned,"  and  immediately  sent 
back  to  England,  because  they  adhered  to  an  "  immunity" 
which  the  charter  had  granted  and  declared.  But  they 
found  that  "the  blessings  of  the  promised  land  were  to  be 
kept  for  Puritanic  dissenters."  Thus  early  was  freedom 
of  conscience  banished  from  Massachusetts,  by  her  colo- 
nists themselves;  for  it  was,  indeed,  "  an  age  of  much  less 
charity  than  zeal."* 

*  Young's  Ch.  Mass.,  67,  69,  19fi,  287-292  ;  Neal's  Puritans,  i.,  299,  300  ;  Neal's  N.  E., 
i.,  141-144  ;  Hutchinson,  i.,  18  ;  Bancrott,  i.,  348-350  ,  Ilildrelh,  i.,  182,  183 ;  Chalmers' 
Revolt  of  the  Colonies,  i.,  41-43. 


PETER  MINUIT.  DIRECIOR  GENER.sl..  191 


CHAPTER  VII. 
1630-1632. 

When  Philip  of  Burgundy,  as  isovereign  of  the  Nether-  chap.  \  ii 
lands,  instituted  the  Order  of  the  Grolden  Fleece,  he  gave  "TTTTT 
to  it  the  expressive  motto  "  Pretium  non  vile  lahorum."*  ,j,j,g  g^id. 
The  legend  was  more  signifieant  than  Philip  imagined. ""  ^''"''''^' 
Industry  had  at  last  received  heraldic  honors  ;  and  the 
recompense  of  labor  could  never  be  ignoble,  while  knight- 
hood wore  upon  its  glittering  collar  the  emblem  of  that 
valued  object  which  Argonautic   enterprise  had   sought 
and  found  in  Colchis. 

The  self-relying  spirit  of  the  Dutch  had  already  conse-  industrial 

•^        "      -1  _  _  ''  spirit  oil  tio 

crated,  in  the  heart  of  the  nation,  the  sentiment  that  labor  i^""'' 
is  honorable.  In  Holland,  human  industry  and  human 
skill  early  won  their  most  splendid  triumphs.  The  whole 
land  was  a  monument  of  victorious  toil.  A  great  portion 
of  its  marshy  surface  lying  below  the  level  of  the  ocean, 
required  to  be  defended,  by  artificial  means,  against 'the 
irruption  of  the  tides.  And  every  moment  was  a  moment 
of  peril.  The  dikes,  which  had  been  built  by  hardy  in- 
dustry, could  be  maintained  only  by  ceaseless  vigilance. 
A  breach  in  an  embankment  might  Hood  a  territory  which 
years  of  incessant  labor  could  scarcely  drain.  But  the  in- 
domitable spirit  of  the  nation  was  equal  to  any  emergency. 
That  all-pervading  spirit  was  still  further  developed  by 
the  system  of  local  association,  which  the  genius  of  a  self- 
relying  people  introduced,  Holland  was  rather  an  aggre-Riseoc,f,j 
gate  of  towns,  than  a  state  in  which,  as  in  other  nations,  J^wng. 
the  towns  were  of  less  relative  importance.     The  greater 

*  Davies,  i.,  220;  McCullagh,  ii.,  107   108 


192  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  VII.  part  of  its  land  was  originally  held  by  feudal  lords,  who 
were  bound  to  protect  and  defend  their  tenants  and  re- 
tainers, in  return  for  their  allegiance  and  assistance.  Yet 
while  there  were  lords  and  vassals  in  Holland,  there  were 

No  serfs  in  no  scrfs.*'  By  degrees,  industry  sought  companionship, 
and  busy  hamlets  clustered  behind  the  rising  dikes.  These 
hamlets  gradually  expanded  into  towns  ;  and  the  hum  of 
the  active  loom  was  never  intermitted.  The  towns  soon 
grew  rich  and  powerful ;  concessions  of  franchises  were 
successively  extorted  from  the  necessities  of  feudalism ; 
and  while  the  accumulating  wealth  of  manufacturers  and 
merchants  contributed  increasing  quotas  to  the  expenses 
of  the  construction  and  maintenance  of  the  dikes,  the  ter- 
ritorial nobles  avoided  raising  questions  of  their  waning 

Burgher     authority.     On  the  other  hand,  the  tlu-ifty  burghers,  from 

ments.  the  time  they  first  surrounded  their  towns  with  perma- 
nent walls,  insisted  upon  the  principle  of  self-assessment; 
for  they  felt  that,  "  although  the  same  tribute  and  tax, 
laid  by  consent,  or  by  imposing,  be  all  one  to  the  purse, 
yet  it  worketh  diversely  upon  the  courage."!  In  every 
vicissitude  of  affairs,  the  Dutch  burghers,  therefore,  clung 
to  their  essential  principle  of  self-taxation,  which  soon  be- 
came an  immunity,  by  usage  and  prescription ;  and  the 
territorial  lord  found  that  he  must  yield  to  the  progressive 
spirit  of  popular  freedom  many  of  the  attributes  of  feudal- 
ism*, which,  in  other  lands,  were  jealously  maintained. 

The  feudal       Thus  tlic  industrial  ideas  of  the  Dutch  people  and  the 

system  i-r-xi  -iii 

modified.  OT-owinof  influence  of  the  Dutch  towns  curtailed  the  au- 
thority  of  the  feudal  chief  Those  ideas  and  that  influence 
naturally  modified  the  rigorous  form  of  the  ancient  ten- 
ures of  land.  The  noble  owner  of  the  soil,  from  being  the 
predatory  head  of  an  armed  band  of  dependents,  soon  be- 
came the  careful  landlord,  drawing  his  revenue  from  as- 
certained rent.  Living  in  the  hum  of  industry,  he  could 
not  help  unconsciously  imbibing  some  of  the  thrift  and 
prudence  of  the  laborious  classes  which  surrounded  him. 
Constant  intercourse,  in  the  relations  of  business  and  in  the 

*  Grotius.  t  Lord  Bacon  on  "  The  true  Greatness  of  Kingdoms." 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  193 

fneetino^s  of  the  Provincial  and  Greneral  States,  at  length  chap.  vii 
broke  down  many  of  the  rusting  barriers  which  had  sep-  ~TZ7Z~ 
arated  the  castle  and  the  coronet  from  the  counter  and  the 
loom.      Grradually,  the  nobles  began  to  imitate  the  mod- 
esty of  the  traders  and  working  people  in  garb  and  in  hab- 
it ;  and  frugality  and  industry  became  as  universal  and 
as  honorable  among  the  Dutch  landlords,  as  they  were  al- 
ways the  characteristic  attributes  of  the  operatives  in  the 
towns,  and  of  the  subordinate  tenants  on  estates.     The  re- 
wards of  labor  had  lessened  the  distance  between  the  lord  Landlord 
and  the  peasant ;  and  the  rights  of  the  humblest  man  in  am. 
Holland  could  not  fail  to  be  respected,  when,  by  the  cease- 
less toil  of  man  alone,  the  lands  of  Holland  were  preserved 
from  the  invasion  of  the  sea.     Common  interests  assimi- 
late humanity ;  and  distinctions  in  rank  must  necessarily 
become  less  marked,  when  all  must  work  or  drown.* 

Still,  the  lord  of  the  manor  continued  to  exercise  a  lim- 
ited jurisdiction  within  his  own  domain.     The  inhabitants 
of  Holland  are  described  by  G-rotius  as  being  early  di- 
vided into  the  three  classes  of  nobles,  well-born  men,  and 
common  people ;  but  without  any  mention  of  serfs  as  hav- 
ing ever  existed.!     Wlien  compared  with  the  social  condi- 
tion of  the  people  of  the  towns,  that  of  the  rural  popula-  condition 
tion  was,  perhaps,  less  secure  and  happy,  and  was  less  fit-  peasantry. 
ted  to  develope  the  self-relying  spirit  of  the  nation.     Yet, 
if  the  landlord  attempted  oppression,  the  tenant  had  but 
to  fly  to  the  next  town,  where  he  would  be  sure  to  find 
abundant   employment,  shelter,  and  protection.     Accus- 
tomed to  bear  arms  for  the  common  defense,  the  peasants 
of  Holland  had  learned  to  use  them  for  their  own.     Dutch 
feudalism  was  thus  shorn  of  many  attributes  which  ren- 
dered it  repulsive  in  other  lands.     Though  the  rustic  ten- 
antry certainly  enjoyed  much  less  political  influence  than 
the  inhabitants  of  the  towns,  they  still  possessed  a  large  Popular 
measure  of  popular  freedom.     They  were  happy  and  con-  ious  I'ree- 
tented,  in  tilling  their  lands,  and  in  freely  worshiping  their 

*  Guicciardini,  i.,  56  ;  Rev.  Dr.  Bethune  ;  McCullagh,  ii.,  iT7. 
t  Grotius,  Inleydinge,  i.,  14;  Davie-s,  i.,  105,  106. 

N 


194  HISTORY  OF  THE  tiTATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  VII.  God  according  to  their  consciences.  No  religious  perse- 
cution  drove  them  from  that  Fatherland  which  they  loved 
■  to  veneration.  They  needed  strong  inducements,  before 
they  would  consent  to  emigrate  to  the  New  "World. 

Charter  of       The  charter  of  "  Privileges  and  Exemptions,"  by  which 

'*  Privi-  ,  J  .  •/ 

leges  and    an  armed  commercial  monopoly  proposed  to  effect  the  per- 
tions"  for    maucut  agricultural  colonization  of  New  Netherland,  while 

patroons  in  .  ,  i      i  •     i     i 

New  Neth-it  naturally  embodied  the  peculiar  policy  of  its  mercantile 
projectors,  encouraged  the  transfer,  across  the  Atlantic,  of 
the  modified  feudalism  of  the  Fatherland.     Reserving  to 

Manhattan  tlicmselvcs  the  island  of  Manhattan,  which  the  company 

the  empori-    .,  -.  ii'-ij-  ir-  i  i- 

uni.  declared  it  was  their  intention  to  people  first,  they  desig- 

nated it  as  the  emporium  of  their  trade,  and  required  that 
ail  fruits  and  wares  "  that  arise  on  the  North  River,  and 
lands  lying  thereabouts,"  should  be  first  brought  there. 
To  private  persons,  disposed  to  settle  themselves  in  any 
other  part  of  New  Netherland,  the  company  offered  the  ab- 
solute property  of  as  much  land  as  the  emigrants  might  be 
able  "properly  to  improve."  They  were  also  to  have  "  free 
liberty  of  hunting  and  fowling,"  according  to  the  regula- 
tions of  the  Provincial  director  and  council.  Exploration 
was  specially  encouraged.  Whoever  should  "discover  any 
shores,  bays,  or  other  fit  places  for  erecting  fisheries,  or 
the  making  of  salt  ponds,"  was  promised  an  absolute  and 
exclusive  property  in  such  discoveries. 

But  it  was  obvious  that  the  rural  tenantry  of  Holland 
did  not  possess  the  requisite  means  to  sustain  the  expenses 
of  emigration ;  and  the  associated  directors  thought  that 
the  permanent  agricultural  settlement  of  their  American 
province  could  be  best  accomplished  by  the  organization 

Colonies,  of  Separate  subordinate  "colonies,"  or  manors,  under  large 
proprietaries.  To  tempt  the  ambition  of  such  capitalists, 
peculiar  privileges  were  offered  to  them.  These  privi- 
leges, nevertheless,  were  carefullv  confined  to  members  of 
the  West  India  Company.  The  charter  provided  that  any 
such  member  as  should,  within  four  years,  plant  a  colony 
of  fifty  adults,  in  any  part  of  New  Netherland,  except  the 
reserved  island  of  Manhattan,  should  be  acknowledged  as 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  195 

a  "  Patroon,"  or  feudal  chief  of  the  territory  he  might  ckap.  vu. 
thus  colonize.  The  lands  selected  for  each  colony  might 
extend  sixteen  miles  in  length,  if  confined  to  one  side  of  a  patro'ons 
navigable  river ;  or  eight  miles  on  each  side,  if  both  banks 
were  occupied  ;  but  they  might  run  as  far  into  the  coun- 
try "  as  the  situation  of  the  occupiers  will  permit."  If  a 
proportionate  number  of  additional  emigrants  should  be 
settled,  the  limits  of  the  colonies  might  be  proportionally 
enlarged.  Each  patroon  was  promised  a  full  title  by  in- 
heritance, with  venia  testandi,  or  the  right  to  dispose  of 
his  estate  by  will.  He  was  to  have  "  the  chief  command 
and  lower  jurisdictions,"  and  the  exclusive  privilege  of  fish- 
ing, fowling,  and  grinding,  within  his  own  domain.  In 
case  any  patroon  "  should  in  time  prosper  so  much  as  to 
found  one  or  more  cities,"  he  was  to  have  "power  and  au- 
thority to  establish  officers  and  magistrates  there."  The 
patroons  were  to  furnish  their  colonies  with  "  proper  in- 
structions, in  order  that  they  may  be  ruled  and  governed 
conformably  to  the  rule  of  government  made  or  to  be  made 
by  the  Assembly  of  the  XIX."  From  all  judgments  in  the 
manorial  courts  of  the  patroons,  for  upward  of  fifty  guild- 
ers, an  appeal  might  lie  to  the  director  and  council  in  New 
Netherland.  For  the  space  of  ten  years,  the  colonists  un-  coioni.4ra 
der  the  patroons  were  to  be  entirely  free  from  "  customs,  patroans^ 
taxes,  excise,  imposts,  or  any  other  contributions."  But 
none  of  these  colonists,  "  either  man  or  woman,  son  or 
daughter,  man-servant  or  maid-servant,"  could  be  allowed 
to  leave  the  service  of  their  patroons  during  the  period  for 
which  they  might  be  bound  to  remain,  except  by  the  writ- 
ten consent  of  such  patroon  ;  and  the  company  pledged  it- 
self to  do  every  thing  in  its  power  to  apprehend  and  de- 
liver up  every  such  colonist  "as  shall  leave  the  service  of 
his  patroon  and  enter  into  the  service  of  another,  or  shall, 
contrary  to  his  contract,  leave  his  service." 

The  patroons  themselves  might  trade  all  along  the  coast  Priviicpe^^ 
from  Florida  to  Newfoundland,  provided  the  cargoes  pro-troons 
cured  were  brought  to  Manhattan  ;  whence  they  might  be 
sent  to  Holland,  after  paying  a  duty  of  five  per  cent,  to 


196        HISTORY  OF  THL  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  VII.  the  Company.  The  patroons  were  also  promised  the  free- 
clom  of  trade  and  traffic  "  all  along  the  coast  of  New  Neth- 
The  peltry  crl^nd  and  places  chcumjacent,"  in  every  kind  of  mer- 
Lenedito  chandise,  "  except  beavers,  otters,  minks,  and  all  sorts  of 
thecdnpa-  peltry,"  which  trade  the  company  reserved  to  itself.  The 
fur  trade,  however,  was  permitted  to  the  patroons,  "  at 
such  places  where  the  company  have  no  factories,"  upon 
condition  that  all  peltries  thus  procured  should  be  brought 
to  Manhattan,  and  delivered  to  the  director  for  shipment 
to  Holland.  Freedom  of  the  fisheries  was  also  promised  : 
with  the  fish  they  caught,  the  patroons  might  trade  to  It- 
aly and  other  neutral  countries,  paying  to  the  company  a 
duty  of  three  guilders  for  every  ton. 
Reciprocal  AH  the  colouists,  wliethcr  independent  or  under  patroons, 
andrest°ri'c^.  wcrc  positively  forbidden  "  to  make  any  woolen,  linen,  or 
cotton  cloth,  or  weave  any  other  stuffs  there,  on  pain  of 
being  banished,  and  as  perjurers  to  be  arbitrarily  pun- 
ished." On  the  other  hand,  the  company  promised  to  pro- 
tect and  defend  all  the  colonists,  whether  free  or  in  serv- 
ice, "  against  all  outlandish  and  inlandish  wars  and  pow- 
ers." The  company  likewise  agreed  "  to  finish  the  fort 
on  the  island  of  the  Manhattes,  and  put  it  in  a  posture  of 
defense,  without  delay."  The  company  further  promised 
to  supply  the  colonists  with  "as  many  blacks  as  they  con- 
veniently could  ;"  but  they  were  not  to  be  bound  to  do  this 
"for  a  longer  time  than  they  should  think  proper."  The 
charter  also  distinctly  provided,  that  "whoever  shall  settle 
any  colony  out  of  the  limits  of  the  Manhattes  Island,  shall 
be  obliged  to  satisfy  the  Indians  for  the  land  they  shall 
settle  upon."  The  patroons  and  colonists  were  likewise 
enjoined  to  make  prompt  provision  for  the  support  of  "  a 
Minister  and  Minister  and  Schoolmaster,  that  thus  the  service  of  Grod 

Schoolmas-         i  i    r-  t     •  i  i   i 

ter.  and  zeal  for  religion  may  not  grow  cool,  and  be  neglected 

among  them ;  and  that  they  do,  for  the  first,  procure  a 
Comforter  of  the  Sick  there."  Each  separate  colon} 
might  appoint  a  deputy,  to  confer  upon  its  affairs  with  the 
director  and  council  of  New  Netherland  ;  and  every  col 
ony  was  specially  required  to  make  an  annual  and  exact 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.   ■  197 

report  of  its  situation,  to  the  authorities  at  Manhattan,  for  chap  vii 
transmission  to  the  company  at  Amsterdam.*  ~T7Z 

Such  were  the  chief  features  of  the  West  India  Com- 
pany's famous  charter  of  "Freedoms  and  Exemptions"  for 
the  agricultural  colonization  of  its  American  province.  TUechartci 
But  the  spirit  of  that  charter  was  adverse  to  the  true  in-  bie  to  the 
terests  of  the  province,  and  its  effects  were  blighting  and 
unhappy.  It  encouraged  the  transfer  to  New  Netherland 
of  some  of  the  most  ohjectionable  elements  in  the  modified 
feudalism  of  the  Fatherland.  It  offered  the  most  attract- 
ive inducements  to  the  ambition  of  stockholders  of  the 
company,  in  the  peculiar  privileges  which  were  to  be  en- 
joyed by  the  patroons  of  separate  colonies  ;  and  it  sought 
to  allure  colonists  to  emigrate  under  such  patroons,  by 
promising,  to  them  alone,  a  ten  years'  exemption  from  tax- 
ation. While  it  conferred  enormous  specific  powers  on 
these  patroons,  it  carefully  recognized  the  universal  com- 
mercial monopoly  of  the  company  ;  and  it  aimed  at  main- 
taining an  unquestioned  political  supremacy,  by  requiring 
annual  reports  of  the  condition  of  each  subordinate  colony 
to  be  made  to  the  director  and  council  at  Manhattan.  It 
prohibited  colonial  manufactures  under  penalty  of  banish- 
ment, and  restrained  colonial  commerce  by  the  threat  of 
confiscation.  It  pledged  the  company  to  a  qualified  sup- 
port of  the  slave  trade. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  all  the  blemishes  by  which  the  RedeemiRg 
selfishness  of  monopoly  defaced  the  charter,  it  still  had  ^^  "''''*' 
many  redeeming  features.  It  solemnly  recognized  the 
rights  of  the  aboriginal  red  man,  and  secured  him  satis- 
faction for  his  land.  It  invited  the  emigration  of  inde- 
pendent farmers,  by  promising  to  every  one  a  homestead. 
It  provided  for  the  good  government  of  the  subordinate 
colonies,  and  for  the  right  of  appeal  from  the  manorial 
courts.  It  promised  protection  and  defense  to  all  the  col- 
onists ;  and  it  encouraged  religion  and  learning,  by  enjoin- 
ing the  support  of  churches  and  schools. 

*  See  Charter  of  "  Privileges  and  Exemptions"  at  length,  in  Wassenaar,  xviii.,  94 ; 
Moulton,  389  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  112;  ii.,  N.  Y.  II,  S.  Collections,  i.,  370. 


198  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  vii.  The  introduction  of  the  feudal  system  into  New  Neth- 
erland,  was  the  most  unfortunate  result  of  the  charter  of 
Feudalism  exemptions.  In  the  Fatherland,  the  industrial  spirit  of  a 
•'ntTNew*^  self-relying  and  liberty-loving  people  had  shorn  feudalism 
hlnd!""^'  of  many  of  its  worst  attributes ;  and,  practically,  there 
was,  perhaps,  now,  more  popular  freedom  in  Holland,  than 
in  England,  or  in  any  other  country  in  the  Old  World. 
J^ut  there  is  always  danger  in  delegating  political  pow- 
ers ;  and  the  danger  increases  the  further  the  exercise  ol 
those  powers  is  removed  from  the  fountain  of  supreme  au- 
thority. Feudalism,  which  in  Holland  was  made  to  bow 
before  the  spirit  of  a  people  long  accustomed  to  self-gov- 
ernment, had  less  restraint  in  the  distant  Province,  which 
was  itself  wholly  under  the  arbitrary  rule  of  a  commercial 
corporation.  The  free  spirit  of  the  Netherlander  went  with 
him,  indeed,  to  his  new  home  across  the  sea.  But  his  po- 
litical freedom  was  less  secure  there,  than  in  the  Father- 
land. It  was  only  by  degrees,  and  after  constant  struggles 
against  an  oppressive  colonial  government,  that  the  people 
of  New  Netherland  worked  their  way  to  some  of  those 
franchises  which  their  countrymen  were  enjoying  at  home. 
The  colonists  under  the  patroons  were  subjected  to  the 
double  pressure  of  feudal  exaction  and  mercantile  mo- 
nopoly, 
roioniza-        Thus  it  was,  that  the  agricultural  colonization  of  New 

tioii  more  '  ~ 

ed'fn  New  Ncthcrland  was  begun  under  circumstances,  in  many  re- 
spects, less  favorable  to  the  development  of  true  popular 
liberty,  than  was  the  colonization  of  New  England.  The 
feudal  system  of  Europe  was  never  introduced  into  the 
Puritan  colonies ;  nor  were  their  magistrates  the  agents 
6f  close  commercial  monopolies  in  the  mother  country. 
The  first  settlements  in  New  England  were  unembarrassed 
by  the  difficulties  which  paralyzed  the  prosperity  of  New 
Netherland.  The  Puritan  emigrants  to  America  had  a 
clear  field  and  a  fair  start.  No  political  incubus  oppressed 
them.  They  claimed  to  form  their  own  governments ;  and, 
to  a  great  extent,  they  did  form  them.  Every  advantage 
was  on  their  side :  and  it  was  less  the  fault  of  circum- 


Netherland 
than  in 
New  En 
gland. 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL  199 

stance  than  of  will,  if  the  grand  principles  of  Democratic  chap.  vii. 

liberty  did  not,  at  once,  receive  a  noble  illustration  at 

•   •         •  1630 

their  hands.     If  religious  intolerance  smothered  popular 

freedom  in  the  Puritan  colonies,  it  was  not  because  the 
Council  of  Plymouth  forced  an  involuntary  policy  upon 
their  inhabitants.  If  civil  liberty  was  hampered  and  re- 
strained, it  was  not  because  the  people  of  New  England, 
like  the  people  of  New  Netherland,  were  constantly 
obliged  to  wring  reluctant  concessions  of  popular  rights 
from  grudging  superiors  at  home. 

The  privileges  which  the  charter  offered  to  patroons  Privileges 

1 .      ,  .  ,  .  .  .  of  patroons 

were  peculiarly  attractive  to  the  aristocratic  sentiment  attractive 

.  ...  .  to  the 

which  grew  with  the  acquisition  of  wealth  in  Republican  Dutch  mer- 

chants* 

Holland.  Almost  all  the  land  outside  of  the  walls  of  the 
towns  was  already  the  property  of  old  and  noble  families, 
who  were  loth  to  part  with  any  portion  of  their  hereditary 
estates.  It  was,  therefore,  no  easy  matter  for  a  Dutch 
merchant,  who  had  grown  rich,  to  become  a  Dutch  land- 
lord. Though  much  of  the  prejudice  which  had  separated 
the  ancient  noble  from  the  wealthy  burgher  of  the  Father- 
land was  worn  away,  there  still  remained  a  great  gulf  be- 
tween them.  But  now,  boundless  estates  might  easily  be 
secured  on  the  magnificent  rivers  of  New  Netherland,  and 
the  yearnings  of  successful  tradesmen  be  readily  gratified. 
From  the  middle  rank  of  enterprising  men  who  had  reared 
Dutch  commerce  and  trade  upon  the  basis  of  Dutch  liber- 
ty and  industry,  was  now  to  be  formed  a  specially-privi- 
leged class,  in  a  new  and  growing  world.  The  Holland 
shareholder  might  now  become  the  colonial  patroon.  The 
lord  of  the  Amsterdam  counting-house  might  now  become 
the  lord  of  the  New  Netherland  manor. 

The  charter  of  Freedoms  and  Exemptions,  which  had  charter 
been  adopted  by  the  College  of  XIX.  in  the  summer  of 
1629,  was  printed,  in  a  pamphlet  form,  early  the  follow-  March 
ing  year,  and  circulated  throughout  the  United  Provinces. 
By  this  means,  the  attention  of  stockholders  in  the  com- 
pany, who  might  be  desirous  to  become  patroons,  as  well 
as  of  persons  of  all  classes  who  might  be  disposed  to  emi- 


200  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  VII.  gi'ate  from  the  Fatherland,  was  invited  to  the  temperate 
climate,  fertile  soil,  varied  resources,  and  advantageous 
commercial  situation  of  New  Netherland.* 

While  the  details  of  the  charter  were  yet  under  advise- 
Piitroon-  ment  in  the  meetings  of  the  company,  several  directors  of 
cured  by     tlic  Amsterdam  Chamber,  who  had  been  appointed  "com- 

ttieAnister-       .  .  r   -\r  tvt     i        i         i  nj. 

(lamdirec-  missarics  of  Ncw  iNetherland,"t  hastened  to  appropriate 
to  themselves  the  extensive  privileges  which  they  knew 
would  soon  be  publicly  guaranteed  to  colonial  proprieta- 
ries. The  most  prompt  in  action  were  Samuel  G-odyn  and 
Samuel  Blommaert ;  the  latter  of  whom  had  befriended 
Isaac  de  Rasieres,  the  late  secretary  of  the  Province.  In- 
fluenced, perhaps,  by  his  representations,  Godyn  and  Blom- 
maert dispatched  two  persons  to  the  South  River,  "to  ex- 
amine into  the  situation  of  those  quarters,"  and  purchase 

1629.  a  tract  of  land  from  the  savages.     At  the  first  meeting  of 
ly  June.     ^YiQ  Amsterdam  Chamber  after  the  adoption  of  the  charter, 

Godyn  notified  his  associate  directors  that,  in  quality  of 
patroon,  he  had  undertaken  "  to  occupy  the  Bay  of  the 
South  River,"  and  that  he  had  "  advised  the  director,  Pe- 
ter Minuit,  and  charged  him  to  register  the  same  there. "t 
The  agents  in  New  Netherland  faithfully  executed  the 
Godyn  and  ordcrs  of  their  principals  in  Holland.     A  tract  of  land  on 

Blommaert  ci-n  ccii-n-ii 

purchase  on  "  tlio  SOU  til  comcr  oi  thc  Bay  ot  South  River,"  extending 

the  South  ''  /-I  TT-     1 

River.  iiorthward  about  thirty-two  miles  "  from  Cape  Hinlopen 
to  the  mouth  of  the  said  river,"  and  inland  about  two  miles 
in  breadth,  was  actually  purchased  from  the  native  In- 

1  June.  dians,  for  Godyn  and  Blommaert,  a  few  days  before  the 
adoption  of  the  charter  in  Holland.     The  formal  patent 

1630.  for  the  territory  thus  secured,  was  attested  in  the  summer 
.s  July.      ^£  ^^^  following  year,  by  the  director  and  council,  at  Man- 
hattan.^     It  was   the  first  European  title,  by  purchase 
from  the  aborigines,  within  the  limits  of  the  present  State 


*  Wassenaar,  xviii.,  94  ;  Lambrechtsen,  29  ;  Moulton,  3g9  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  11.  S.  Coll.,  i..  369. 

+  De  Vries,  162.  i  Hazard's  Ann.  Penn.,  22  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  4T9. 

t)  Hoi.  Doc,  i.,  176  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  122.  The  original  patent  to  Godyn  and  Blommaert— 
which  I  found  in  the  West  India  House,  at  Amsterdam,  in  1S41 — is  now  deposited  in  the 
Secretary's  Office  at  Albany.  It  has  the  only  signatures,  known  to  exist,  of  Minuit  ana  hiy 
council 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  201 

of  Delaware  ;  and  it  bears  date  two  years  before  the  char-  chap.  vii 
ter  of  Maryland,  granted  to  Lord  Baltimore  by  Charles  I. 

Another  director  of  the  Amsterdam  Chamber,  Kiliaen  j^^jj^p^ y^,, 
van  Rensselaer,  "who  was  accustomed  to  polish  (rafinee- J^^ "^a"/^'^'' 
ren)  pearls  and  diamonds,"*  had  his  attention  meanwhile  l°gll^^' 
directed  to  the  regions  adjacent  to  Fort  Orange,  on  the 
North  River  ;  where  Sebastian  Jansen  Krol  had  now  been 
stationed  for  four  years,  as  under  director  and  commissa- 
ry of  the  West  India  Company.     At  Van  Rensselaer's  re- 
quest, Krol  purchased  for  him,  from  the  Indian  proprietors,  8  Apni. 
a  tract  of  land  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  extending 
northward  from  Beeren  Island!  to  Smack's  Island,  and 
"  stretching  two  days'  journey  into  the  interior."     In  the 
mean  time,  vigorous  preparations  for  colonization  had  been  sends  out 
made  ;  and  several  emigrants,  well  provided  with  imple-  Renssei- 
ments  and  cattle,  were  sent  out  from  Holland,  early  in  the 
spring,  under  the  supervision  of  Wolfert  Grerritsen,  as  "op- 
per-bouwmeester,"  or  overseer  of  farms.     The  colonists  em-  21  March, 
barked  at  the  Texel,  in  the  ship  "  Eendragt,"  or  Unity, 
Captain  John  Brouwer.     In  a  few  weeks  they  arrived  at 
Manhattan ;  whence  they  proceeded  at  once  to  Fort  Or-  24  May 
ange,  and  commenced  the  actual  settlement  of  the  "  colo- 
nie  of  Rensselaerswyck."     Krol's  first  purchase,  however, 
did  not  comprehend  the  lands  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
Fort  Orange.     A  few  weeks  after  the  arrival  of  the  first 
colonists,  the  patroon's  special  agent,  Grillis  Hossett,  in  sail- 
ing up  the  river,  came  to  the  place  where  several  men  were 
busy  in  cutting  timber  for  a  new  ship  which  Minuit  was 
building  at  Manhattan.     Meeting  there  several  Indian  sa-  Additional 
chems,  Hossett  secured  for  Van  Rensselaer  the  cession  of  chased  o  1 

ttlG  west 

their  lands  "on  the  west  side  of  the  North  River,  south  and  east 
and  north  of  the  Fort  Orange,"  and  extending  nearly  to  river. 

27  July. 

the  "  Monemins  Castle,"  on  a  small  island  now  called 
Haver  Island,  at  the  confluence  of  the  Mohawk.  The  land 
on  the  east  side  of  the  North  River,  extending  northward- 

*  De  Vries,  p.  162;  ii.,  N.  Y.  11.  S.  Coll.,  iii.,  p.  99. 

t  "  Boar's  Island,  since  called  Barren  Island,  about  twelve  miles  south  of  Albany." — 
Moulton,  403. 


202  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  VII.  ly  from  Castle  Island  to  the  Mohawk,  was  the  private  prop- 
erty  of  the  sachem  Nawanemitt.     From  him,  Van  Rens- 
■   ■  selaer's  agents  also  purchased  the  territory  "  called  Sem- 
esseeck,  lying  on  the  east  side  of  the  aforesaid  river,  op- 
posite the  Fort  Orange,  as  well  above  as  below,  and  from 
Poetanock,  the  mill  creek,  northwards  to  Negagonce,  being 
8  August,    about  twelve  miles  large  measure."    These  purchases  were 
13  August,  confirmed  a  few  days  afterward,  by  formal  patents,  signed 
Extent  of   by  the  director  and  council  at  Manhattan.*    Thus  a  large 
oiRenssei-  portiou  of  tlic  prcscut  couuties  of  Albany  and  Rensselaer 
became  the  private  property  of  a  shrewd  member  of  the 
Amsterdam  Chamber.     Fort  Orange  itself,  with  the  lane' 
immediately  round  its  walls,  was  all  that  now  remamed, 
in  that  neighborhood,  under  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of 
the  West  India  Company. 
Michael  Au  invitiug  region  near  Manhattan  was  still  unappro- 

ch^Z^pl-  priated.  Another  director  of  the  Amsterdam  Chamber, 
statenisi-  Micliacl  Pauw,  of  Achtienhoven,  near  Utrecht,  finding 
that  Van  Rensselaer  had  already  monopolized  the  lands 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Fort  Orange,  hastened  to  secure 
12  July,  for  himself,  the  tract  called  "  Hobokan-Hacking,  lying  op- 
posite the  Island  Manhatas,"  and  bounded  on  the  east  by 
the  North  River,  and  on  the  south  by  Ahasimus.t  A  few 
days  afterward,  Pauw  also  procured  from  its  Indian  own- 
ers the  cession  of  the  whole  of  Staten  Island,  "on  the  west 
shore  of  Hamel's  Hooftden,"1:  now  called  the  Narrows. 
The  purchase  of  Staten  Island  was  succeeded,  in  the  fol- 
22  Nov.  lowing  autumn,  by  the  still  more  advantageous  investiture 
of  "Ahasimus"  and  "Aressick,"  extending  "along  the 
River  Mauritius  and  Island  Manhatas  on  the  east  side, 
and  the  Island  Hobokan-Hacking  on  the  north  side,  and 
surrounded  by  marshes,  serving  sufiiciently  for  distinct 
boundaries."  The  spot  was  a  favorite  resort  for  the  In- 
dians, who  were  in  the  habit  of  conveying  their  peltries 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  i.,  181  ;  Alb.  Rec,  i.,  199  ;  G.  G.,  4-26  ;  Deed  Book,  vii. ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y., 
ii.,  49  ;  Rensselaerswyck  MSS.  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  122-125,  319,  429  ;  Moulton,  403. 
t  Modern  usage  has  converted  "Ahasimus"  into  "Horsimus." 

t  These  "  Hooftden,"  or  headlands,  were  so  named  after  Hendrick  Hamel,  one  of  th 
members  of  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  ;  see  ante,  p.  148. 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  203 

from  that  point,  directly  across  the  river  to  Fort  Amster-cnAP.  vii  - 
dam.     This  desirable  purchase  included  the  wliole  neigh- 
borhood  of  "  Paulus'  Hook,"  or  Jersey  City  ;  and  the  sa- 
gacious Pauw,  Latinizing  his  patronymic,  gave  the  name 
of  "Pavonia"  to  his  embryo  colony.* 

Thus  the  most  important  points  on  the  North  and  South  The  best 

tracts  in 

Rivers  of  New   Netherland   were  caught  up  by  astute  New  Netii 

T-i  erland  mo- 

managers  of  the  Amsterdam  Chamber.  But  in  all  mo- nopouzed 
nopolies  there  is  a  selfishness  which  repels  the  disinterest-  troons. 
ed.  What  lure  could  the  company  now  hold  out  to  inde- 
pendent emigrants  ?  Rich  directors,  forestalling  humbler 
competition,  had  made  prize  of  the  most  valuable  regions  ; 
and,  the  company's  rigorous  protective  impolicy  prohibit- 
ing all  colonial  commerce  and  manufactures,  individual 
enterprise  had  little  inducement  to  emigrate  to  a  new 
country  against  such  heavy  odds.  Where  was  the  good 
genius  of  the  liberal  republic,  when  trade  and  commerce 
wore  unworthy  shackles  in  the  American  province,  which 
Holland  merchants  claimed  to  govern  ?  For  enaTossinof 
cupidity  now  reigned  triumphant  in  the  councils  of  the 
Amsterdam  Chamber,  and  the  fortunes  of  New  Netherland 
awaited  the  issue  of  the  experiment  it  proposed. 

The  several  patroonships,  however,  had  been  acquired  Jealousies 

11  ^      •  !•        f  ^■  1  among  the 

by  the  adroitness  ot  a  few  directors  who  "helped  them- •"rectors at 
selves  by  the  cunning  tricks  of  merchants ;"  and  it  was  <!«">. 
soon  found  necessary  to  conciliate  the  good-will  and  co- 
operation of  those  less  wary  associates  who  had  been  an- 
ticipated by  their  prompt  proceedings. 

When  the  news  of  the  purchases  reached  Holland,  jeal- 
ousy of  the  fortunate  patroons  was  very  naturally  express- 
ed by  their  colleagues.    Dissatisfaction  was  also  felt  among 

*  Alb.  Rec,  G.  G.,  7-30  ;  De  Vrios,  162 ;  Moulton,  402,  403  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  126.  The  pat- 
ent to  Michael  Pauw  for  Staten  Island,  which  was  attested  by  Minuit  and  his  council,  on  ' 
the  15th  July,  1631,  recites,  that  the  inhabitants,  owners,  and  heirs  of  the  land  "called  by 
us  (the  Dutch)  the  Staten  Island,  on  the  west  shore  of  llamel's  Ilooftden,"  appeared  before 
the  director  and  council  of  New  Netherland,  and  declared  that,  "in  consideration  of  cer- 
tain parcels  of  goods,"  they  had  sold  the  island  to  Michael  Pauw,  in  whose  behalf  Minuit 
and  his  council  accepted  the  conveyance.  This  patent  seems  to  have  been  the  first  Indian 
conveyance  of  the  island  ;  and  it  would  scarcely  have  been  signed  by  Minuit,  if  the  island 
had  already  been  bought  by  him,  in  1626,  for  the  West  India  Company,  as  affirmed  by 
O'Callaghan,  i.,  p.  101.  The  statements  in  IIol.  Doc,  vii.,  70,  and  in  Biiverninck,  60S, 
seem  to  be  too  vague  to  warrant  that  assertion. 


204        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ciiAP.  VII.  the  shareholders  of  the  company,  that  indi.^idual  directors 
had  grasped  too  much  territory ;  and  Pauw's  purchase  of 
Pavonia  was  especially  unpopular,  as  it  included  the  im- 
portant spot  where  the  Indians  had  been  accustomed  to 
assemble  for  trade,  and  whence  they  crossed  directly  over 
to  Manhattan.* 

To  appease  the  dissatisfied,  as  well  as  to  secure  more 

The  pa-      amplc  Capital  and  more  greneral  interest,  the  original  pa- 

iroonship  ^  i  i-        i  •  i 

divided,     troons  were  obliged  to  receive  other  members  of  the  com- 
pany into  copartnership  with  themselves.     This  was  nec- 
1631.  essary,  in  order  to  insure  the  confirmation  of  the  patents 
amiary.  ^^^^  ^|^^  patroouships  by  the  College  of  XIX.     But  even 
this  arrangement  did  not  entirely  allay  dissatisfaction,  nor 
relieve  the  charter  itself  from  criticism  and  attack.! 
1630.       Accordingly,  Van  Rensselaer  divided  his  estate  about 
Fort  Orange  into  a  common  stock  of  five  shares.     Two  of 
Renssei-    tlicsc  sliarcs  hc  retained  in  his  own  hands,  together  with 

aerswyck       ■<  ■    ■,  i   i  „        .     .        ,  ■, 

shared,      tlic  title  and  honors  of  original  patroon  ;  one  share  was  al- 
lotted to  the  historian  John  de  Laet,  another  to  Samuel 
Grodyn,  and  the  fifth  to  Samuel  Blommaert ;  all  of  whom 
were  directors  of  the  Amsterdam  Chamber.     With  Blom- 
maert were  also  associated  Adam  Bissels  and  Toussaint 
Moussart.     By  their  articles  of  association,  the  six  partners 
became  co-directors  of  the  "  colonie"  of  Rensselaerswyck  ; 
the  particular  management  of  which,  however,  was  in- 
trusted to  a  board,  in  which  Van  Rensselaer  controlled 
two  votes,  and  all  the  other  partners  two.t 
Godyn  and      Grodyu  and  BlomiTiaert  also  shared  with  other  partners 
also  share  the  benefits  of  their  purchase  on  the  South  River.     It  hap- 
chasef"'^    pened  opportunely,  that  David  Pietersen  de  Vries,  the  en- 

*  De  Vries,  162 ;  Moulton,  404.  t  Hoi.  Doc,  ii.,  100-103  ;  Moulton,  404. 

t  Hoi.  Doc,  v.,  298  ;  vi.,  303  ;  Alb.  Rec,  viii.,  72  ;  Renss.  MSS. ;  De  Vries,  162  ;  O'Call., 
i.,  127;  D.  D.  Barnard's  Sketch,  109.  On  the  ancient  map  of  the  colony,  in  the  posses- 
sion of  Mr.  Van  Rensselaer,  at  Albany,  "  Blommaert's  Burg"  is  laid  down  at  the  mouth 
of  "  Blommaert's  Kill,"  now  known  as  Patroon's  Creek.  "  De  Laet's  Island"'  -was  the 
original  name  of  what  is  now  known  as  Van  Rensselaer's  Island,  opposite  Albany  ;  and 
•'  De  Laet's  Burg"  answers  to  the  present  Greenbush.  "  Godyn's  Islands"  are  laid  down 
a  short  distance  below,  on  the  east  shore.  Mr.  Barnard  intimates  that  the  articles  of  co- 
partnersliip  of  the  16th  of  October,  1630,  did  not  refer  to  Rensselaerswyck  ;  but  besides  the 
presumptive  evidence  of  the  names  on  the  old  map,  there  is  clear  proof  of  the  partnership 
in  the  Documents  and  Records,  quoted  above.  In  1685,  however,  the  estate  was  repur- 
chased from  the  heirs  of  the  criginal  partners. 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  200 

terprising  mariner  of  Hoorn,  who,  in  1G24,  had  attempted  t.-HAP.  vu 
to  invade  the  West  India  Company's  monopoly,  had  just 
returned  from  a  three  years'  voyage  to  the  East  Indies,  g,  j^,,g '' 
where  he  had  served  as  supercargo.     His  good  conduct 
gained  him  many  friends  ;  and  Grodyn,  with  whom  he  had 
old  acquaintance,  meeting  him  about  two  months  after  his  August. 
return,  asked  whether  he  would  like  to  go  to  New  Neth- 
erland,  as  "under  patroon"  and  commander?     De  Vries 
assented,  upon  condition  that  he  should  be  made  a  patroon 
upon  an  equality  with  the  rest.     A  partnership  was  ac-  lo  octobei 
cordingly   formed  between   Godyn  and  Blommaert,  and  vries  ma« 
Van  Rensselaer,  De  Laet,  and  De  Vries  himself.     Four 
other  directors  of  the  West  India  Company — Van  Ceulen, 
Hamel,  Van  Haringhoeck,  and  Van  Sittorigh — were  soon 
afterward  admitted  as  additional  partners ;  and  the  ship 
"  Walvis,"  or  Whale,  of  eighteen  guns,  and  a  yacht,  were 
immediately  equipped  to  prosecute  their  enterprise.     Go- 
dyn having  been  informed  that  whales  abounded  at  the 
mouth  of  the  South  Bay,  thought  that  a  profitable  fishery 
might  be  carried  on  there,  "  and  thereby  that  beautiful 
country  be   cultivated."     So,  besides  a  number  of  emi- 
grants and  a  large  stock  of  cattle,  to  begin  a  colony  on 
the  South  Eiver,  the  vessels  carried  out  whaling  equip- 
ments.    In  the  middle  of  December,  the  expedition  sailed  12  Dec. 
from  the  Texel,  with  instructions  to  land  some  of  their  pas-  seXto  t'lu 
sengers  at  the  island  of  Tortugas,  which  Grodyn  and  his  er  under 
partners  had  contracted  with  sixty  Frenchmen  to  hold  for  iieyes. 
them  as  a  colony,  under  the  States  General  and  the  West 
India  Company,     The  command  of  the  vessels  was  intrust- 
ed to  Pieter  Heyes,  of  Edam,  in  North  Holland ;  De  Vries 
himself  remaining  at  Amsterdam.* 

The  expedition  was  unlucky  from  the  start.     A  week  20  Dec 

*  Moulton,  and  all  the  writers  who  follow  him,  relying  on  the  inaccurate  translation 
of  the  Du  Simitiere  MSS.,  erroneously  represent  De  Vries  as  accompanying,  in  person, 
the  first  expedition  to  the  South  River,  in  December,  1G30.  The  original  work,  which 
I  follow,  shows  that  the  first  expedition  sailed  from  Holland  under  the  command  of  Pieter 
lleyes.  On  the  return  of  Iieyes,  in  September,  1631,  De  Vries  consented  to  go  out  to  New 
Netherland  in  person,  as  "patroon  and  commander  of  the  vessels."  lie  accordingly  left 
the  Texel,  for  the  first  time,  on  the  2-lth  of  May,  1632  ;  and  being  delayed  two  months  at 
Portsmouth,  and  four  more  in  the  West  Indies,  he  did  not  reach  the  South  River  until  Do- 
temher,  1632.— De  Vries's  Voyages,  p.  95-101  ;  Alb.  Rec,  xxvi.,  27,  3C    nost,  p.  219. 


206  HISTORY   OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  VII.  after  it  sailed,  the  partners  at  Amsterdam  received  intel- 
ligence  that,  through  the  carelessness  of  the  large  ship, 
the  yacht  had  been  captured  by  a  Dunkirk  privateer. 
The  Walvis,  however,  pursued  her  course  ;  and,  after  vis- 
iting Tortugas,  which  was  found  in  possession  of  the  Span- 
iards, conveyed  her  passengers  to  the  South  River,  where 
1631.  she  arrived  early  the  next  spring.     Running  along  the 

April.  west  shore  of  the  bay,  a  few  miles  within  Cape  Cornelius, 
Heyes  came  to  the  Horekill,  "  a  fine  navigable  stream," 
filled  with  islands,  abounding  in  good  oysters,  and  bor- 
dered by  land  of  "  exuberant  fertility."  Upon  the  bank 
of  this  beautiful  creek,  which  afforded  a  roadstead  une- 
qualed  in  the  whole  bay  for  safety  and  convenience,  "  a 
brick  house,"  to  serve  as  a  fort  as  well  as  a  residence,  was 
soon  erected  and  inclosed  with  palisades.  G-illis  Hossett, 
who  had  acted  as  Van  Rensselaer's  agent  in  the  purchases 

Colony  es-  around  Fort  Onnire  the  previous  summer,  was  placed  in 

lablishedat  ^  i  •    i  r-  n 

swaanen-  charge  of  the  settlement,  which  was  now  formally  named 
"  Swaanendael ;"  and  the  Dutch  title,  by  discovery,  pur- 
chase, and  occupation,  was  solemnly  asserted  by  the  erec- 
tion of  a  pillar,  surmounted  by  a  piece  of  tin,  on  which 
were  emblazoned  the  arms  of  Holland,  Thus,  upon  the 
soil  of  Delaware,  near  the  present  town  of  Lewiston,  a 
Dutch  colony  of  about  thirty  souls  was  first  planted  in  the 
spring  of  1631.  The  voyage  of  Heyes  was  "  the  cradling 
of  a  state."* 

iMay.  After  establishing  the  colony  at  Swaanendael,  Heyes 

Purchase  of  '^  •'  .  '  - 

Cape  May.  crosscd  ovcr  to  thc  Jcrscy  shore,  and,  in  behalf  of  Godyn 
and  Blommaert,  purchased  from  ten  Indian  chiefs,  "  the 

*  De  Vries,  95,  100 ;  Korte  Verhael  van  N.  N. ;  A'ertoogh  van  N.  N.,  in  Hoi.  Doc,  iv., 
71,  and  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  281  ;  Moulton,  406 ;  Bancroft,  ii.,  281 ;  Ferris,  21,  22 ; 
Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  25.  Wassenaar,  before  referred  to  {ante,  p.  183),  states,  that  in  thc 
year  1628,  the  West  India  Company  "removed  all  those  who  were  on  the  South  River.'' 
Peter  Laurensen,  however,  in  his  deposition,  made  in  1C85  {(juoted  ante,  p.  160,  note), 
says,  that  in  the  year  1630,  he  went  to  the  Delaware,  "  where  the  company  had  a  trading 
house,  V'it?i  ten  or  twelve  servants  belonging  tn  it,  whirh  the  deponent  himself  did  see  there 
settled."  On  his  return  to  Manhattan,  Laurensen  stopped  at  the  Horekill,  where  he  "  did 
also  see  a  settlement  of  a  brick  house,  belonginc;  to  the  West  India  Company."  This, 
however,  must  have  been  in  the  year  1631.  If  there  were  any  Dutch  traders  at  Fort  Nas- 
sau in  1030  and  1631,  it  is  certain  that  there  vicre  none  there  in  1633.  De  Vries,  who 
sailed  up  thither  on  the  5th  of  January,  1633,  found  "  the  Fort  Nassau,  where  formerly  some 
families  of  the  West  India  Company  had  dwelt,"  in  the  possession  of  the  savages. — 
Voyages,  p   102;  post,  p.  225. 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  207 

rightful  owners,  proprietors,  and  inhabitants,"  a  tract  of  chap.  vit. 
land,  extending  from  Cape  May  twelve  miles  northward 
along  the  shore  of  the  bay,  and  twelve  miles  inland.  The 
bay  itself  Heyes  now  named  "  Godyn's  Bay,"  in  compli- 
ment to  his  chief  patron.  A  few  weeks  afterward,  he  vis-  3  June. 
ited  Manhattan,  in  company  with  Hossett,  and  caused  a 
formal  record  of  the  new  purchase  to  be  attested  by  Minuit 
and  his  covincil.* 

Returning  to  Holland  in  the  following  autumn,  Heyes  September. 
reported  his  proceedings  to  the  patroons.  But  though  aturiuoiioi- 
colony  had  been  founded  at  Swaanendael,  the  whale-fish- 
ery had  proved  a  failure.  Heyes  excused  his  ill  luck,  be- 
cause "  he  had  arrived  too  late  in  the  year."  But  his 
owners  attributed  their  losing  voyage  to  the  incapacity  of 
their  captain,  who  had  been  accustomed  only  to  three  or 
four  months'  absences  from  home  at  Greenland,  and  who 
"  dared  not  to  sail  alone  through  the  AVest  Indies  in  a 
ship  of  eighteen  guns."t 

It  is  somewhat  extraordinary  that,  in  all  the  appropria-  no  Dutch 
tions  of  territory  for  patroonships,  the  valley  of  the  Fresh  tabiishedoii 
River  should  have  been  neglected.     Up  to  this  period,  the  necticut 
Dutch  were  the  only  Europeans  who,  since  Adriaen  Block's 
first  discovery,  had  visited  that  region.     As  early  as  the 
year  1623,  the  West  India  Company's  agents  seem  to  have 
taken  actual  possession  of  the  river,  and  to  have  projected 
a  fort.     But  it  appears  to  have  been  their  policy  to  pre- 
vent the  establishment  of  independent  colonies  there ;  and 
complaints  were  afterward  made  respecting  their  "injuri- 
ous" conduct,  in  opposing  the  settlement  of  any  Dutch 
families  upon  that  river.1:. 

English   colonization    had,   meanwhile,   been    gaining   16o0. 
ground  on  the  north  and  east  of  New  Netherland.     In  the  p'Jol^gJg'Jf 
summer  of  1630,,  John  Winthrop,  the  newly-cho.^en  guv-tjoninNJw 
ernor,  arrived  in  Massachusetts  Bay,  with  a  fleet  of  fifteen  AirfAI'or 

Winthron. 
*  Alb.  Rec,  27-30  ;  G.  G.,  20  ;  Valentine's  Manual  of  the  N.  Y.  Common  Council  for 

1850,  p.  541.     This  purchase  is  stated  by  Moulton  (401),  and  by  O'Callaghan  (i.,  125), 'vho 

follows  him,  to  have  been  made  in  1G30  ;  but  Hazard,  in  his  Annals  of  Penn.,  27,  corrects 

the  error.  t  De  Vrics,  95. 

t  Vertoogh  van  N.  N.,  in  IIol.  Doc,  iv.,  71,  and  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  276,  277, 

2?9  ;  ante,  p.  153. 


208  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  vii.  sliips,  and  more  than  a  thousand  emigrants.     Winthrop, 

who  had  the  charter  in  his  custody,  at  first  settled  him- 
1630  •  J' 

■  self,  with  his  immediate  followers,  at  Charlestown.     But 

this  position  not  pleasing  them,  they  soon  afterward  took 

possession  of  the  opposite  peninsula,  of  which  the  Indian 

Boston       name  was  "  Shawmut."     At  first  it  was   called  "  Tri- 

7  Sept. '     mountain,"  on  account  of  its  three  contiguous  hills  ;  hut 

it  soon  received  the  name  of  Boston,  after  the  town  in 

Lincolnshire,  from  which  some  of  the  principal  emigrants 

Other        had   come.      Other   parties    settled    themselves    at   Dor- 
towns  set- 

tied.         Chester,  Watertown,  and  Newtown,  now  known  as  Cam- 
bridge.    In  imitation  of  the  example  of  Plymouth  and 
Salem,  the  new  settlements  established  among  themselves 
distinct  churches,  which  admitted  their  ovrn  members  and 
1631.  chose  their  own  officers.     The  next  year,  a  form  of  gov- 
^■'      ernment  was  established  in  Massachusetts,  upon  the  the- 
ocratic basis  that  none  should  be  admitted  to  the  freedom 
of  the  body  politic,  "but  such  as  are  members  of  some  of 
the  churches  withm  the  limits  of  this  jurisdiction."     It 
was  not  easy,  however,  to  obtain  the  privilege  of  church 
membership.     Of  the  whole  adult  population,  not  a  fourth 
part  were  members.      Three  fourths  of  the  people  were 
Govern-     thus  practically  disfranchised.     As  among  themselves,  the 
Massachu-  minority  of  church  members  seemed  thoroughly  imbued 

setts  a  re-  ,..^  ,.  ^  ., 

ugiousoii-  With  a  spirit  of  equality;  "  but  toward  those  not  of  the 
Church,  they  exhibited  all  the  arrogance  of  a  spiritual  ar- 
istocracy, claiming  to  rule  by  Divine  right."  The  elect- 
ive franchise,  jealously  withheld  from  the  people,  was  as 
jealously  confined  to  the  members  of  the  churches ;  and 
the  civil  polity,  which  Massachusetts  thus  deliberately 
adopted,  was  an  oligarchy  of  select  religious  votaries.* 

NewPiym-  The  population  of  New  Plymouth  had,  by  this  time,  in- 
creased to  nearly  three  hundred ;  and,  through  the  agency 
1630.  of  Lord  Warwiclc  and  Sir  Ferdinando  G-orges,  the  colony 

B  ^""-  had  obtained  a  new  and  ample  patent  from  the  council  for 
New  England.     This  instrument  defined  their  boundaries 

*  Ancient  Charters,  11"  ;  Bancroft,  i.,  360  ;  Hildreth,  i.,  190  ;  Story's  Miscellanies,  64- 
63.     The  restriction  of  the  franchise  to  church  members  was  not  repealed  until  16i)5. 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  209 

aa  extending  from  the  Cohassett  River  on  the  north,  to  the  chap.  vu 
Narragansett  River  on  the  south,  and  inland,  westwardly, 
to  "  the  utmost  limits  of  Pokenakut,  alias  Sowamset."* 

The  complaints  which  Bradford  had  sent  to  England 
against  the  traffic  of  the  Dutch  and  other  strangers  with 
the  Indians,  had  already  attracted  the  attention  of  Grorges 
and  Mason.  Similar  complaints  from  Endicott  induced 
the  general  court  of  Massachusetts  to  petition  the  Privy 
Council  to  reform  "so  great  and  insufFerahle  abuses,"  The  24  Nov 
result  was  a  royal  proclamation,  "forbidding  the  disorder- lamation 

.  -n        1         1   n        TvT  restraining 

Iv  tradmg  with  the  savages  in  New  England."     No  per-  irregular 

or         traders  to 

sons,  except  those  authorized  by  the  council  for  New  En-NewEn- 

Kland 

gland,  were  to  frequent  those  coasts,  or  trade  with  the  na- 
tives, or  intermeddle  with  the  English  planters  or  inhab- 
itants, or  teach  the  Indians  the  use  of  fire-arms,  under  pain 
of  the  king's  high  displeasure,  and  the  penalties  expressed 
in  the  proclamation  of  King  James,  in  1622.1 

Thus  far,  the  New  England  colonies  had  not  encroach- 
ed upon  the  territories  claimed  by  the  Dutch.     The  Mas-  Extent  of 
sachusetts  patent  included,  indeed,  within  its  sweeping  England 
grant  of  land  as  far  west  as  the  Pacific,  a  portion  of  the  ments. 
northern  regions  of  New  Netherland.     But  the  infant  set- 
tlements at  Salem,  and  near  Boston,  were  confined  to  the 
sea-coasts  north  of  New  Plymouth;   and  the  Hollanders 
had  already  tacitly  admitted  the  jurisdiction  of  the  "  Old 
Colony"  to  extend  as  far  south  and  west  as  Narragansett 
Bay.     All  the  coasts  and  inland  regions,  however,  from 
that  bay,  as  far  south  as  Cape  Hinlopen,  and  as  far  north 
as  Canada,  were  claimed  by  the  Dutch  as  rightfully  be- 
longing to  New  Netherland.     During  the  pleasant  inter- 
course which  was  opened  with  New  Plymouth  in  1627, 
the  Hollanders,  seeing  that  the  Puritans  were  there  seated 
"in  barren  quarter,"  with  friendly  purpose  told  them  of  a  The  Dutch 
river,  "  called  by  them  the  Fresh  River,  but  is  now  known  Puritans  01 
by  the  name  of  Conighticute  River,  which  they  often  com-  nectio°u 
mended  to  them  for  a  fine  place  both  for  plantation  and 

*  Chalmers,  97  ;  Prince,  106-198;  Hazard,  i.,  298;  Hildreth,  i.,  174. 
t  Young,  Ch.  .Mass.,  84  ;  Rymer  Federa,  xix.,  210;  Hazard,  i.,  3U 

0 


210  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  VII.  trade,  and  wished  them  to  make  use  of  it."  But  the  hands 
of  the  New  Plymouth  colonists  "being  full  otherwise,  they 
'  let  it  pass."*  In  thus  inviting  the  English  to  settle  them- 
selves witliin  the  territory  of  New  Netherland,  Minuit 
could  have  had  no  intention  to  surrender  any  of  the  char- 
tered rights  of  the  West  India  Company,  or  to  raise  a  doubt 
respecting  their  title,  which  he  had  so  stoutly  maintained 
in  his  correspondence  with  Bradford.  *  If  the  New  Plym- 
outh people  had  accepted  Minuit's  proposition,  they  could 
have  settled  themselves  on  the  Connecticut  only  in  due 
allegiance  to  the  States  General,  and  in  subordination  to 
the  Company's  authorities  at  Manhattan. 

The  fame  of  the  "pleasant  meadows"  on  the  Fresh  Riv- 
er soon  reached  the  young  hamlets  on  the  Massachusetts 

1631.  Bay.  In  the  first  spring  after  his  arrival,  Winthrop  was 
A  CMnec-  visitcd  by  one  of  the  Mahican  sachems  upon  the  "  River 
chem^visits  Q,uonehtacut,"  who  extolled  the  fruitfulness  of  his  coun- 
try, and  urged  the  English  to  come  and  plant  themselves 
there.  But  Winthrop,  though  he  treated  the  sachem  kind- 
ly, would  send  none  of  his  people  to  explore  the  country, 
which  "  was  not  above  five  days'  journey"  from  Boston. 
The  intentions  of  the  sachem  were  soon  unveiled.  He  was 
at  war  with  the  Pequods,  and  desired  a  European  settle- 
ment as  a  defense  against  his  powerful  enemies.t  At  New 
Plymouth  the  suggestion  was  better  appreciated.  The  sa- 
chem's story  confirmed  the  accounts  which  they  had  be- 
fore received  from  the  Dutch  ;  and  Edward  Winslow,  vis- 

1632.  iting  that  region  in  1632,  verified  these  favorable  reports 
yisits'uie    by  his  own  observation,  and  even  "  pitched  upon  a  place 

for  a  house."t  But  the  people  of  New  Plymouth,  know- 
ing that  the  Connecticut  valley  was  beyond  the  bounds  of 
their  patent,  took  no  immediate  measures  to  plant  a  set- 
tlement there. 

Wliile  the  colonial  authorities  of  New  Netherland  and 
New  England  were  thus  all  postponing  actual  occupation, 
a  questionable  English  title  to  the  territory  was  obtained 

*  Bradford,  MS.  in  Hutch.,  ii.,  App.,  416  ;  Prince,  434. 

t  Savage's  Winthrop,  i.,  52. 

t  Morton's  Mem.,  App.,  395  ;  Hutch.,  i.,  148  ;  Trumbull,  1.,  30. 


ConnecU 
cut. 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  211 

by  other  parties.     Saltonstall,  who  had  accompanied  Win-  chap.  \u 
throp  to  Massachusetts,  returning  to  England  in  the  :spring 
of  1631,  carried  home  with  him  the  glowing   accounts  39  ^p'r,,  ' 
which  he  had  heard  of  the  fruitfulness  of  the  Connecticut 
valley.     Through  his  exertions,  the  Earl  of  Warwick  was  The  Eari  or 
induced,  early  the  next  year,  to  grant  and  confirm  to  Lord  gram  or 
Say  and  Seal,  Lord  Brook,  Saltonstall  himself,  and  others,  cut.  ^ 
all  the  territory  extending  forty  leagues  to  the  southwest  jg  ^j^J^^^/ 
of  the   Narragansett  River,  and  by  the    same   breadth 
"tliroughout  the  main   lands  there,  from    the  Western 
Ocean  to  the  South  Sea."     The  territory  thus  conveyed 
IS  alleged  to  have  been  granted  to  Lord  Warwick,  by  the 
council  for  New  England,  in  1630 ;  and  Warwick's  sub- 
sequent conveyance  has  been  considered  by  American  his- 
torians as  the  original  English  charter  for  Connecticut. 
But  no  evidence  of  the  grant  to  Lord  Warwick  has  ever 
been  produced :  if  such  a  grant  was  really  made,  it  does 
not  appear  to  have  been  confirmed  by  the  king.     Thus 
stood  the  question  of  right  and  title  between  the  Dutch 
West  India  Company,  by  virtue  of  Block's  first  discovery 
and  of  their  charter,  and  the  English  proprietaries  of  Con- 
necticut, by  virtue  of  Lord  Warwick's  conveyance.     But 
no  steps  were  taken  by  these  proprietaries  to  colonize  that  l°'"^,^'^'"'"- 
territory,  until  several  years    after  the    end   of  Minuit's  g'"a"''^e- 

•^  '  "^  neglect  rol- 

government  of  New  Netherland ;  though  the  commence-  onizatio.i. 
ment  of  his  successor's  administration  was  destined  to  wit- 
ness the  first  disagi'eement  between  rival  Dutch  and  En- 
glish settlers  on  the  banks  of  the  Fresh  River.* 

The  attention  of  Director  Minuit  had  been,  meanwhile,  Affairs  ai 
chiefly  confined  to  the  prosecution  of  the  fur-trade  for  the 
benefit  of  the  West  India  Company,  and  to  the  domestic 
affairs  of  the  chief  colony  at  Manhattan.     No  subordinate 

*  The  date  of  Lord  Warwick's  conveyance  to  Lord  Say  and  Seal,  and  his  asso>;i<ites,  has 
been  erroneously  stated  to  be  in  the  year  1631.  Its  actual  date,  according  to  the  new  style, 
was  1632.  The  "seventh  year^'  of  Charles  I.,  in  which  it  is  attested,  was  from  the  27th  of 
March,  1631,  to  the  27th  of  March,  1G32.  Saltonstall  was  not  in  England  on  the  19th  of 
March,  1631.  What  purports  to  be  a  copy  of  Lord  Warwick's  "  charter"  is  in  the  Secre- 
tary's office  at  Hartford,  from  which  was  taken  the  copy  in  Trumbull,  i.,  App.,  495.  Ncal 
and  Douglas  speak  of  a  previous  grant  from  the  council  of  New  England  to  Lord  War- 
wick, which  was  confirmed  by  tho  king.  But  Chalmers  (p.  299)  shows  that  there  is  no 
evidence  to  support  this  statement. 


212  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  VII.  patroons  ever  exercised  any  jurisdiction  over  the  reserved 
island  :  the  West  India  Company  alone  was  the  territorial 
proprietary.  After  De  Rasieres  "  fell  into  disgrace"  with 
Minuit,  his  place  as  provincial  secretary  and  keeper  of  the 
company's  pay-books,  was  filled  by  Jan  van  Remund,  who 
continued  to  hold  these  offices  for  several  years.     In  1629 

Imports     and  1630,  the  imports  from  Amsterdam  arose  to  the  value 

and  e.\-  i  i       i  i  • 

ports.  of  one  hundred  and  thirteen  thousand  guilders  ;  while  the 
exports  from  Manhattan  exceeded  one  hundred  and  thirty 
thousand  guilders,  showing  a  considerable  balance  in  favor 
of  the  company.     Its  admirable  commercial  situation  in- 

Eariy  pro-  dicatcd  its  future  renown ;  and  its  ships,  which  now  car- 

ficiencv  in  ^ 

ship  biiud-  ry  the  fame  of  its  naval  architects  to  the  ends  of  the  earth, 

ing.  *' 

even  at  that  early  day  had  begun  to  attract  the  attention 

and  excite  the  envy  of  England.     In  the  year  1631,  the 

Great  ship  "  Ncw  Ncthcrland,"  a  sliip  variously  estimated  at  from 

"  New  ^  "^ 

Nether-      "  600  tunucs,  or  thcrcabouts,"  to  eight  hundred  tons,  was 

land"  built  '  ?  o  ' 

at  Manhat-  built  at  Manhattan,  and  dispatched  to  Holland.*  This 
ship  was  not  only  by  far  the  largest  that  had  ever  been 
built  in  America,  but  it  was  probably  one  of  the  greatest 
merchant  vessels  at  that  time  in  the  world.  It  was  not 
until  nearly  two  centuries  afterward  that  the  sliip-wrights 
of  Manhattan  again  began  to  build  trading  vessels  which 
rivaled  the  mammoth  proportions  of  the  pioneer  ship  "  New 
Netherland." 
Fort  Or-  At  Fort  Oraugc,  Vice-director  Krol  continued  to  super- 
*"^^'  intend  the  fur-trade  of  the  company,  which  was  annually 
growing  more  important.  The  subdued  Mahicans  had 
three  years  before  been  expelled  from  the  valley  of  the 
North  River ;  and  the  victorious  Mohawks  were  glad  to 
cultivate  the  most  friendly  relations  with  the  Dutch  set- 
tlers, by  whom  they  now  began  to  be  supplied  with  the 
fire-arms  of  Holland. 

AVhile  the  new  patroons  were  vigorously  commencing 

*  Letter  of  Mason,  2d  April,  1632,  Lond.  Doc,  i.,  47 ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  17.  De  Vries, 
p.  96,  speaks  of  the  "  New  Netherland"  as  "  the  great  ship  that  was  built  in  New  Neth- 
erland." De  Laet,  App.,  p.  4,  describes  her  as  of  four  hundred  lasts,  or  eight  hundred  tons 
burden,  and  as  carrying  thirty  guns.  The  building  of  this  ship, "  at  an  excessive  outlay,'' 
was  afterward  severely  criticised,  by  Van  der  Donck,  as  a  part  of  the  "  bad  management" 
of  the  West  India  Company.— Vertoogh  van  N.  N.,  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S  Coll.,  ii.,  289 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  513 

agricultural  colonization  on  the  North  and  South  Rivers,  chap,  vn 
they  determined,  under  a  liberal  construction  of  the  char- 
ter  of  Freedoms  and  Exemptions,  to  participate  in  the  re-  ,pjjg  p^^. 
served  traffic  with  the  Indians.    Pleading  that  the  Amster-  et°a"iiare' 
dam  Chamber  "had  no  factories"  at  certain  points,  the  pa-°^^^l^^' 
troons  assumed  that  they  had  the  right  to  engage  in  the 
peltry  trade,  which  the  company  had  certainly  intended  to 
retain  in  its  own  hands.    But  the  directors,  already  iealous  The  direct 

•'   •'  ors  at  van 

of  their  colleagues,  who  had  secured  such  ample  estates,  ance  with 

~  '  ^  '  the  pa- 

could  not  quietly  permit  their  darling  monopoly  to  be  thus  3Q''o"j^bgj 

invaded.  Articles  were  soon  prepared,  limiting  and  re- 
straining the  privileges  of  the  patroons,  in  respect  of  the 
fur  trade,  to  an  extent  which  excited  their  bitter  com- 
plaints ;  the  charter  of  Freedoms  and  Exemptions  itself 
was  attacked,  and  "  drawn  into  dispute  ;"  and  feeling  ran 
so  strongly  against  all  who  were  supposed  to  favor  the 
pretensions  of  the  new  colonial  proprietaries,  that  Minuit, 
with  whose  knowledge  and  approbation  these  large  appro- 
priations of  territory  had  been  secured,  was  recalled  from  Minuit  re- 

.  .  .  .  called. 

his  directorship.  But  no  soiccessor  was  immediately  ap- 
pointed, and  the  post  of  director  remained  vacant  for  more 
than  a  year.  Lampo,  the  schout  at  Manhattan,  was,  how- 
ever, superseded  at  once  by  the  appointment  of  Conrad 
Notelman,  who  sailed  for  New  Netherland  late  in  the 
summer,  in  the  ship  Eendragt,  bearing  with  him  Minuit's  August. 
letters  of  recall.* 

Upon  the  arrival  of  Notelman,  Director  Minuit  resigned 
his  government  into  the  hands  of  the  council,  at  the  head 
of  which  was  Yan  Remund,  who  had  acted  as  secretary 
of  the  province  since  the  departure  of  De  Rasieres.  Em- 
barking on  board  the  Eendragt,  with  several  families  of  Minuit  re- 
coionists  who  were  anxious  to  return  to  Holland,  the  re-  iiouand. 
called  director  and  superseded  schout  set  sail  from  New   l"'^^. 

1       •         1  March. 

Netherland  early  m  the  spring  of  1632. 

The  Eendragt  reached  the  channel  in  safety,  but  stress  ins  ship  ar 
of  weather  drove  her  into  Plymouth.  Her  arrival  there  piymiium 
was  no  sooner  known,  than  the  watchful  jealousy  of  Cap- 

♦  Hoi.  Doc,  i.,  185  ;  ii.,  102,  103  ;  Renss  MSS.  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  130,  4?1. 


214        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  VII.  tain  Mason  caused  her  to  be  attached,  at  the  suit  of  the 
council  of  New  England,  on  a  charge  of  illegally  trading 

3  April.  *  within  the  king's  dominions.  Minuit  instantly  communi- 
cated the  circumstances  of  the  ship's  arrest  to  the  "West 
India  Company,  and  to  Joachimi  and  Brasser,  the  Dutch 
ambassadors  at  London.     The  court  was,  at  that  moment, 

8  April,      at  Newmarket.     Hastening  thither,  the  ambassadors  ob- 

Coinplaint         .        ,  .  , .  , . 

ot  the        tamed  an  immediate  audience,  and  presented  to  the  kinj; 

Dutch  am-  . 

bas.sador8.  au  camcst  remonstraucc  against  the  proceedings  of  the 
Plymouth  authorities.  The  ship,  they  said,  had  come 
from  New  Netherland,  where  the  Dutch  had  peaceably 
traded  for  many  years,  and  had  established  a  colony  on  an 
island  purchased  from  the  savages,  in  the  River  Manhat- 
tans, "now  called  the  Mauritius."  There  the  colonists  lived 
"  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  the  native  inhabitants  of  the 
land."  Hitherto,  their  ships  had  been  used  to  enter  and 
depart  from  the  English  ports  without  hinderance ;  but 
now,  a  vessel  coming  from  those  parts  had  been  seized  for 
an  alleged  trespass  within  his  majesty's  jurisdiction.  Un- 
der these  circumstances,  they  hoped  the  king  would  order 
the  Eendragt's  immediate  discharge.* 

Reply  of  The  king  replied,  that  the  Governor  of  Plymouth  had 
already  informed  him  of  the  arrest ;  and  that,  some  years 
ago,  upon  the  complaint  of  his  father,  James  I.,  the  States 
General  "  had  interdicted  their  subjects  from  trading  in 
those  regions."  He  could  not,  at  the  moment,  say  what 
was  the  exact  situation  of  the  affair,  but  would  inform 
himself  more  particularly.  The  ambassadors  persisted  in 
urging  a  provisional  release  of  the  ship.  The  king,  how- 
ever, declined  complying  with  their  request,  "as  long  as 
he  was  not  quite  sure  what  his  rights  were." 

10  April.         Returning  to  London,  the  ambassadors  detailed  their 

gotiations.  proceedings  to  the  States  General,  and  asked  to  be  fur- 
nished with  documentary  evidence  in  support  of  the  right 
of  the  Dutch  to  New  Netherland,  which  they  thought 
would  "undoubtedly  be  most  sharply  disputed  by  the  En- 
glish."!    Several  interviews  were  also  held  with  the  lead- 

*  Hoi.  Doc.,  i.,  187,  248.  t  Ibid.,  196. 


I 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  215 

ing  members  of  the  privy  council.     But  Mason  took  care  chap  vu 
to  write  a  strong  letter  to  Sir  John  Coke,  the  Secretary  of 
State,  complaining  of  the  Hollanders,  who,  he  affirmed,  „       j^' 
"as  interlopers,"  had  fallen  "into  the  middle,"  between'" 
Virginia  and  New  England.     Notwithstanding  the  alleged 
disclaimer  by   Caron,  in   1622,  the   Dutch  had  fortified  Mason's 
themselves,  in  two  several  places,  on  the  "  River  of  Mana- John  coke. 
hata,"  and  had  built  ships  there,  "  whereof  one  was  sent 
into  Holland  of  six  hundred  tunnes,  or  thereabouts."    And 
though  warned  by  the  English  at  New  Plymouth  "to  for- 
bear trade,"  and  to  make  no  settlements  within  the  terri- 
tories of  the  King  of  England,  the  Dutch  had  persisted, 
and  had  made  "  sundry  good  returns"  into  Holland,  which, 
during  the  last  year,  had  amounted  to  "fifteen  thousand 
beaver  skins,  besides  other  commodities."*     Mason's  un- 
scrupulous letter  effected  its  purpose.     English  jealousy 
was  thoroughly  aroused,  and  the  Privy  Council  were  deaf 
to  the  representations  of  the  Dutch  ambassadors. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  West  India  Company  had  trans-  5  May. 
mitted  to  the  States  G-eneral  a  formal  deduction  of  their  ti-  The  west 
tie  to  New  Netherland.     The  discovery  of  the  North  River  pany's  d^" 
by  the  Dutch  in  1609 ;  the  return  of  "  some  of  their  people"  me'.""  *" 
there  in  1610 ;  the  grant  of  the  special  trading  charter  of 
1614 ;  the  maintenance  of  a  fort  and  garrison  there,  until 
the  charter  of  the  West  India  Company  in  1621,  which 
included  that  country  ;  the  failure  of  the  English  to  occu- 
py the  regions  between  Virginia  and  New  Plymouth ;  and 
the  provisions  in  James's  patent  of  1606,  by  which  the  re- 
gion between  the  thirty-ninth  and  the  forty-first  degrees 
of  latitude  was  left  open  to  the  Dutch,  were  the  main 
points  on  which  they  relied.     The  company  alleged  their 
entire  ignorance  of  the  demand  made  by  the  British  gov- 
ernment, in  1621,  and  of  its  results.     They  urged  that  the 
ambassadors  at  London  should  press  for  the  release  of  their 
vessel,  on  the  further  ground  that  the  American  Indians, 

*  Lend.  Doc,  i.,  47.  Mason  stoutly  maintains  that  Caron,  in  the  name  of  the  States, 
disavowed  the  Dutch  "  intrusion"  into  New  Netherland.  But  nothing  to  this  effect  ap- 
pears in  any  of  Caron's  letters  that  I  saw  in  the  State  Paper  office.    See  l^nte,  p.  1 42, 143 


216        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  VII.  being  free,  might  trade  with  whomsoever  they  pleased. 
The  King  of  England  might,  indeed,  grant  exclusive  priv- 
""  ileges  to  his  own  subjects,  and  so  might  the  States  Gren- 
eral  to  theirs.  But  it  was  unjust  for  any  power  to  at- 
tempt to  exclude  all  the  rest  of  the  world  from  regions 
which  their  own  subjects  had  never  occupied ;  and  still 
more  so,  for  England  to  claim  sovereignty  over  territories 
of  which  the  Dutch  had  obtained  the  title,  by  treaty  and 
honest  purchase  from  the  native  owners.  The  States  Gen- 
eral must  maintain  their  own  sovereignty,  the  freedom  of 
the  seas,  and  the  validity  of  the  treaties  which  the  Hol- 
landers had  made  with  the  unsubjugated  tribes  of  North 
America.* 
5  May.  This  able  vindication  of  the  Dutch  title  was  immediate- 

ly sent  by  the  States  Greneral  to  their  ambassadors  at  Lon- 
don, with  fresh  instructions  to  press  for  the  release  of  the 
ship,  and  an  intimation  that  the  right  of  the  West  India 
Company  to  trade  to  New  Netherland  should  be  main- 
tained.! 

But  English  nationality  was  now  thoroughly  aroused. 
22iMay.  In  a  fcw  days,  the  Dutch  ambassadors  received  the  formal 
Answer  of  auswcr  of  the  British  ministry  to  their  memorial.  The 
govern-  roamiug  savages  of  America  were  not ' '  bona  fide  possessors" 
of  the  land,  so  that  they  could  alienate  it ;  and  if  they  were, 
it  could  not  be  proved  "  that  all  the  savages  had  contracted 
with  the  purchasers  ;"  these  were  the  technical  objections 
to  the  Dutch  title  by  purchase.  The  title  of  the  English 
was  asserted  to  be  by  "  first  discovery,  occupation,  and  pos- 
session," and  by  charters  and  patents  from  their  sovereigns. 
Such  patents  the  States  General  had  never  passed  to  their 
own  subjects,  as  was  proved  when  Carleton,  the  English 
ambassador,  made  his  remonstrance  in  1621.  If  the  Dutch 
now  settled  in  America  would  "submit  themselves  as  sub- 
jects to  his  majesty's  government,"  they  might  remain  in 
New  Netherland  ;  otherwise,  his  majesty's  interests  would 
not  allow  them  to  "  usurp  and  encroach  upon  a  colony  of 

*  Hoi.  Doc.,  i.,  209.  t  Ibid.,  218 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  217 

such  importance,  and  which  he  has  strong  motives  to  cher-  chap.  vd. 
ish  and  maintain  in  its  integrity."* 

Thus  the  British  ministry  boldly  denied  the  Dutch  title 
to  New  Netherland,  and  claimed  it  as  English  territory. 
Their  strenuous  assertion  of  superior  British  right  was 
probably  one  of  the  last  American  State  Papers  prepared 
by  Sir  John  Coke,t  whom  Lord  Clarendon  describes  as  "a 
man  of  a  very  narrow  education,  and  a  narrower  nature." 
Unwilling,  at  that  moment,  to  embarrass  his  foreign  rela- 
tions, already  sufficiently  complicated,  Charles  I.  content- 
ed himself  with  a  bold  claim  of  sovereignty  over  New 
Netherland,  and  did  not  appear  anxious  to  press  the  ques- 
tion of  title  to  a  settlement.  In  a  few  days,  the  confident 
note  of  the  British  ministry  was  followed  by  an  act  of  27  May. 

•^  .  .         .  The  ship 

grace ;  and  the  Lord  Treasurer,  quietly  yielding  to  the  released. 
reiterated  demand  of  the  Dutch  ambassadors,  released  the 
Eendragt  from  arrest,  "  saving  any  prejudice  to  His  Maj- 
esty's rights. "$ 

Notwithstanding  the  abuses  which  had  induced  Minuit's  Minuifa 
recall,  his  administration  of  the  government  of  New  Neth-  tration  of 

New  Nclb 

erland  was,  upon  the  whole,  prosperous  and  successful,  eriand. 
Honest  purchase  had  secured  Manhattan  Island  to  the 
West  India  Company;  industry  had  flourished  around  the 
walls  of  Fort  Amsterdam  ;  the  western  shore  of  Long  Isl- 
and had  become  studded  with  the  cottages  of  its  early 
Walloon  settlers  ;  a  pleasant  intercourse  had  been  opened 
v/ith  the  English  colonists  at  New  Plymouth ;  friendly 
relations  had  been  generally  maintained  with  the  Indian 
tribes ;  the  colonization  of  Rensselaerswyck  and  Swaanen- 
dael  had  been  commenced  ;  and  the  trade  and  commerce 
of  the  province  had  largely  increased.  During  the  six 
years  of  Minuit's  directorship,  the  exports  from  New  Neth- 
erland were  trebled.     The  value  of  the  commodities  sent 

*  IIol.  Doc,  i.,  236.  The  correspondence  on  this  subject  may  be  found  at  lengtli  in  the 
Address  before  the  N.  Y.  11.  S.,  in  1844,  p.  27-31,  and  in  O'Call.,  i.,  131-136. 

t  About  a  month  after  this  dispatch — on  the  15th  of  June— Mr.  (afterward  Sir  Francis) 
VVindebanke  was  appointed  Secretary  of  State,  through  the  interest  of  Bishop  laud.  Sir 
John  Coke  continued  to  be  one  of  the  secretaries  for  a  few  years  longer ;  but  the  concerns 
of  the  American  colonies  seem  to  have  been  managed,  after  this  time,  chiefly  by  Winde- 
banke.  1  Hoi.  Doc,  i..  2U 


218  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  VII.  hoiTie  in  1626  was  about  forty-six  thousand  guilders  ;  in 
1632,  it  had  increased  to  more  than  one  hundred  and  for- 
ty-tluree  thousand  guilders.     Within  the  same  period,  the 
value  of  the  imports  from  Holland  was  a  little  over  two 
hundred   and  thirty-eight  thousand  guilders,  while  the 
gross  value  of  the  exports  from  New  Netherland  exceeded 
four  hundred  and  thirty-five  thousand  guilders.    The  ship 
in  which  the  Director  returned  to  Amsterdam  brought  to 
the  company's  warehouse  a  cargo  of  five  thousand  beaver 
skins.* 
Continued       Miuuit's  retum  to  Holland  did  not  quiet  the  unfortunate 
between     differences  between  the  West  India  Company  and  the  pa- 
ny  and't'tie  trooiis.     The  large  appropriations  of  territory  were  not  as 
pa  roons.    g^aspcrating  causes  of  irritation  as  was  the  pertinacious 
interference  of  the  patroons  with  the  fur  trade,  which  the 
company  had  intended  to  reserve  to  itself.     To  arrest  the 
encroachments  of  the  new  manorial  lords,  who  claimed, 
under  the  charter,  the  largest  freedom  of  traffic  "  within 
s  June.      the  territories  of  their  patroonships,"  the  company  issued  a 
proclamation,  forbidding   all  "  private"   persons  in  New 
Netherland  from  dealing,  in  any  way,  in  sewan,  peltries, 
or  maize.     The  patroons  instantly  protested  against  this 
decided  step,  and  insisted  that,  according  to  the  charter, 
they  were  "privileged,"  and  not  "private"  persons.     But 
the  company,  resolute  to  maintain  its  superior  monopoly, 
ijiNov.      soon  afterward  dispatched  commissaries  into  the  different 
nists  for-    patroouships,  with  orders  to  post  the  proclamation,  and  to 
trade  in     obHge  all  the  colonists,  under  oath,  to  abstain  from  any 
interference  with  the  interdicted  traffic.t 
1631.       Meanwhile,  the  colony  which  Heyes  had  established  at 
Swaanendael  had  gone  on  pleasantly,  for  a  time,  under 
the  superintendence  of  Grillis  Hossett ;  and  De  Vries  him- 
self had  prepared  to  visit  New  Netherland,     Heyes's  un- 
lucky voyage   damped,    at    first,    the   ardor  of  his  em- 
1  poo    ployers ;  but  the  vision  of  a  profitable  whale-fishery  still 
12  Feb.  "  haunted  Grodyn.     Early  in  the  year  1632,  a  new  arrange- 

*  De  Laet,  App.,  26-30  ;  Hoi.  Doc,  i.,  210. 
t  Hoi.  Doc,  u.,  93,  105-114  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  137. 


Affairs  at 
Swaaiien 
dael. 


PETEP  MINUIT.  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  219 

ment  was  made  between  the  partner-patroons,  to  equip  chap,  vii, 
another  ship  and  yacht,  with  which  De  Vries  himself  was 
to  go  out  to  the  South  River,  as  "  patroon  and  command- 
er," and  test  the  experiment  in  person,  during  the  next 
winter.  The  expedition  accordingly  left  the  Texel  toward 
the  end  of  May.     But  iust  before  it  sailed,  news  brousfht  24  May. 

News  of  its 

by  Minuit,  from  Manhattan,  reached  Amsterdam,  that  the  destruction 
colony  at  Swaanendael  had  been  destroyed  by  the  savages,  iiouand. 
and  thirty-two  men  killed  outside  of  the  fort,  as  they  were 
working  in  the  fields.* 

In  sadness  and  disappointment  De  Vries  proceeded  on  De  vriea 
his  way.     But  misfortune  still  attended  the  enterprise  of  the  somu 

.  River. 

the  South  River  patroons.     Azi  unskillful  pilot  ran  the 
ship  on  the  sands  off  Dunkirk  ;  and  the  leaky  vessel  was 
navigated  with  difficulty  to  Portsmouth,  where  she  went  28  May. 
into  the  "  King's  Dock"  to  be  repaired.    After  two  months' 
delay,  De  Vries  set  sail  again,  in  company  with  the  "great  1  Augiist. 
ship  New  Netherland,"  which  had  been  built  at  Manhat- 
tan, and  was  now  making  her  first  return  voyage  from 
Holland.     Running  southwardly  by  Madeira,  and  linger- 
ing three  montlis  among  the  "West  India  Islands,  De  Vries 
arrived,  early  in  December,  at  the  South  River,  and  an- 5  Dec. 
chored  off  Swaanendael,  where  he  promised  himself  "roy- 
al work"  with  the  whales,  and  a  "beautiful  land"  to  cul- 
tivate. 

The  next  day,  a  well-armed  boat  was  sent  into  the  kill  e  Dec. 

•  •  ■   ^        1  -I-.  Visits 

to  open  a  communication  with  the  savages.     Reachins  swaauen. 

^  .        .  °  °  dael. 

the  spot  where  their  little  fort  had  been,  they  found  the 
house  itself  destroyed,  the  palisades  almost  all  burned,  and 
the  ground  around  bestrewn  with  the  skulls  and  bones 
of  their  murdered  countrymen,  intermingled  with  the  re- 
mains of  horses  and  cattle.  The  silence  of  the  jn-ave  huncj 
over  the  desolate  valley.  Not  a  savage  was  seen  lurking 
about  the  ghastly  ruins.  Gloomy  and  sorrowful,  De  Vries 
returned  on  board  his  yacht,  and  ordered  a  gun  to  be  fired 
to  attract  the  inland  Indians. 

*  De  Vries,  95  ;  Deposition  of  A.  D.  Korn,  in  Deed  Book,  vii.  ;  and  in  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y  , 
iii.,  49;  ante,  p.  205,  note. 


220        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  VII.      A  smoke  was  seen,  the  next  morning,  near  their  devasta- 

~        ted  post.    Asrain  the  boat  was  sent  into  the  creek,  and  two 
1632  I  o  '         _ 

7  Dec.       or  three  savages  were  observed  prowling  among  the  ruins. 

But  mutual  distrust  prevented  any  intercourse.     Fearful 

6  Dec.       of  the  arrows  of  the  Indians,  De  Yries  now  took  his  yacht 

into  the  creek,  to  give  a  better  shelter  than  the  open  boat 

afforded.     The  savages  soon  came  down  to  the  shore ;  but 

none,  at  first,  would  venture  on  board.     At  last  one  made 

bold  to  come ;  and  De  Yries,  presenting  him  with  a  cloth 

dress,  sent  word  to  the  chief  that  he  wished  to  make  a 

An  Indian  peacc.     That  night  one  of  the  savages  remained  on  board 

relates  the   *■  ^  ^ 

story  of  the  the  yacht,  and  was  prevailed  on  to  relate  the  catastrophe 
ofswaan-  which  had  befallen  the   colony.     Pointing  out  the  spot 

endael.  ./  o  i 

where  Heyes  had  set  up  the  pillar  bearing  the  tin  plate 
with  the  arms  of  Holland,  he  said,  that  one  of  their  chiefs, 
not  thinking  he  was  doing  amiss,  had  taken  dowTi  the 
glittering  metal,  to  make  it  into  tobacco  pipes.  But  Hos- 
sett,  who  was  then  in  charge  of  the  post,  made  such  an 
ado,  that  the  savages,  to  hush  up  the  affair,  slew  the  chief 
who  had  done  it,  "  and  brought  a  token"  of  their  deed  to 
the  Dutch  commander.  Hossett  told  them  they  had  done 
wrong :  they  should  have  brought  the  chief  to  the  post, 
when  he  would  have  been  simply  forbidden  to  repeat  the 
offense.  But  the  miscliief  was  already  done.  The  friends 
of  the  slaughtered  savage  instigated  their  companions  to 
a  bloody  vengeance  on  the  unsuspecting  strangers.  A 
party  of  warriors  soon  visited  the  settlement,  where  they 
found  most  of  the  colonists  at  work  in  the  fields,  having 
left  one  sick  man  at  home,  and  a  large  English  mastiff 
chained  up.  Had  the  dog  been  loose,  "  they  would  not 
have  dared  to  approach  the  house."  Hossett,  the  com- 
mander, stood  near  the  door.  Three  of  the  boldest  sav- 
ages, under  pretense  of  bartering  some  beaver  skins,  en- 
tered the  house  with  him,  and,  as  he  was  coming  down 
stairs  from  the  garret,  where  the  stores  lay,  struck  him 
dead  with  an  axe.  They  then  killed  the  sick  man ;  and 
going  to  the  place  where  the  dog,  "which  they  feared  the 
most,"  lay  chained,  they  shot  him  "  with  full  five-and- 


PETER  MINUIT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  221 

twenty  arrows,  before  he  was  dispatched."     The  rest  of  chap,  vii 
the  colonists,  who  were  scattered  over  the  fields  at  work, 
were  then  approached  under  the  guise  of  friendship,  and, 
one  by  one,  all  were  murdered. 

Such  was  the  awful  narrative  which  one  of  the  spoilers 
of  Swaanendael  related  to  De  Vries.  The  bones  of  his 
countrymen  marked  the  spot  where  the  patroon  had  hoped 
to  establish  a  flourishing  colony.  Thus  early  was  the  soil 
of  Delaware  moistened  by  European  blood.  The  Dutch 
possession  was  "  sealed  with  blood,  and  dearly  enough 
bought."  But  what  could  now  be  done  ?  A  barren  venge- 
ance alone  could  follow  retaliation  against  the  roaming 
savages.     So  a  formal  peace  was  ratified  the  next  day,  by  9  oe. 

°  '■  J  '      J  Peace  ma(l« 

presents  of  duffels,  bullets,  hatchets,  and  Nuremburg  toys ;  with  the 

'  _  '  '  ,  p        J      1  savages. 

and  the  astonished  red  men  "  departed  in  great  joy,"  to 
hunt  beavers  for  the  Hollanders,  who,  instead  of  exacting 
a  cruel  retribution,  had  quietly  let  pass  their  inhuman  of- 
fense.* 

*  De  Vries,  95-101  ;  Vertoogh  van  N.  N.,  in  Hoi.  Doc,  iv.,  71  ;  and  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S. 
C«U.,  ii..  281 ;  iii.,  p.  22,  23,  24. 


22^  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

1633-1637. 

Chap. VIII.      New  Netherland  had  now  been,  for  more  than  a  year, 
without  a  director.    The  experiment  of  introducing  a  mod- 
New  Net'h- ifi^d  feudal  system  into  the  province  had  just  been  com- 
wuhout  a   menced ;  jealousies  had  already  sprung  up  between  the  pa- 
director.     -^roons  and  the  West  India  Company,  and  embarrassment 
was  evidently  in  store  ;  the  British  government  had  again 
boldly  denied  the  Dutch  title  to  any  part  of  New  Nether- 
land  ;  and  English  colonists,  firm  of  purpose  and  zealous 
in  faith,  were  preparing  to  take  actual  possession  of  por- 
tions of  the  territory,  over  the  whole  of  which  their  sover- 
eign claimed  an  exclusive  jurisdiction.     In  this  crisis,  the 
administration  of  the  affairs  of  the  Dutch  province  should 
have  been  intrusted  only  to  the  ablest  hands.     But  when 
did  a  commercial  monopoly  ever  govern  a  country  wise- 
wouter      ly  ?     The  person  selected  to  succeed  Peter  Minuit  as  Di- 
ler  appoint-  rcctor  G-cucral  of  New  Netherland,  was  Wouter  van  Twil- 
ceedMin-   LER,  of  Nieuwkerkc,  one  of  the  clerks  in  the  West  India 
Company's  warehouse  at  Amsterdam.     He  had  married  a 
niece  of  Van  Rensselaer,  and  had  been  employed  by  the 
patroon  in  shipping  cattle  to  his  colony.     These  were  Van 
Twiller's  recommendations :  the  influence  of  kinsmen  and 
friends,  rather  than  acknowledged  administrative  ability, 
secured  for  him  the  most  important  colonial  office  under 
the  West  India  Company.     The  new  director  was  inexpe- 
rienced, except  in  the  details  of  trade  which  he  had  learn- 
ed in  the  counting-room.     Incompetent,  narrow-minded, 
irresolute,  and  singularly  deficient  in  knowledge  of  men, 
Van  Twiller  was  rashly  intrusted  with  the  command  of 


WOUTER  VAN  TWILLER,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  223 

a  province.  But  interest — which,  rather  than  considera-CKAP.viii. 
tions  of  personal  fitness,  so  often  controls  public  appoint- 
ments — triumphed  over  all  objections.  Embarking  in  the 
company's  ship  "  Soutberg,"  of  twenty  guns,  with  a  mili- 
tary force  of  one  hundred  and  four  soldiers,  the  raw  Am- 
sterdam clerk  set  sail  to  assume  the  government  of  New 
Netherland, 

Van  Twiller  arrived  at  Manhattan  early  in  the  spring,  Aprii. 
the  ship  having  captured,  on  her  voyage,  a  Spanish  cara-  ie?arriVes 
vel,  the  Saint  Martin,  which  was  brought  safely  into  port.  Tan.  ^"  ^ ' 
Among  the  Soutberg's  passengers  were  Jacob  van  Cou- 
wenhoven,  and  his  brother-in-law,  Govert  Loockermans, 
both  of  whom  were  soon  taken  into  the  company's  service, 
and  afterward  rose  to  distinction  in  the  province.     Domine  Everardus 
Everardus  Bogardus,  who  succeeded  Michaelius  as  minis-  the^second 
tor  at  Manhattan,  and  Adam  Roelandsen,  schoolmaster, '  "^^"'^"' 
came  out  from  Holland  probably  at  the  same  time.* 

The  new  director  commenced  his  administration,  assist- 
ed by  the  experience  of  Secretary  Van  Remund  and  Schout 
Notelman.     The  council  consisted  of  Jacob  Jam  en  Hesse,  Provincial 
Martin   Gerritsen,  Andries  Hudde,  and  Jacques  Bentyn.  officers. 
Cornells  van  Tienhoven,  of  Utrecht,  was  made  the  com- 
pany's book-keeper  of  monthly  wages  ali  Fort  Amsterdam ; 
and  Sebastian  Jansen  Krol  was  succeeded  in  the  command 
at  Fort  Orange  by  Hans  Jorissen  Houten,  who  had  trad- 
ed on  the  river  in  1621.     Michael  Paulusen  was  commis-  commissD- 
sary  of  Pauw's  "  colonic"  at  Pavonia.t  nia. 

In  their  management  of  New  Netherland,  the  West  In-  unwise  co- 
dia  Company  seem  to  have  looked  rather  to  the  immedi-cy  oVthe 
ate  profits  which  they  might  derive  from  its  trade,  than  to  company. 
the  permanent  political  interests  of  the  province.     Those 
interests  would  have  been  best  secured  by  the  prompt  col- 
onization of  the  country  with  free  agricultural  emigrants, 
bringing  along  with  them  the  industrious  habits  and  the 
simple  virtues  of  their  Fatherland.     During  the  first  years 

«  De  Vries,  113  ;  De  Laet,  App.,  5  ;  IIoI.  Doc,  v.,  39C,  309 ;  Alb.  Rec,  i.,  52,  107  ;  ii., 
328 ;  Renss.  MSS. ;  O'Call.,  i.,  142  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  338,  339;  ante,  p.  183. 

+  De  Vries,  116  ;  IIoI.  Doc,  ii.,  88  ;  viii.,  32  ;  ix.,  187.  "Paulus'  Hook,"  now  Jersey 
City,  received  its  name  from  this  Michael  Paulusen,  the  commissary  at  Pavonia. 


224        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap. VIII.  of  their  organization,  the  company  had,  indeed,  done  soine- 
thing  toward  the  agricultural  settlement  of  New  Nether- 
land.  But  their  policy  was  soon  changed.  Unwisely  sur- 
rendering to  subordinate  patroons  the  care  of  subduing  and 
cultivating  the  soil,  the  company  seemed  to  limit  their 
own  views  to  the  improvement  of  their  revenue,  and  the 
jealous  maintenance  of  their  trading  monopoly.  They 
seemed  anxious  "  to  stock  the  land  with  their  own  serv- 
ants." This  was  the  cardinal  error  which,  for  so  many 
years,  retarded  the  progress  and  blighted  the  prosperity  of 
the  province. 
Revenue  Thc  tcmptatiou,  indeed,  was  strong.  During  the  year 
Nether-  1632,  tlic  cxports  of  furs  from  New  Netherland  had  ex- 
ceeded in  value  one  hundred  arid  forty  thousand  guilders. 
This  revenue  formed,  it  is  true,  an  inconsiderable  item  in 
the  grand  total  of  the  company's  yearly  income.  But  it 
would  probably  improve  by  careful  management ;  and  to 
this  end  the  efforts  of  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  were  chief- 
ly bent.  Its  mercantile  directors  viewed  New  Netherland 
rather  commercially  than  politically,  and  exhibited  them- 
selves as  selfish  traders,  rather  than  enlightened  states- 
men. They  authorized  large  expenditures  in  building 
forts  and  mills,  ai^d  for  "  unnecessary  things,  which,  un- 
der more  favorable  circumstances,  might  have  been  suit- 
able and  very  proper."  But  in  making  these  expendi- 
tures, they  seemed  to  have  had  "more  regard  for  their 
own  interest  than  for  the  welfare  of  the  country."*  Pow- 
erful and  successful  as  the  West  India  Company  had  now 
unquestionably  become,  its  directors  displayed  far  less  sa- 
gacity in  the  management  of  their  American  province, 
than  in  the  conduct  of  their  naval  war  with  Spain. 
charac:=r  Van  Twillcr's  chicf  objects  seem  to  have  been  the  main- 
Twiiier's  tcnancc  and  extension  of  the  commercial  monopoly  of  his 
tion.  '  principals.  In  many  respects  he  was,  perhaps,  their  faith- 
ful representative.  He  was  acquainted  with  trade ;  but 
he  was  ignorant  of  public  affairs.     From  the  dealing  with 

♦  Journal  van  N.  N.,  in  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  97  ;  Vertoogh  van  N.  N.,  in  H(rf.  Doc,  Iv.,  71 
and  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  288,  298 ;  De  Laet,  App.,  30. 


WOUTER  VAN  TWILLER,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  225 

wares,  and  the  shipping  of  cattle,  he  had  heen  suddenly  chap.viii. 
exalted  to  the  command  of  men,  and  the  management  of  ,^ 

a  province.  It  was  only  natural  that,  from  the  moment 
he  hegan  to  administer  the  government  of  New  Nether- 
land,  Van  Twiller  should  have  given  constant  proofs  of  the 
folly  and  danger  of  intrusting  to  inexperienced  and  incom- 
petent hands  the  interests  of  a  community  and  the  well- 
being  of  a  state. 

In  the  mean  time,  De  Vries,  after  concluding  a  peace  De  vries  ai 
with  the  savages  at  Swaanendael,  had  endeavored  to  re-iiaei. 
trieve  his  damaged  fortunes,  by  establishing  a  whale-fish- 
ery on  the  South  River.     But  provisions  soon  hegan  to  i  January. 
run  short ;  and,  in  hopes  of  obtaining  supplies  of  beans 
from  the  savages,  he  v/ent  up  the  river  through  the  float- 
ing ice,  in  his  yacht,  "the  Squirrel,"  as  far  as  Fort  Nassau.  Goes  up  to 
That  post,  "  where  formerly  some  families  of  the  West  India  sau. 
Company  had  dwelt,"  was  now  deserted  by  the  Hollanders. 
Here  De  Vries  found  some  savages,  who  urged  him  to  gosjanuarv. 
up  the  Timmer  Kill,  or  Timber  Creek.    But  a  Sankitan  or 
Stankekan  Indian  warned  the  Dutch  not  to  venture  into  the 
creek;  for  the  savages  were  only  plotting  to  destroy  them, 
as  they  had  a  little  while  before  murdered  the  crew  of  an 
English  shallop,  which  had  gone  into  "  Count  Ernest's  Riv- 
er."    The  Squirrel's  small  crew  of  seven  men,  therefore, 
stood  on  their  guard.     At  the  mouth  of  the  Timmer  Kill,  e  January, 
more  than  forty  savages  from  Mantes,  or  Red  Hook,  came 
on  board,  offering  to  barter  beaver  skins,  and  playing  on 
reeds,   to   lull  suspicion.      But  De  Vries,  observing  that 
some  of  them  wore  the  jackets  of  the  slaughtered  English- 
men, ordered  them  all  on  shore,  declaring  that  their  "  Ma- 
neto"  had  revealed  their  treacherous  designs ;  and  the  yacht 
dropped  down  again  to  Fort  Nassau.      Here   the  chiefs  sjimuarv. 
of  nine  different  tribes  came  on  board ;   some  of  whom 
had  worn  English  jackets  at  the  Timmer  Kill.     These 
they  had  now  replaced  by  robes  of  fur.     Sitting  down  in  Treaty 
a  circle  on  the  yacht's  deck,  the  chiefs  declared  that  they  Indian/ 
had  come  to  make  a  lasting  peace  ;  and  a  present  of  ten 
beaver  skins,  each  accompanied  with  Indian  ceremony, 

P 


226 


HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


Chap.  VIII. 

1633. 

13  January, 


18  January, 
De  Vries 
revisits 
Fort  Nas- 
sau. 


3  Feb. 


5  March. 
Sails  for 
Virginia. 


11  March. 
Reception 
by  Govern- 
or JIarvey. 


ratified  their  formal  treaty  with  the  Dutch.  After  obtain- 
ing a  small  supply  of  beans  and  corn,  and  purchasing  some 
beaver  skins,  De  Yries  returned  to  his  ship  off  Swaan- 
endael.* 

A  few  days  afterward,  the  yacht  again  ascended  the 
river.  After  remaining  a  fortnight  frozen  up  in  "Vine- 
yard Creek,"  the  beautiful  banks  of  which  abounded  in 
wild  grape-vines,  and  shooting  multitudes  of  wild  turkeys, 
"  weighing  from  thirty  to  thirty-six  pounds,"  De  Vries  at 
length  reached  Fort  Nassau  once  more.  But  the  Minquas 
were  now  at  war  with  the  Sankitans,  and  no  provisions 
could  be  obtained.  So  making  the  best  of  her  way  tlu-ough 
the  floating  ice,  the  yacht  rejoined  the  ship,  whose  crew 
were  overjoyed  to  meet  once  more  their  adventurous  com- 
rades, De  Vries  now  resolved  to  go  for  supplies  to  Vir- 
ginia, where  he  thought  that  corn  could  be  more  readily 
obtained  than  at  Fort  Amsterdam.  Supposing  that  no 
Dutch  vessel  from  New  Netherland  had  yet  gone  to  the 
Chesapeake,  the  patroon  was  ambitious  to  be  "  the  first 
Hollander  from  this  quarter  to  visit  the  English  A^irginias."t 

In  three  days,  De  Vries  reached  Cape  Henry.  As  he 
sailed  up  the  James  River,  he  saw,  every  where,  beautiful 
gardens  stocked  with  Provence  roses,  and  apple,  and  cher- 
ry, and  pear,  and  peach  trees,  blossoming  around  the  houses. 
Arrived  at  Jamestown,  he  was  welcomed  by  Sir  John  Har- 
vey, the  governor,  who  came  down  to  the  beach,  attended 
by  a  guard  of  halberdiers  and  musketeers.  "  Whence 
come  you  ?"  was  the  friendly  challenge.  "  From  the  South 
Bay  of  New  Netherland,"  the  prompt  reply.  "  How  far 
is  that  from  our  Bay  ?"  demanded  the  governor.  "  About 
ninety  miles,"  replied  the  Dutch  patroon.  Inviting  De 
Vries  into  his  house,  and  pledging  him  in  a  "Venice  glass 
of  sack,"  Harvey  produced  an  English  chart,  on  which  he 
pointed  out  the  South  Bay,  "  named  by  them  my  Lord 


*  De  Vries,  101-104  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  CoU.,  iii.,  32. 

t  De  Vries,  104-107.  May,  however,  had  visited  Jamestown  in  1620  (ante,  p.  97) ;  and 
it  seems,  from  an  entry  in  Winthrop's  journal,  that  in  the  month  of  April,  1632,  a  Dutch 
«hip  arrived  at  Boston  from  Virginia,  bringing  two  thousand  bushels  of  corn,  which  were 
sold  at  four  and  sixpence  a  bushel. — Winthrop,  i.,  73. 


WOUTER  VAN  TWILLER,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  227 

Delaware's  Bay."     Some  years  before,  explained  the  gov-CHA.p.viii. 

ernor,  Lord  Delaware  had  been  driven  into  this  bay  by~7~ 

•  ^     J    1(333 

foul  weather,  but,  finding  it  full  of  shoals,  had  supposed 

it  unnavigable  ;  and  therefore  they  had  not  looked  after  it 
since.*  "  Yet  it  is  our  king's  land,  and  not  New  Neth-  iiar\\-y's 
erland,"  insisted  the  loyal  knight.  De  Vries  replied,  thating" 
the  South  River  was  a  beautiful  stream,  into  which  no 
Englishman  had  been  for  ten  years ;  and  that,  several 
years  before,  the  Dutch  had  built  a  fort  there,  which  they 
called  Fort  Nassau.  Harvey  was  surprised  to  hear  that 
he  could  have  had  such  neighbors  without  knowing  it. 
He  had,  indeed,  heard  that  the  Dutch  had  a  fort  upon 
"  Hudson's  River,  as  the  English  called  it  ;"t  and  only 
in  the  previous  September,  he  had  sent  a  sloop,  with  sev- 
en or  eight  men,  to  Delaware  Bay,  "  to  sec  whether  there 
was  a  river  there."  But  they  had  not  yet  returned  ;  "he 
did  not  know  whether  the  sea  had  swallowed  them  up  or 
not."  De  Vries  then  told  Harvey  of  the  savages  he  had 
seen  in  the  South  River,  wearing  English  jackets,  and  re- 
lated what  he  had  heard  of  the  tragical  fate  of  the  sloop's 
company.  "  There  are  lands  enough — we  should  be  good 
neighbors  with  each  other,"  said  the  honest  knight ;  add- 
ing expressively,  "  you  will  have  no  trouble  from  us — if 
only  those  of  New  England  do  not  approach  too  near  you, 
and  dwell  at  a  distance  from  you."! 

Thus  a  pleasant  intercourse  was  opened  between  theintercour.se 
Dutch  and  their  English  neighbors  in  Virginia.     Harvey's  the  Dutch 
genial  frankness,  on  his  first  interview  with  De  Vries,  con-virgmiuiis. 
trasts  significantly  with  Bradford's  querulous  pertinacity 
six  years  before.     The  Virginia  governor's  warning  was 
prophetic.    From  "  those  of  New  England"  came  encroach- 
ment and  annoyance ;  until,  in  the  end,  the  coveted  pos- 
se.ssions  of  the  Dutch  in  New  Netherland  were  seized  by 
an  overwhelming  British  force.     The  open-hearted  cava- 

*  See  note  D,  Appendix. 

t  This  seems  to  sustain  Chalmers's  position  (p.  229),  that  by  the  phra.se  "  the  adjoining 
plantations  of  the  Dutch,"  in  Clayborne's  trading  license  of  18th  March,  1632  (N.  S.),  Har- 
Tey  meant  the  settlements  on  the  North  or  Hudson  River  only.  Moulton  (p.  412)  and 
Bancroft  (ii.,  p.  261),  howcvu',  seem  to  suppose  that  Harvey  referred  to  De  Vries's  colony 
at  Swaanendael.  t  De  Vries,  UO. 


228 


HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


Chap.  VIII 


1633. 


18  March. 


De  Vries 
returns  to 
the  South 
River. 
29  March. 


I -J  April. 


IG  April. 
Arrives  at 
Manhattan 


liers  of  the  "  Old  Dominion,"  though  they  did  not  fail  to 
insist  upon  the  paramount  English  title  to  Delaware  Bay, 
were  always  more  amiably  disposed  toward  the  Holland- 
ers on  the  North  River,  than  were  those  austere  neighbors 
who  soon  began  to  people  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut, 
and  push  their  thriving  villages  west  and  south.  It  was 
only  natural  that  the  New  Netherland  Dutch,  on  their 
part,  should  have  regarded  the  inhabitants  of  Virginia 
Avith  much  more  kindliness  than  they  did  the  colonists  of 
New  England.* 

After  a  week's  sojourn  at  Jamestown,  De  Vries  took 
leave  of  the  hospitable  Harvey,  who,  understanding  that 
"  there  were  no  goats  at  Fort  Amsterdam,"  sent  several  on 
board  the  yacht,  as  a  present  to  the  governor  of  New  Neth- 
erland. Returning  to  Swaanendael  with  a  welcome  sup- 
ply of  provisions,  De  Vries  found  that  his  ship  had,  mean- 
while, taken  a  few  whales.  But  he  was  now  satisfied  that 
the  fishery  could  not  be  prosecuted  to  advantage ;  and 
preparations  were,  therefore,  made  for  a  final  departure 
from  the  South  River.  Once  more  Swaanendael  was  aban- 
doned to  its  aboriginal  lords ;  and,  for  a  space,  European 
colonization  paused  in  its  progress  on  the  banks  of  the 
Delaware. 

Wishing  to  explore  the  coast,  De  Vries  embarked  in  his 
yacht ;  and  after  a  pleasant  voyage  of  two  days,  arrived 
before  Fort  Amsterdam.!  Here  was  lying  at  anchor,  with 
her  prize,  the  ship  Soutberg,  in  which  Van  Twiller  had 
just  come  out  from  Holland.  De  Vries  immediately  land- 
ing, was  welcomed  by  the  new  director,  to  whom  he  re- 
ported his  disappointment  in  the  whale-fishery  on  the 
South  River,  and  intimated  his  purpose  to  leave  his  large 
ship  at  anchor  near  Sandy  Hook,  and  dispatch  his  yacht, 
as  soon  as  possible,  to  trade  in  New  England  and  Canada.t 


*  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.  (N.  S.),  p.  274. 

t  De  Vries,  111-113.  The  journal  speaks  of  his  visiting  "Eyer  Haven,"  or  Egg  Har- 
bor, and  of  his  anchoring  in  a  fog,  on  the  15th  of  April,  off"  Barende-gat,"  or  Breaker's 
Inlet,  where,  in  two  hours,  he  took  upward  of  eighty  codfish,  which  were  "  better  than 
those  of  Newfoundland."  These  names,  to  this  day,  commemorate,  in  the  vernacular  of 
Holland,  the  early  exploration  of  the  coasts  of  New  Jersey  by  Dutct  navigators. 

t  De  Vries,  113;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  iii.,  p.  39. 


WOUTER  VAN  TWILLER,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  92«J 

A  few  days  afterward,  the  "William,"  a  London  vessel,  CHAr.viii 
arrived  at  Fort  Amsterdam  from  New  Plymouth,  whither 
she  had  been  dispatched  to  set  up  a  fishery,  and  "so  to,g^'j*j  " 
go  to  trade   at  Hudson's  River."^     The  supercargo,  or^f^^^j^jp 
"  Koopman,"  on  board  this  vessel  was  Jacob  Eelkens,  the  ^y^'IJ^^™  ^ 
former  commissary  at  Fort  Orange,  whom  the  "West  India '^^''"'''''"'^" 
Company  had  superseded  in  1623.     After  his  dismission 
by  the  Dutch,  he  went  to  England,  and  was  engaged  by 
some  London  merchants  to  manage  for  them  an  adventure 
in  the  peltry  trade  in  New  Netherland.     Thoroughly  in 
the  interest  of  his  English  employers,  Eelkens  now  wished 
to  go  up  the  river,  and  traffic  in  the  neighborhood  of  his 
old  habitation.     But  Van  Twiller,  learning  his  purpose, 
demanded  his  commission,  which  Eelkens  refused  to  pro- 
duce.    He  was  now,  he  said,  in  English  service ;  and 
New  Netherland  itself  was  British  territory,  discovered  by 
Hudson,  an  Englishman.     This  claim  of  sovereignty  was 
promptly  repelled  by  the  director  and  his  council.     Hud- 
son, they  admitted,  had  discovered  the  river  ;  but  the  dis- 
covery was  made  in  the  service,  and  at  the  cost,  of  the 
East  India  Company  at  Amsterdam ;  and  no  English  col- 
onists had  ever  been  settled  in  the  country.     The  river  it- 
self was   named  "  Mauritius  River,  after   our  Prince  of 
Orange." 

Eelkens,  intent  to  accomplish  his  object,  informed  Van  n  Apni. 
Twiller,  after  a  few  days,  that  he  would  go  up  the  river, 
if  it  cost  him  his  life.  The  director  peremptorily  refused 
his  assent,  and  ordered  the  Orange  flag  to  be  run  up  at 
Fort  Amsterdam,  and  a  salute  of  three  guns  to  be  fired  in 
honor  of  the  Prince.  Eelkens,  on  his  part,  caused  the  En- 
glish flag  to  be  displayed  on  board  the  William,  and  a  sim- 
ilar salute  to  be  fired  in  honor  of  King  Charles.     After  lin-  saus  up  (o 

°  '  Fort  Or- 

fferino:  a  week  before  Fort  Amsterdam,  and  failins^  to  re-  an^'e- 
ceive  a  license,  the  ship  weighed  anchor,  and  boldly  sailed 
up  to  Fort  Orange.     The  "William,"  of  London,  was  the 
first  British  vessel  that  ever  ascended  the  North  River. 
Enraged  at  this  audacity.  Van  Twiller  collected  all  the 

*  Winthrop,  i,,  100. 


230        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  VIII.  people  ill  the  fort  before  his  door,  and,  broaching  a  cask 
of  wine,  filled  a  bumper,  calling  on  those  who  loved  the 

Van  Twii-  Prince  of  Orange  and  himself  to  imitate  him,  and  "  assist 

conducf."^  in  protecting  him  from  the  violence  which  the  Englishman 
had  committed."  But  the  ship  was  already  out  of  sight, 
sailing  up  the  river  ;  and  the  people  all  began  to  laugh  at 
their  pusillanimous  director.  De  Yries,  dining  with  Yan 
Twiller  the  same  day,  told  him  bluntly  that  he  had  "  com- 
mitted great  folly."  The  Englishman  had  no  commission, 
but  only  a  custom-house  clearance  to  sail  to  New  En- 
gland, and  not  to  New  Netherland.  "If  it  had  been  my 
case,"  said  the  mortified  patroon,  "I  should  have  helped 
him  from  the  fort  to  some  eight-pound  iron  beans,  and 
have  prevented  him  from  going  up  the  river."  The  En- 
glish "are  of. so  haughty  a  nature,  that  they  think  every 
thing  belongs  to  them."  "  I  should  send  the  ship  Sout- 
berg  after  him,  and  drive  him  out  of  the  river."* 

A  Dutch         The  counsels  of  the  energetic  East  India  captain  at 

force  dis- 

patched  to  last  arouscd  Van  Twiller  to  action.     A  few  days  after- 
Fort  Or-  .  , 
ange.        Ward,  some   poldiers,  and  "a  pmnace,  a  caravel,  and  a 

hoy,"  were  dispatched  to  Fort  Orange,  with  a  protest 
against  the  intruders,  and  an  order  for  their  departure. 
In  the  mean  time,  Eelkens  had  pitched  a  tent  about  a 
mile  below  the  fort,  and,  for  a  fortnight,  had  been  carry- 
ing on  a  lucrative  trade  with  the  Indians,  with  whose  lan- 
guage and  habits  his  former  residence  had  made  liim  fa- 
miliar. Houten,  the  commissary  at  Fort  Orange,  had  also 
set  up  a  rival  tent  beside  that  of  Eelkens,  and  used  every 
exertion  to  hinder  his  trade.     Wlien  the  little  fleet  ar- 

May.  rived  at  the  encampment,  the  intruders  were  ordered  to 
retire.  Eelkens  still  persisting,  his  tent  was  struck,  and 
his  goods  reshipped  by  the  Dutch  soldiers,  who,  as  they 
were  thus  engaged,  "  sounded  their  trumpet  in  the  boat 

The  "Will- in  disajrace  of  the  Enojlish."     The  anchor  was  weighed  at 

jam"  .  . 

brought     once,  and  the  ship,  accompanied  by  the  Dutch  vessels,  was 
Manhattan,  taken  dowu  to  Fort  Amsterdam.     Here  the  director  re- 
quired from  Eelkens  a  list  of  his  peltries.     This  was  fur- 

*  De  Vries,  113, 114  ;  Ral.  Doe..,  ii.,  81-85. 


WOUTER  VAN  TWILLER,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  231 

nished ;  but  Van  T wilier  forbade  any  of  the  people  at  Man-  chap.viii. 
hattan,  "  on  pain  of  death  and  loss  of  all  their  wages,"  to 
sign  any  certificates  respecting  Eelkens's  treatment.    Im-  ^^^^^^  ,J 
mediately  afterward,  the  "William"  was  convoyed  to  sea;  ^^'^^ 
and  her  supercargo  returned  to  London,  entirely  foiled  in 
his  purpose  of  interfering  with  the  Dutch  fur  trade  on  the 
North  River,  the  annual  returns  from  which  were  now  es- 
timated at  about  sixteen  thousand  beaver  skins.* 

Eelkens's  intrusive  visit,  besides  damaging  the  fur  trade 
of  the  Dutch,  did  them  a  much  more  serious  injury.     The 
friendly  relations  of  the  Hollanders  with  the  Indians  were  Hostility  of 
for  a  time  interrupted,  and  "the  injurious  seed  of  discord"  toward  the 
was  sown  between  them.     Peace  was  not  fully  restored.  Fort  or- 
until  many  "  serious  mischiefs"  had  been  effected  by  the 
savages,  and  the  colonists  at  Fort  Orange  had  lost  several 
"  men  and  cattle."! 

Van  Twiller  soon  had  another  opportunity  to  enforce  the 
trading  monopoly  of  his  immediate  superiors.     Before  re-  van  Twi> 
turning  with  his  large  ship  to  Holland,  De  Vries  wished  tious  con- 
to  send  his  yacht,  the  Squirrel,  through  Hell-gate,  "  toward  ward  De 
the  north,"  to  trade  along  the  coasts.     The  director,  how- 
ever, refused  his  assent,  and  ordered  a  lighter  alongside,  20  May. 
to  unload  the  yacht  of  her  ballast ;  to  which  her  owner 
demurred,  and  produced  his  "exemptions"  as  a  patroon. 
Van  Twiller,  however,  insisted  that  "  all  princes  and  po- 
tentates" were  accustomed  to  search  vessels,  and  that  it 
was  his  duty  to  see  whether  there  was  any  thing  on  board 
the  yacht  subject  to  the  company's  tax.     He  then  ordered 
the  guns  of  Fort  Amsterdam  to  be  trained  on  the  Squirrel. 
Seeing  this,  De  Vries  ran  to  the  angle  of  the  fort,  where 
stood  the  director,  with  the  secretary,  and  one  or  two  of 
the  council.     "  The  land  is  full  of  fools,"  exclaimed  the  in- 
dignant patroon  ;  "  if  you  want  to  shoot,  why  did  you  not 
shoot  at  the  Englishman  who  violated  your  river  against 
your  will  ?"     Upon  this,  "they  let  their  shooting  stand ;" 
and  the  Squirrel  sailed  through  Hell-gate,  followed  by  a 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  ii.,  51-88 ;  O'Call.,  i.,  145,  146.  t  IIol.  Doc,  ii.,  140-143. 


232        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  VIII.  yacht,  whicli  Van  Twiller  dispatched  from  Manhattan  to 

"~~         watch  her  movements. 
1633 

The  accounts  which  De  Vries  brought  from  the  South 

River  indicated  the  necessity  of  prompt  measures  to  se- 
cure the  fur  trade  and  possession  of  the  "West  India  Com- 
pany there,  especially  as  Fort  Nassau  had  now  been,  for 
Arendt      somo  time,  deserted  by  the  Dutch.     Arendt  Corssen  was 
appofmed   accordingly  appointed  commissary,  and  was  instructed  to 
ry'on'th?  purchase  a  tract  of  land  on  the  Schuylkill,  which,  "  for  its 
er."      '^'  fitness  and  handsome  situation,  as  well  in  regard  of  trade 
as  of  culture,"  was  held  in  high  estimation.     The  beaver 
trade  with  the  Minquas  and  the  "  wild  Indians"  could  be 
carried  on  very  briskly  at  that  point,  and  would  "amount 
Purchases  to  tliousands"  annually.     In  the  course  of  this  year,  Cors- 
the schuyi- sen  succecdcd  in  purchasing,  "for  certain  cargoes,"  from 
"  the  right  owners  and  Indian  chiefs,"  a  tract  of  land  call- 
ed "  Armenveruis,"  lying  about  and  on  the  Schuylkill. 
The  Indian  title  being  thus  secured,  formal  possession  of 
Pennsylvania  was  taken  by  the  Dutch,  who  erected  a 
trading-house  there ;  and  afterward  a  more  considerable 
post,  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of  "Fort  Beversrede."* 
Affairs  on        The  Dutch,  wlio  wcrc  the  only  Europeans  that  had  thus 

IheConnec-  . 

ticut  River,  far  actually  occupied  any  part  of  the  present  territory  of 
New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Delaware,  were 
now  to  assert,  against  a  pertinacious  rival,  their  right  to 
the  possession  of  Connecticut,  which,  from  the  time  of 
Block's  exploration,  and  long  "  before  any  English  had 
dreamed  of  going  there,"  they  had  constantly  visited,  and 
where  they  had  carried  on  an  exclusive  and  lucrative 
trade.  When  the  remnant  of  the  Mahicans  opposite  Fort 
1628.  Orange,  who  had  been  subdued  by  the  Mohawks,  were  ex- 
pelled from  their  ancient  abode,  they  settled  themselves 
on  the  Fresh  River,  "called  Connittecock  by  the  natives," 
under  the  sachem  Sequeen,  who  claimed  the  aboriginal 
ownership  of  "the  whole  river,  and  the  lands  thereabouts." 
It  was  a  beautiful  flat  country,  "  subject  in  the  spring  to 

♦  IIol.  Doc.  viii.,  35,  55 ;  fludde's  Report,  in  Alb.  Rec,  xvii.,  and  In  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S 
Coll.,  i.,  429,  440  ;  O'Call  ,  i.,  156  ;  ii.,  81,  5S1  ;  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.  35  '^,'S  ;  De  Vries 
102j  104,  115  ;  post,  p.  4S3,  465. 


WOUTER  VAN  TWILLER,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL  233 

inundations  like  those  of  the  Nile."     But  constant  qucs- tuArvui. 
tions  of  jurisdiction  arose  between  Sequeen  and  the  Pe-       .^ 
quods,  who,  under  Meautinay,  their  chief,  inhabited  the 
regions  east  of  the  river,  as  far  as  the  Narragansett  coun- 
try.   It  was,  therefore,  agreed  that  their  differences  should  The  Pe- 
be  settled  by  arms,  "upon  condition  that  the  winner  should  ?o"rious."^ 
always,  for  himself  and  his  successors,  remain  the  true 
owner  of  the  Fresh  River."     After  three  different  battles 
in  the  open  field,  Meautinay  obtained  "  the  victory  and 
the  land  ;"  and  so  defeated  and  humbled  Sequeen,  that  he 
"  became  subject  to  the  Pequods."     With  the  consent  of 
the  victors,  Sequeen  placed  himself,  and  the  remnant  of  his 
tribe,  "  under  the  protection  of  the  Netherlanders."* 

From  that  moment,  the  relations  between  the  Dutch 
and  the  tribes  on  the  Connecticut  became  still  more  inti- 
mate. The  fur  trade  was  carried  on  briskly,  and  to  mu- 
tual satisfaction.  But  the  humbled  warriors  panted  to  be 
revenged.  The  policy  of  the  Dutch  avoided  any  interfer- 
ence in  the  quarrel ;  and,  in  hopes  of  engaging  the  recent- 
ly-arrived English  on  his  side,  Wahginnacut,  the  sachem 
of  the  expelled  Mahicans,  made  a  journey  to  Boston,  as  1(331, 
we  have  seen,  "  to  extol  the  fertility  of  his  country,  and  rV-'^p'"''- 
solicit  an  English  plantation  as  a  bulwark  against  the  Pe- 
quods." But  neither  Massachusetts  nor  New  Plymouth 
would  then  become  parties  to  the  Indian  strife  ;  nor  were 
any  steps  taken  by  the  English  to  plant  a  settlement ; 
though  Edward  Winslow  visited  the  river  the  next  year,  1C32. 
and  selected  a  site  for  a  house.  The  Dutch  remained  in 
quiet  possession  of  their  valuable  trade ;  but  before  the 
recall  of  Minuit,  no  purchases  of  lands  had  been  made, 
nor  had  any  patroonships  been  erected,  under  the  charter 
of  1629,  in  any  part  of  the  Connecticut  valley.t 

While  detained  in  England  by  the  negotiations  for  the 
release  of  the  Eendragt,  the  recalled  director  probably  be- 

*  IIol.  Doc,  vii.,  70-68;  Beverninck,  607;  Wassenaar,  xvi.,  13  ;  Benson's  Memoir,  66. 
The  meaning  of  the  Indian  name  "  Connectkoota,"  is  the  "Long  River."  Sequeen  is 
stated  to  have  been  the  Sagamore  of  Pyquaug,  or  Wether.sfield,  and  to  have  been  undei 
Sowheag,  the  great  sachem  at  Mattabesick,  or  Middletown.— Trumbull,  i.,  40,  41. 

t  Winthrop,  i.,  52  ;  Bancroft,  i.,  361  ;  Hutchinson,  i.,  148  ;  ante,  p.  207,  210. 


234  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap. VIII.  came  aware  of  the  grant  of  Connecticut,  which  the  Earl 
of  Warwick  had  just  sealed.     The  "West  India  Company 
The  wf  t  ^^'^^  perceived  that  their  title  to  that  part  of  New  Neth- 
|,^^j'j*  *^j^^- erland  would  be  "  sharply  contested"  by  the  English.     It 
[andsofthe"^'^^'  therefore,  thought  expedient  that,  to  their  existing 
^°"j"j^^3^g  rights  by  discovery  and  exclusive  visitation,  should  be 
added  the  more  definite  title,  by  purchase  from  the  ab- 
origines.    In  the  course  of  the  following  summer,  the 
Dutch  traders  on  the  Connecticut  were  accordingly  di- 
rected to  arrange  with  the  native  Indians  for  the  purchase 
of  "most  all  the  lands  on  both  sides  of  the  river."     This 
was  accomplished ;  and  "  Hans  den  Sluys,  an  officer  of 
the   company,"   also  purchased,   at  the   same   time,  the 
"  Kievit's  Hoeck,"  afterward  called  Say  brook  Point,  at 
the   mouth  of  the  Connecticut,  where  the  arms  of  the 
States  Greneral  were  "affixed  to  a  tree  in  token  of  pos- 
session."'**' 
1633.        One  of  the  most  important  duties  of  the  new  director 
was  to  secure  the  West  India  Company's  title  to  Eastern 
New  Netherland  ;  and  Van  Twiller,  soon  after  his  arrival 
commissa-  ^t  Manhattan,  dispatched  Jacob  van  Curler,  one  of  his 
to"theFrerh commissarics,  with  six  others,  to  finish  the  long-projected 
River.        fg^t  on  the  Conuecticut  River,  and  obtain  a  formal  Indian 
deed  for  the  tracts  of  land  formerly  selected.     The  trading- 
house  which  had  been  projected  in  1623,  and  "  had  been 
a  long  time  in  esse,"  was  now  commenced  on  the  west 
bank  of  the  river,  about  the  site  of  the  present  town  of 
8  June.      Hartford.     In  a  few  days,  Yan  Curler  agreed  with  the 
Sachem  Tattoepan,  the  "owner  of  the  Fresh  River  of 
New  Netherland,"  for  the  purchase  of  the  "  flat  land  ex- 
Purciiases  tcndinsf  about  three  miles  down  along  the  river  to  the 

land.  o  ^  o 

next  little  stream,  and  again  upward,  a  musket-shot  over 
the  kill,  being  one  mile  broad  to  the  heights."  The  pur- 
chase was  made  "  with  the  free  will  and  consent  of  the 
inhabitants  there,"  upon  condition  that  the  ceded  territo- 
ry, "named  Sicajoock,"  should  always  be  a  neutral  ground, 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  iv.,  71,  110 ;  Vertoogh  van  N.  N.,  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  p.  276,  277. 
The  Kievit  is  a  bird  commonly  known  as  the  "  Pewit."  In  Holland,  its  eggs  are  con. 
sidered  a  great  delicacy  in  the  spring. 


WOUTER  VAN  TWILLER,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  235 


1633. 


where  all  the  tribes  might  resort  for  purposes  of  trade,  and  chap.vhi 
where  no  wars  should  ever  be  waged.  With  the  consent" 
of  the  Pequod  sachem  Magaritinne,  "chief  of  Sloup's  Bay," 
it  was  also  arranged  that  Sequeen  should  thereafter  live 
with  the  Dutch.  This  land  "  was  bought  from  the  Pe- 
quods  as  conquerors,  with  the  good- will  and  assent  of  Se- 
queen."* 

Thus  the  Dutch  West  India  Company  obtained  the  In- 
dian title  to  the  territory  on  the  Connecticut  River,  of  the 
whole  of  which  they  "  had  previously  taken  possession." 
The  purchase  was  made  of  the  natives,  who  "  declared 
themselves  the  rightful  owners ;"  Lord  Warwick's  grantees 
had,  as  yet,  done  nothing  toward  the  occupation  of  the  re- 
gions which  they  claimed  ;  and  the  people  of  New  Plym- 
outh had  made  no  attempt  to  plant  a  settlement  in  a  re- 
gion which  they  knew  was  beyond  the  limits  of  their  pat- 
ent.   Van  Curler,  the  Dutch  commissary,  soon  completed  a  van  curier 

iniiii  completes 

redoubt  "  vipon  the  flat  land  on  the  edere  of  the  river,  with  Fort  "Good 

^     .  .  '^  '  Hope." 

a  creek  emptying  at  the  side."    The  little  post  was  fortified 
with  two  small  cannon,  and  named  the  "Good  Hope."t 

Van  Twiller  had  an  early  opportunity  to  acquaint  the 
West  India  Company  with  his  proceedings.     De  Vries  be-  June 
ing  about  to  sail  for  Holland,  came  up  from  his  ship  at 
Sandy  Hook,  to  take  leave  of  the  director,  and  receive  his 

»  Hoi.  Doc,  ix.,  187,  189  ;  Hazard,  ii.,  262,  263  ;  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  1 ,  271, 272  ;  O'Call., 
i.,  150, 151  ;  Verbael  van  Beverninck,  607.  The  Sachem  Tattoepan,  of  whom  Van  Curler 
made  the  purchase,  is  called,  by  Winslow,  "  Tatobum,  whose  title  to  the  river  was  by 
conquest." — Morton's  Mem.,  App.,  396.  It  seems  that  a  few  years  afterward,  when  the 
Pequods  had  been  e.xterminated,  Sequas.son,  the  son  of  Sequeen,  was  induced  to  make  the 
following  declaration  before  the  Hartford  authorities :  "  1640,  2d  July,  Saqueston  testifies 
in  court  that  he  never  sold  any  ground  to  the  Dutch,  neither  was  at  any  time  conquered 
by  the  Pequods,  nor  paid  any  tribute  to  them."— J.  II.  Trumbull's  Colonial  Records  of 
Connecticut,  56. 

f  De  Vries,  150;  Hol.Doc.,ii  ,  368  ;  Alb.  Rec.,xviii.,289  ;  Hazard,  ii.,  268.  "In  1819," 
says  Dr.  Holmes,  the  annalist,  "  I  went  with  Mr.  Perkins,  of  Hartford,  to  see  the  remains 
of  this  Dutch  fort,  which  were  then  distinctly  visible  on  the  bank  of  the  Connecticut  River, 
not  far  below  the  seat  of  the  Wyllys  family.  There  were  some  decayed  pieces  of  timber 
and  bricks." — Holmes,  Am.  Ann.,  i.,  219,  note.  The  point  where  the  "  Little  River,"  which 
now  runs  through  Hartford,  empties  into  the  Connecticut,  is  still  known  as  "  Dutch  Point." 
On  a  map  of  Hartford  in  1640,  recently  prepared  by  W.  S.  Porter,  "  surveyor  and  antiqua 
rian,"  the  meadow  on  the  south  of  the  Little  River  is  also  marked  as  "  Dutchman's  land." 
The  Fort  "  Hope"  was  built  at  the  northernmost  point  of  this  south  meadow.  Mr.  J.  II. 
Trumbull,  the  able  compiler  of  that  excellent  work,  the  "  Public  Records  of  Connecticut," 
informs  me,  that  the  ruins  of  the  old  fort  have  been  traced  by  persons  now  living  ;  and 
that  several  of  the  yellow  Dutch  bricks  used  in  its  construction  are  still  preserved  by  res- 
idents in  Hartford. 


236  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORR. 

chaj  VIII.  dispatches.     But  Van  Twiller,  renewing  his  "  vexatious 
conduct,"  objected  to  the  sailing  of  the  ship  until  she  had 
Van  Twii-  heen  visited  by  the  officers  of  Fort  Amsterdam.     This  l)e 
msvexa-^  Vries  refused  to  allow,     "  I  am  going,"  said  he,  "to  the 
ducrto-"*   Fatherland ;  if  you  wish  to  prepare  letters,  you  can  send 
vrTel^^    them  after  me ;  1  shall  return  with  my  boat."     The  di- 
rector immediately  dispatched  a  dozen  musketeers  down  to 
the  beach,  to  prevent  his  departure ;  but  the  patroon  or- 
dered his  boat's  crew  to  row  away  at  once,  in  spite  of  the 
soldiers,  who  were  now  "  ridiculed  with  shouts  and  jeers 
by  all  the  by-standers."     Returning  to  the  fort,  De  Vries 
reproached  Van  Twiller  for  his  "  buffoonery"  in  sending 
down  a  guard,  by  which  he  had  made  himself  a  laughing- 
stock to  all  the  people.     He  then  joined  his  boat,  which 
had  been  waiting  behind  Nutten  (Governor's)  Island,  and 
rowed  across  the  river  to  Pavonia,  where  he  was  "  well 
entertained"  by  Michael  Paulusen,  the  commissary. 
June.  The  next  morning  De  Vries  reached  his  ship ;  which 

De  Vries's  t       •    •       ^   i  i       r  -n« 

ship  visited  was  soou  aftcrward  visited  by  a  yacht  Irom  h  ort  Amster- 
fromthe     dam,  briuc^inor  the  director's  letters  for  Holland,  and  Re- 

fort.  'DO 

mund  and  Notelman,  the  provincial  secretary  and  schout, 
who  were  welcomed  on  board.  Remund,  however,  see- 
ing a  dozen  beaver  skins  lying  on  the  deck,  declared  them 
"  a  prize,"  because  they  had  not  been  entered  at  the  fort. 
De  Vries  told  him  that  he  might  seize  them ;  but  Notelman, 
the  schout,  interfered.  "  Let  them  lie,"  said  he;  "we  are 
not  now  at  the  fort.  If  there  is  any  thing  wrong,  the  pa- 
troon can  answer  for  it  in  Holland."  The  secretary,  more 
faithful  to  his  trust,  tlireatened  to  send  the  ship  Soutberg 
after  De  Vries  ;  who,  in  reply,  severely  censured  the  con- 
duct of  the  company's  officers  at  Manhattan.  "  They  know 
nothing,"  said  the  irritated  patroon,  "but  about  drinking: 
in  the  East  Indies  they  would  not  serve  for  assistants  ;  but 
the  "West  India  Company  sends  out  at  once,  as  great  mas- 
ters of  folks,  persons  who  never  had  any  command  before  ; 
and  it  must  therefore  come  to  naught."  With  this  reproof, 
the  discomfited  officials  returned  to  Fort  Amsterdam.* 

*  De  Vries,  Voyages,  114-110.    The  journal  describes  Sandy  Hook  Bay,  in  1633,  as  " 


WOUTER  VAN  TWILLER,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  237 

Setting  sail  for  Holland,  De  Vries  met  an  English  ves-CHAP.viu 
sel  just  outside  of  Sandy  Hook,  "running  directly  upon~7~~~ 
the  shoals,"  and  in  danger  of  shipwreck.     A  gun  was  fired  15  jupg. 
to  warn  the  stranger,  and  a  boat  was  sent  to  point  out  the  ^/jJioT 
channel.     The  English  captain  immediately  visited  De"°"^"'^ 
Vries,  who  recognized  him  as  an  old  acquaintance  named 
Stone,  whom  he  had.  met  in  the  West  Indies,  and  afterward 
at  Jamestown,  the  previous  spring.     Stone  was  carrying 
a  large  cargo  of  cattle  from  Virginia  to  New  England; 
and  being  in  want  of  water,  he  was  anxious  to  run  up  to 
Manhattan.    But  no  one  on  board  knew  the  channel.    At  An  Engusii 

T^      -TT   ■  11  1  CI*  ^^'P  from 

Stone  s  earnest  entreaty,  De  Vries  allowed  one  of  his  ere w  Virginia  ar- 

rives  at 

to  join  the  English  ship,  and  pilot  her  up  to  Fort  Amster-  Manhattan. 
dam.*  The  first  British  vessel  that  ever  ascended  the 
North  River  had  been  navigated  in,  a  few  months  before, 
by  Eelkens,  a  discharged  officer  of  the  Dutch  West  India 
Company  ;  a  second  English  ship  now  entered  the  harbor 
of  Manhattan  with  a  Dutch  pilot  furnished  by  De  Vries. 

While  Stone  was  lying  at  anchor  before  Fort  Amster- 
dam, a  trading  pinnace  arrived  from  New  Plymouth;  and 
a  quarrel  soon  arose  between  the  Virginia  captain  and  the 
master  of  the  New  England  craft.  Van  T wilier,  having 
been  drinking  with  Stone,  was  prevailed  upon  to  allow  him 
to  seize  the  pinnace,  "u}X)n  pretence  that  those  of  Plym- 
outh had  reproached  them  of  Virginia."    Watching  an  op-  a  New 

1  c     1        T»T  -r.1  or    Plymouth 

portunity  when  most  of  the  New  Plymouth  people  were  pinnace 

1  r  Till-  •   1  1  seized  by 

ashore.  Stone  boarded  the  pinnace  with  some  of  his  men,  the  captain 

.,  ,  ^^.       .     .  'ofthcVlr- 

and  "set  sail  to  carry  her  away  to  Virginia."     But  some ginia shij.. 
of  the  Dutch,  "  who  had  been  at  Plymouth  and  received 
kindness,"  pursued    the    marauders,  and    broucrht    them  Rested  t.5 

^  the  Dutch. 

back.  The  next  day,  Van  Twiller  and  Stone  entreated 
the  master  of  the  pinnace,  who  was  one  of  the  New  Plym- 
outh council,  "  to  pass  it  by,"  This  he  promised  to  do, 
"  by  a  solemn  instrument  under  his  hand ;"  and  both  the 
English  vessels  set  sail  for  Massachusetts.  Stone,  how- 
great  bay  where  flfly  or  sixty  ships  could  easily  lie,  protected  from  the  sea  winds.  This 
Sandy  Hook  stretches  out  about  two  miles  from  the  Highlands,  with  a  flat  sand  beach 
about  eight  or  nine  paces  broad,  completely  covered  with  blue  plum-trees,  which  grow 
wild  there."— r.  Ilfi,  lt3..  *  De  Vries,  96,.  110,  1L7.. 


238        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap. viii.  ever,  no  sooner  arrived  at  Boston,  than  he  was  arrested  at 
"~~~~the  suit  of  the  New  Plymouth  people,  and  bound  over  to 
appear  in  the  Admiralty  Court  in  England.     But  the  re- 
cognizance was  soon  withdrawn  ;  for  the  prosecutors  found 
that  "  it  would  turn  to  their  reproach."* 

On  the  return  of  their  pinnace  from  Manhattan,  the 
New  Plymouth  people  learned  that  the  New  Netherland 
authorities  had  now  secured  an  Indian  title,  and  taken 
formal  possession  of  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut.     Gov- 
winsiow    ernor  Winslow  and  Mr.  Bradford,  therefore,  hastened  to 
ford  visit    Boston,  "  to  confcr  about  joining  in  a  trade  to  Connecticut 
ifjuiy.     for  beaver  and  hemp,"  and  "to  set  up  a  trading-house 
there,  to  prevent  the  Dutch."t      But  Winthrop  again  de- 
clined engaging  in  the  enterprise.      It  was   "  doubtful 
whether  that  place  was  within  our  patent  or  not,"  thought 
the  Massachusetts  authorities  ;  nevertheless,  they  assigned 
Massachu-  other  rcasous  for  their  refusal.    "  In  reo^ard,"  said  Winthrop, 

setts  de-  .  ,      '  .  '^ 

ciines  to     "  the  place  was  not  fit  for  plantation,  there  being  three  or 

join  New     ^  ,  ^  i  •  i 

Plymouth    four  thousaud  warlike  Indians,  and  the  river  not  to  be 

in  occupy- 
ing Con-     gone  into  but  by  small  pinnaces,  having  a  bar  affording 

but  six  feet  at  high  water,  and  for  that  no  vessels  can 
get  in  for  seven  months  in  the  year,  partly  by  reason  of 
the  ice,  and  then  the  violent  stream,  &c.,  we  thought  not 
II  July,     fit  to  meddle  with  it."     After  a  week's  delay  at  Boston, 
Winslow  and  Bradford  returned  to  New  Plymouth,  with- 
out having  been  able  to  engage  the  co-operation  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts authorities,  but  with  their  "leave  to  go  on."| 
Probable         It  is  probablc  that  the  real  motive  of  Massachusetts  in 
the^Massa-  thus  declining  the  proposition  of  the  New  Plymouth  peo- 
peopfe"^     pie  was  an  indisposition  to  interfere  with  the  colonization 
of  Connecticut,  under  the  charter  which  Lord  Warwick 
had  just  granted  to  Saltonstall  and  his  associates.     Not 
long  afterward,  the  authorities  at  Boston  distinctly  admit- 
ted that  the  lower  part  of  the  Connecticut  valley  was  "out 

*  Winthrop,  i.,  104  ;  Morton's  Memorial,  176. 

t  Winthrop,  i.,  105.  Winslow,  however,  in  a  letter  to  Winthrop,  written  ten  years  aft- 
erward, on  the  6th  of  April,  1643,  alleges  that  "the  Dutch  came  in  by  way  of  prevention, 
and  stept  in  between  us  and  our  people,"  &c. — Morton's  Memorial,  App.,  p.  395. 

t  Winthrop,  i.,  105,  and  Savage's  note,  161  ;  Morton's  Memorial,  172;  Hutchinson*! 
Mass.,  ii.,  416. 


i 


WOUTER  VAN  TWILLER,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  239 

of  the  claim  of  the  Massachusetts  patent."*     The  value  chap.viii. 
and  importance  of  the  upper  part  of  that  valley,  which  was 
really  comprehended  within  their  patent,  was,  however, 
soon  made  known  to  the  G-eneral  Court.     John  Oldham,  John  ow- 
of  Watertown,  and  three  others,  in  the  course  of  the  sum-  land  jour- 
mer,  penetrated  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles  through  the  necticut. 
wilderness,  to  trade  with  the  native  tribes  on  the  upper 
waters  of  the  Connecticut.     The  travellers  were  hospitably 
entertained  at  all  the  Indian  villages  through  which  they 
passed  ;  and  the  sachem  whom  they  visited,  near  the  pres- 
ent town  of  Springfield,   "  used  them  kindly,  and  gave 
them  some  beaver."     Early  in  the  autumn  of  1633,  the  September. 
first  British  explorers  returned  to  Boston,  with  glowing 
accounts  of  the  luxuriant  meadows  which  bordered  the  riv- 
er, and  bringing  samples  of  hemp  which  "grows  there  in 
great  abundance,  and  is  much  better  than  the  English."t 

Though  Winthrop  would  not  join  with  the  New  Plym-  winthrop 
outh  authorities  in  their  projected  enterprise  of  opposition  van  xwii- 
to  the  Dutch,  he  nevertheless  thought  it  necessary  to  as-  claims 
sert,  promptly,  the  superior  title  of  the  English  to  the  cut  for  the 
whole  of  the  Connecticut  valley.      Accordingly,  he  dis- 
patched his  bark,  the  "  Blessing  of  the  Bay,"  on  a  trading 
voyag^e  through  Long  Island  Sound,  with  a  "  Commis- !^"i^ 

•^     °  .        .°  °  4  Sept. 

sion,"  to  signify  to  the  New  Netherland  government  "that 
the  King  of  England  had  granted  the  river  and  country 
of  Connecticut  to  his  own  subjects,"  and  that  the  Dutch 
should  therefore  "  forbear  to  build  there."  On  their  way, 
the  bark's  company  visited  Long  Island,  where  they  found 
the  Indians  had  "store  of  the  best  wampampeak,"  and 
"  many  canoes  so  great,  as  one  will  carry  eighty  men." 
They  also  visited  "the  River  of  Connecticut,  which  is 
barred  at  the  entrance,  so  as  they  could  not  find  above  one 
fathom  water."  At  Manhattan,  Winthrop's  messengers 
"  were  very  kindly  entertained,  and  had  some  beaver,  and 
other  things,  for  such  commodities  as  they  put  off."t 

After  five  weeks'  absence,  the  bark  returned  to  Boston,  _2_  oct. 

*  Winthrop,  i.,  398,  App.  t  Winthrop,  i.,  HI  ;  Trumbull,  i.,  34. 

t  Winthrop,  i.,  lU,  112. 


240        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

chap.viii. ^vith  a  "very  courteous  and  respectful"  letter  from  Van 
Twiller  to  Winthrop.  The  Diredtor  of  New  Netherland,  in 
23  Sept  turn,  desired  the  Massachusetts  authorities  to  defer  their 
4  October.  "  prctencc  or  claim"  to  Connecticut,  until  the  King  of  En- 
van  Twii-  orland  and  the  States  G-eneral  should  asTce  about  their  lim- 

ler  replies,   f  .  ^ii  •  •it 

and  asserts  its,  SO  that  tlic  colonists  of  Dotli  natious  mi^ht  live  "as 

the  Dutch  1-11  -1  ^  ^         •   1 

title.         good  neighbors  in  these  heathenish  countries."     "I  have," 
added  Van  Twiller,  "in  the  name  of  the  Lords,  the  States 
G-eneral,  and  the  authorized  West  India  Company,  taken 
possession  of  the  forementioned  river,  and  for  testimony 
thereof  have  set  up  an  house  on  the  north  side  of  the  said 
river,  with  intent  to  plant,  &c.     It  is  not  the  intent  of  the 
States  to  take  the  land  from  the  poor  natives,  as  the  King 
of  Spain  hath  done  by  the  Pope's  donation,  but  rather  to 
take  it  from  the  said  natives  at  some  reasonable  and  con- 
venient price,  which,  God  be  praised,  we  have  done  hith- 
erto.    In  this  part  of  the  world  are  divers  heathen  lands 
that  are  empty  of  inhabitants,  so  that  of  a  little  part  or 
portion  thereof,  there  needs  not  any  question."* 
NewPiym-      Notwithstanding  the  refusal  of  the  Massachusetts  au- 
mences  a    Ihoritics,  the  New  Plymouth  people  did  not  abandon  their 
on  the  Con-  purposB  of  cncroachmcnt  on  the  Connecticut ;  where  the 
Hollanders  were  now  in  quiet  possession,  under  their  three- 
fold right  by  original  discovery,  constant  visitation,  and 
formal  purchase  from  the  aboriginal  owners.     To  secure 
a  color  of  adverse  title,  a  tract  of  land,  just  above  Fort 
Good  Hope,  was  bought  of  "  a  company  of  banished  In- 
dians," who  had  been  "  driven  out  from  thence  by  the  po- 
tency of  the  Pequods."     A  small  frame  of  a  house  was 
prepared,  and  stowed  in  "  a  great  new  bark  ;"  with  which 
"  a  chosen  company,"  under  the  command  of  Lieutenant 
An  expedi-  William  Holmes,  was  dispatched  to  the  Connecticut.    With 
patched  to  Holmcs  and  his  party  the  bark  also  conveyed  the  banished 
nectieut.     Indians,  from  whom  the  land  had  been  purchased.     This 
rendered  it  indispensable  that  the  English  intruders  should 
be  provided  with  "  a  present  defense"  against  the  Pe- 

*  Lend.  Doc,  i.,  53;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  18;  Winthrop,  i.,  113;  Trumbull,  i.,  70; 
Address  before  N.  Y.  H.  S.,  1844, 32  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  152.  Holmes,  Ann.,  i.,  223,  errs  in  placinj 
this  transction  under  the  year  1634,  instead  of  1633. 


WOUTEll  VAN  TWILLER.  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  ^41 

quod»    '  who  were  much  offended  that  they  brought  homo  chap.viii 

and  restored  the  ria^ht  sachem  of  that  place,  called  Natu- 

,   „  '  1633. 

wannute." 

The   Plymouth   adventurers   soon  reached  Fort   Good  ifi  sept. 
Hope.     "  When  they  came  up  the  river,"  says  the  quaint  Plymouth 
Puritan  chronicler,  "the  Dutch  demanded  what  they  in- ers settle 
tended,  and  whither  they  would  go  ?     They  answered,  up  at  wind- 
the  river  to  trade.     Now  their  order  was  to  go  and  seat 
above  them.     They  bid  them  strike  and  stay,  or  else  they 
would  shoot  them,  and  stood  by  their  ordnance  ready  fit- 
ted.    They  answered,  they  had  commission  from  the  Gov- 
ernor of  Plymouth  to  go  up  the  river  to  such  a  place,  and 
if  they  did  shoot,  they  must  obey  their  order  and  proceed  ; 
they  would  not  molest  them,  but  would  go  on.     So  they 
passed   along ;  and  though  the   Dutch  threatened  them 
hard,  yet  they   shot  not.     Coming  to  their  place,  they 
clapped  up  their  house  quickly,  and  landed  their  provi- 
sions, and  left  the  company  appointed,  and  sent  the  bark 
home,  and  afterward  palisadoed  their  house  about,  and  for- 
tified themselves  better."      Thus  was  begun  the  first  En- 
glish settlement  at  Windsor,  in  Connecticut. 

Advised  of  the  intrusion  of  the  resolute  "  Plymotheans,"  van  twh- 
Van  Twiller  sent  to  Commissary  Van  Curler  a  formal  noti-  ineffectuaf- 
fication,  to  be  delivered  to  Holmes,  protesting  against  his  25"  October. 
conduct,  and  commanding  him  to  "depart  forthwith,  with 
all  his  people  and  houses,"  from  the  lands  on  the  Fresh 
River,  continually  traded  upon  by  the  Dutch,  "  and  at 
present  occupied  by  a  fort."     But  Holmes,  who  had  de- 
fied the  ordnance  of  the  Hope,  was  not  to  be  moved  by  a 
protest  from  the  Director  of  New  Netherland.     "  He  was 
there,"  said  the  New  Plymouth  lieutenant,  "  in  the  name 
of  the  King  of  England,  whose  servant  he  was,  and  there 
he  would  remain."* 

♦  Bradford's  Plymouth,  311-314;  Hutch.  Mass.,  ii.,  416, 417;  Hazard,  ii.,  215, 262;  Mor- 
ton's Memorial,  A  pp.,  396;  Prince,  435;  Winthrop,  i.,  113  ;  Trumbull,  i.,  35  ;  Hoi.  Doc, 
ix.,  189,  190:  i.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  271  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  154;  Palfrey's  New  England,  i., 
339.  In  Mr.  Charles  Dcane's  recent  edition  of  Bradford,  page  325,  there  is  an  account 
of  the  kindness  shown  by  the  English  at  Windsor  toward  .some  Dutch  traders  who  vis- 
ited the  Indians  above  Ihat  place  in  the  winter  of  1633,  but  who,  by  reason  of  the  small- 
po.t,  which  swept  off  nearly  all  the  savages,  were  "  almost  spent  with  hunger  and  cold" 
before  they  could  reach  the  Plymouth  trading-house.      Sec  also  Winthrop,  i.,  123, 138. 

Q 


242        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap. VIII.      Finding  his  protests  disregarded,  Van  Twiller  submit- 
ted  his  perplexities  to  his  superiors  in  Holland.     But  be- 
fore any  reply  could  reach  Manhattan,  a  new  embarrass- 
ment occurred.     Captain  Stone,  on  his  return  from  New 
England   to  Virginia,  early  the   next  year,  entered  tho 
1634.  mouth  of  the  Connecticut,  for  the  purpose  of  trading  at 
anuarj.    ^-^-^^  Dutch  fort  j  and,  while  on  his  way  up  the  river,  was 
Captain     trcachcrously  murdered  by  the  Pequods.     The  massacre 
dered  by     of  Stouc  and  liis  compauy  was  followed,  soon  afterward,  by 
Indians,     the  killing  of  some  friendly  Indians ;  and  Commissary  Van 
Curler  punished  the  double  atrocities  by  executing  the 
War  be-     "old  sachcm,  and  some  other"  of  the  assassins.     This  ex- 
Peqiiods     cltcd  the  Pcouods  to  open  war  with  the  Dutch :  and,  in 

and  the  ^  i       •       i  •  i         /  i    i  • 

Dutch.  revenge,  the  savages  now  desu'cd  to  gam  the  friendship 
6  Nov.  of  the  English.  They,  therefore,  dispatched  an  embassy  to 
tween  the   Bostou,  whcre  a  treaty  was  negotiated,  by  which  the  Pe- 

Pequods  ^^  .. 

and  Massa-  quods  a^rccd  to  Surrender  the  two  survivmsr  murderers  of 

chusetts.        i  o  ^  o 

Stone's  party,  to  "yield  up  Connecticut"  to  the  English, 
and  to  give  their  new  allies  a  large  store  of  wampum  and 
beaver.  This  treaty,  though  it  benefited  Massachusetts 
rather  than  New  Plymouth,  gave  the  Windsor  colonists 
fresh  courage.  .  Van  Twiller,  who  by  this  time  had  re- 
December,  ceived  instructions  from  the  West  India  Company,  soon 

The  Dutch  ii/-t,  . 

ineffectual-  after  Ward  dispatched  "  a  band  oi  about  seventy  men,  in  a 

ly  attempt  .,  ,  n-i  in  tii  i 

todisiodfie  warlike  manner,  with  colors  displayed, '  to  dislod^^e  the 

the  English  _^,  '  ,  .,_.-.      -,  L.  ,         .  , 

from  Wind- New  Plymoutli  men  from  Windsor.      But  the  intruders 

6or. 

standing  upon  their  defense,  the  Dutch  force  withdrew 
"  without  offering  any  violence."* 
1633.       While  important  public  questions  had  thus  continued  to 
SnrirTdf    try  the  inexperienced  Van  Twiller  from  the  day  he  landed 
ince'!'^'"''    at  Manhattan,  the  domestic  concerns  of  the  province  had 
required  much  of  his  attention.     From  the  first,  he  seems 
to  have  formed  an  extravagant  estimate  of  the  wealth  and 
resources  of  his  commercial  employers.      They  had  au- 
thorized him  to  make  large  expenditures  at  the  points 
where  their  fur  trade  centered,  and  where  their  revenue 

*  De  Vries,  150  ;  Winthrop,  i.,  123,  148,  153,  366  ;  Prince,  436  ;  Morton's  Memorial.  176, 
183,  184;  Trumbull,  i.,  35,  71. 


, 


VVOUTER  VAN  TWILLER,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  243 

rfficcrs  were  stationed.     Fort  Amsterdam,  which  had  be-cnAr.viii. 
Mmie  dilapidated,  was  repaired,  and  a  guard-house,  and  a 
barrack  for  the  newly-arrived  soldiers,  were  constructed  p^^j  ^^.' 
within  the  ramparts,  at  a  cost  of  several  thousand  guilders,  paired"^'  ^* 
Three  expensive  wind-mills  were  also  erected ;  but  they  mhis  and 

'    .    .  '  ''  houses 

were  iniudiciously  placed  so  near  the  fort  that  the  build-  buiit  at 
ings  within  its  walls  frequently  "  intercepted  and  turned 
off  the  south  wind."  Several  brick  and  frame  houses  were 
built  for  the  director  and  his  officers  ;  and  on  the  compa- 
ny's farm,  north  of  the  fort,  a  dwelling-house,  brewery, 
boat-house,  and  barn.  Other  smaller  houses  were  built 
for  the  corporal,  the  smith,  the  cooper,  and  the  midwife ;  { 

and  the  goats,  which  Harvey  had  sent  from  Virginia  as  a 
present  to  Van  Twiller,  were  accommodated  with  an  ap- 
propriate stable.     The  loft,  in  which  the  people  had  wor-  The 
shiped  since  1626,  was  now  replaced  by  a  plain  wooden 
building  like  a  barn,  "  situate  on  the  East  River,"  in  what 
is  now  Broad  Street,  between  Pearl  and  Bridge  Streets ; 
and  near  this  "  old  church,"  a  dwelling-house  and  stable 
were  erected  for  the  use  of  "the  Domine."*     In  the  Fa-The"Dom- 
therland,  the  title  of  "  Domine"  was  familiarly  given  to'"^" 
clergymen,  and  head-masters  of  Latin  schools.     The  phrase 
crossed  the  Atlantic  with  Michaelius ;  and  it  has  survived 
to  the  present  day,  among  the  descendants  of  the  Dutch 
colonists  of  New  Netherland. 

Manhattan  was  also  invested  with  the  prerogative  of "  staple 
"Staple  right,"  one  of  those  peculiar  feudal  institutions  [abashed  at 
enjoyed  by  Dordrecht  and  other  towns  in  Holland,  in  vir- 
tue of  which  all  the  merchandise  passing  up  and  down 
the  rivers  on  which  they  were  situated  was  subject  to  cer- 
tain impost  duties.  This  right  was  now  to  be  exercised 
at  Manhattan ;  and  all  vessels  passing  before  Fort  Am- 
sterdam were  to  be  obliged  either  to  discharge  their  car- 
goes, or  pay  the  "recognitions"  which  the  "West  India  Com- 
pany imposed.! 

Besides  the  costly  works  which  Van  Twiller  undertook 

*  Hazard,  i.,  397  ,  Alb.  Rec,  i.,  85,  86,  88  ;  x.,  355;  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  07  ;  iv.,  125  ,  Ver 

toogh  van  N.  N.,  289, 293  ;  OX'all.,  i.,  155  ;  Moullon  ;  Benson's  Memoir,  103  ;  De  Vrics,  J63 

t  Meyer's  Instiiulions  Judioiaires,  iii.,  55  ;  O'Cill.,  i.,  155  ;  Verioogli  van  N.  N.,  290, 313. 


244        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  VIII,  at  Manhattan,  two  houses  were  ordered  to  be  built  at  Pa- 
vonia  ;  another  in  Fort  Nassau,  on  the  South  River  ;  and 
Buildings    ^*  I^'ort  Orange,  "  an  elegant  large  house,  with  balustrades, 
FortTasi*'  ^^^d  eight  small  dwellings  for  the  people."*    All  these  en- 
Fort  o"-     terprises  were  undertaken  on  account,  and  at  the  expense 
^"^''-        of  the  company.     The  sound  of  the  hammer  was  now  con- 
stantly heard ;  but  only  at  the  points  where  the  trade  of 
the  company  was  to  be  protected.    No  independent  farmers 
attempted  the  cultivation  of  the  soil.    The  agricultural  im- 
provement of  the  country  was  in  the  hands  of  the  patroons. 
The  colonie  of  Rensselaerswyck,  during  the  first  three 
coionie  of  ycars  after  its  settlement,  had  grown  very  gradually.     A 
laerswyck.  few  fariTis  ou  tlic  rich  alluvion  yielded  large  returns.     But 
most  of  the  colonists  clustered  around  the  walls  of  the 
1634.  company's  reserved  Fort  Orange.     From  the  form  of  the 
river  bank  at  this  place,  which  was  supposed  to  resemble 
a  hoop-net,  the  hamlet  soon  received  the   name   of  the 
TheFuyck.  "Fuyck,"t     This  was  subsequently  changed  to  "Bevers- 
wyck,"  by  which  it  was  long  known.     At  first,  owing, 
perhaps,  to  the  discord  between  the  patroons  and  the  com- 
pany, its  population  increased  very  slowly ;  and  for  sev- 
eral years  it  was  esteemed  at  Manhattan  a  place  of  "little 
consequence.''^    Arendt  van  Curler,  a  man  of  large  benev- 
olence and  unsullied  honor,  was  the  patroon's  commissa- 
118  fi'st  of-  ry  and  secretary ;  Wolfert  Gerritsen,  superintendent  of 
prominent  farms  j   and  Jacob  Albertsen  Planck,  schout.     Roelof  Jan- 
sen,  Brandt  Peelen,  Martin  Gerritsen,  Maryn  Adriaensen. 
Gerrit  Teunissen,  Cornells  Teunissen,  Cornells  MaaSsen  van 
Buren,  Jan  Labbatie,  and  Jan  Jansen  Dam,  were  among 
the  most  prominent  of  the  pioneer  colonists. §     Some  of 
these,  afterward  removing  from  Rensselaerswyck  to  Man- 
hattan, became  distinguished  or  notorious  in  the  larger 
field  of  provincial  politics. 

From  some  unexplained  cause,  the  Raritan  savages, 

*  Alb.  Rec,  i.,  85,  86  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  156,  157. 
+  Judge  Benson's  Memoir,  120  ;  Renss.  MSS. 
t  Journal  van  N.  N.,  in  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  97;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  5. 
I)  Renss.  MSS. ;  O'Call.,  i.,  322, 433,434.    Van  Curler  was  drowned  in  1667,  while  cross 
log  Lake  Champlain  ;  Relation,  1667-8,  18  ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  156. 


WOUTER  VAN  TWILLER,  DIRECTOR   GEXERAL.  04^; 

soon  after  Van  Twiller's  arrival,  attacked  several  of  thecHAi-viii 
company's  traders,  and  showed  other   signs   of  hostility.       ~ 
Peace,  however,  was  restored  in  the  course  of  the  follow-  „   ''', 

'  '  Troubles 

ing  year  ;*  but  the  savages  in  the  neighborhood  of  Fort  l^ir',!,^'' 
Amsterdam  were  never  afterward  as  friendly  and  cordial  sava^res 
toward  the  Dutch  as  were  the  Mohawks  near  Fort  Orange. 

Van  Twiller's  conduct  in  the  administration  of  provin-  van  twii- 
cial  affairs  seems,  before  long,  to  have  provoked  a  severe  reprimami- 
reprimand  from  Domine  Bogardus,  who  is  said  to  have  ine  Bogur- 
written  him  a  letter  describing  him  as  "a  child  of  the  i" -'mie. 
devil,"  and  threatening  him  with  "such  a  shake  from  the 
pulpit,  on  the  following  Sunday,  as  would  make  him  shud- 
der."    Whatever  causes  may  have  provoked  this  coarse 
attack,  neither  the  license  of  a  rude  and  early  age,  nor  the 
habits  and  temper  of  Bogardus  himself,  could  justify  con- 
duct, which,  his  enemies  afterward  charged  against  him, 
was  "  unbecoming  a  heathen,  much  less  a  Christian,  let- 
ting alone  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel."! 

The  affairs  of  New  Netherland  had  by  this  time  at-  compiaims 
tracted  the   serious   attention  of  the  home   government,  ers  of  the 
Upon  the  return  of  the  "William"  to  England,  the  depo- lam  to  the 

...  »     1  ,  .     ,       Dutch  am- 

sitions  01  the  crew  were  taken ;  and  a  statement  ot  the  bassadors 
case  was   communicated   to   Joachimi   and   Brasser,  the    IfjoiJ. 
Dutch  ambassadors  at  London,  with  a  demand  of  damages  *  ^'<^^' 
from  the  West  India  Company,  and  the  threat  of  an  appli- 
cation  to  the   British  government,  in    case    satisfaction 
should  be  withheld.     The  ambassadors  immediately  trans-   lt;:j^. 
mitted  the  papers  to  the  States  Greneral,  with  an  intima- ^"^^^^•^■j'^  ^^ 
tion  that  the  disputes  which  had  lately  broken  out  be- 'g^'^j^"^'^'];;^ 
tween  the  patentees  of  Virginia  and  New  England  were®"^"'- 
instigated  by  the  Spaniards,  and  "  were  not  agitated  be- 
cause these  parties  were  suffering  loss  from  one  another, 
but  in  order  that  men  might  have  occasion  to  quarrel  with 
the  Dutch  about  the  possession  of  New  Netherland."    Upon  Refcrre.i  to 
the  report  of  their  committee,  the  States  General  referred  India  com- 
the  case  to  the  West  India  Company,  with  directions  "to20.iune. 

«  Alb.  Roc,  i.,  96;  O'Call.,  i.,  157,  167. 

t  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  328-334;  O'Call.,  i.,  167,  362. 


246  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  vin.  inform  their  High  Mightinesses  of  the  right  of  the  mat- 

— ter."* 

25  October      After  some  months  delay,  the  deputies  from  the  College 
the^wLf  of  the  XIX.  submitted  a  memorial  to  the  States  G-eneral, 
pany.  *'°'^'"  denying  the  claim  of  the  London  merchants  for  compen- 
sation, and  insisting  that  the  West  India  Company  had 
reason  to  allege  damages  against  the  English  trespassers. 
The  renegade  Eelkens  himself  was  well  aware  that  New 
Netherland  had  been  discovered  at  the  cost  of  the  East 
India  Company,  in  1609,  "before  any  Christians  had  been 
there,  as  was  testified  by  Hudson,  who  was  then  employ- 
ed by  the  said  company  to  find  out  a  northwest  passage 
to  China."     Subsequent  occupation,  purchases  from  the 
aborigines,  and  colonization  under  the  AYest  India  Com- 
pany^  had  confirmed  this  original  title  by  discovery.    None 
but  "  some  prohibited  traders,  and  especially  Jacob  Eel- 
kens,"  had  hitherto  questioned  the  company's  rights  un- 
der their  charter.     Eelkens's  conduct  had  done  them  great 
damage,  and  the  "  injurious  seed  of  discord"  had  been 
sown  between  the  Indians  and  the  Dutch,  who  had,  up  to 
that  time,  lived  with  each  other  in  good  friendsliip.     To 
arrange  the  present  dispute,  and  prevent  future  difficulty, 
the  company  suggested  that  the  whole  question  should  be 
referred  to  the  arbitration  of  Boswell,  the  English  ambas- 
sador at  the  Hague,  and  Joachimi,  the  Dutch  ambassadoi 
at  London,  and  that  their  High  Mightinesses  should  take 
prompt  measures  to  establish  a  boundary  line  between 
the  Dutch  and  English  possessions  in  North  America.! 
25  October.      The  States  Greneral,  however,  though  they  consented  that 
left  unset-  the  Company  might  confer  with  Boswell,  left  the  affair  to 
"take  its  own  course;"  and  the  question  of  damages,  as 
1638.  well  as  that  of  boundaries  remained  unsettled.     Four  years 
24  May.      afterward,  Joachimi  wrote  from  London  that  the  owners 
of  the  "William  had  again  complained  to  him ;  but  the 
^aoo    Dutch  government  took  no  farther  notice  of  the  subject.l 
II  July.  Meanwhile,  De  Vries  had  returned  to  Amsterdam,  where 

-  Hoi.  Doc,  ii.,  51-55,  90-92.  t  Hoi.  Doc,  ii.,  136  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  164. 

t  Hoi.  Doc,  ii.,  144,  196. 


WOUTER  VAN  TWILLER,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  247 

he  found  his  partners  at  variance  with  the  other  directors  chap.vkl 
of  the  company.     The  chief  cause  of  difficulty  was  the 
interference  of  the  patroons  with  the  .peltry  trade;  and  variance' 
even  the  few  beaver  skins,  "  not  worth  speaking  of,"  which  fueTrec- 
De  Vries  himself  had  procured  in  New  Netherland,  were  wrL'com 
made  the  subject  of  recrimination.     Unwilling  to  be  in-  fu" ^.a-'" 
volved  in  the  quarrels  which  were  defeating  the  purposes  aTTuu. 
of  the  Charter  of  Privileges,  De  Vries  retired  from  his  part- 
nership with  the  other  patroons  of  Swaanendael.     But  his 
return  to  Amsterdam  seems  to  have  occasioned  a  beneficial 
chan2:e  in  the  provincial  administration.     Notelman,  thcNoteiman 

^  i-  111  superseded. 

unfaithful   schout-fiscal,  was   promptly  superseded  ;   and 
Lubbertus  van  Dinckla«ren,  "an  upriofht  man  and  a  doc-Lubbenus 

11  11-  Tir       1  van  Uinck- 

tor  of  laws, '  was  dispatched  to  succeed  him  at  Manhat-  lagen  ap 

-  .  pointed 

tan.*     In  this  appointment,  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  ex-scuout 
hibited  much  more  wisdom  than  they  had  done  in  select- 
ing Van  Twiller  to  be  director. 

The  patroons,  however,  were  not  so  much  at  variance  The  pa- 

.   -  ,  -  •   1       1  1  •         troonscom- 

With  each  other  as  with  the  company,  whose  engrossing  bine 
monopoly  of  the  fur  trade  they  longed  to  change  into  spe-  direciorsoi 
ciiic  monopolies  for  themselves,      ihe  Amsterdam  Cham-ny. 
ber  having  determined  that  the  Charter  of  Privileges  was 
legal,  opened  unsuccessful  negotiations  with  the  patroons.  i9  Dju. 
Both  parties,  therefore,  appealed  to  the  States  Greneral,  who  Both  par- 

•  1  .  PI-  11  1  11       ^'^'*  appeal 

appointed  a  committee  of  their  own  body  to  hear  and  de-  to  the 

States  Gen 

cide  upon  these  differences.    The  patroons  accordingly  sub-  erai. 
mitted  a  statement  of  their  grounds  of  complaint  against  jg  jll,'^ 
the  company,  and  of  their  "  claims  and  demands."     They  jj'^'^'jg" 
alleged  that  they  had  involved  themselves  in  expenses  to™"'!|^"' 
the  amount  of  one  hundred  thousand  guilders  for  their  ^'■°°"^ 
three  patroonships,  which  now  were   costing  them  "  at 
least  forty-five  thousand  guilders  annually."    As  the  com- 
pany had  repeatedly  called  their  privileges  in  question,  the 
damages  thus  caused  should  be  made  good.     Within  the 
limits  of  the  patroonships,  there  were  certain  "  lordships, 
having  their  own  rights  and  jurisdictions,"  which  had 

*  Do  Vrieg,  119,  120;  Renss.  MSS. ;  IIol   Doc,  ii.,  1G7,  1C9,  178;  v.,  217;  Vertoogh 
Tan  N.  N.,  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll..  ii.,  291. 


248  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap. viii.  been  ceded  to  the  patroons,  along  with  the  ownership  of 
the  soil ;  and  over  the  grantees  of  these  prerogatives  the 
company  had  no  more  power  than  it  had  "  over  the  lords 
sachems  the  sellers,"  The  inland  fur  trade  within  the 
patroonships,  it  was  argtied,  was  not  included  in  the  res- 
ervation of  the  company's  monopoly ;  and  the  patroons 
were  not  bound  to  pay  any  recognitions  on  peltries. 
Wherever  the  company  had  no  commissaries  at  the  time 
of  the  granting  of  the  charter,  the  patroons  also  claimed 
the  right  to  trade,  on  payment  of  the  recognition  ;  and 
they  maintained  that,  without  their  consent,  the  company 
could  not  send  commissaries  into  the  patroonships,  nor  af- 
fix placards,  nor  oblige  the  colonists  to  abstain  from  the 
fur  trade.  With  respect  to  the  right  of  appeal  in  civil 
cases  to  the  Director  and  Council  of  New  Netherland,  it 
"  should  not  prejudice,  in  the  least,  the  higher  jurisdic- 
tion and  other  privileges  of  the  patroons." 

These  were  the  chief  points  which  the  patroons  thought 
they  had  common  cause  to  urge  against  the  company. 
The  destruction  of  Swaanendael  by  the  Indians,  furnished 
a  specific  ground  of  complaint  on  the  part  of  the  South 
River  proprietaries,  who  insisted,  that  as  the  company  had 
promised  to  aid  and  defend  the  colonists  in  New  Nether- 
land from  all  inland  and  foreign  wars,  they  were  "  bound 
to  make  good  the  injuries  which  befell  the  patroons,  their 
people,  cattle,  and  goods  there,  and  which  they  still  con- 
tinue to  suffer."* 
22  June.  The  dircctors  avowed  their  willingness  to  submit  the 

the  compa-  questiou  as  to  the  construction  of  the  doubtful  points  in 
the  charter  to  the  judgment  of  the  States  Greneral.     On 
their  part,  the  patroons  reiterated  their  claims  for  dam- 
ages, and  demanded  an  immediate  decision  upon  their 
24  June.     Validity.    But  the  States  General  prudently  postponed  a  de- 
cenerai     cisiou,  "  in  ordcr  to  enable  the  parties  to  come  to  an  amica- 
cLflioD.       ble  settlement;"  and  here  the  question  ended,  so  far  as  the 
formal  action  of  the  Dutch  government  was  concerned. t 

*  Alb    Rec,  xiJi.,  42,  43  ;  Hoi.  Doc,  ii.,  39-50,  95-115  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  159-163  ;  Moulton, 
421   422  t  Hoi.  Doc,  ii.,  115,  119.  124 


WOUTER  VAN  TWIIXER,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  349 

In  the  mean  time,  Grodyn  had  died;  and  the  remain- chap.viii. 
ing  patroons  of  Swaanendael  commenced  legal  proceedings 
against  the  company  for  the  damages  they  had  sustained  ^^j^j,,  ^^' 
in  the  loss  of  their  colony.     The  Assembly  of  the  XIX.  ^'"'>"- 
linding  that  these  continual  discords  were  only  injuring 
the  interests  of  all  parties,  commissioned  some  of  their  di-  22  August 
rectors  "to  treat  and  transact  with  all  the  patroons  and 
colonists  in  New  Netherland"  for  the  purchase  of  all  their 
rights  and  property.    An  agreement  was  accordingly  made  27  Nov 
with  the  South  River  patroons  and  the  heirs  of  Godyn,  for 
the  purchase  of  "  their  two  colonies,  named  Swaanendael, 
in  New  Netherland,"  for  the  sum  of  fifteen  thousand  six 
hundred  guilders.     The  formal  surrender  took  place  early   1635. 
the  next  year ;  and  the  West  India  Company  again  be-  surren^dw^ 
came  the  legal  proprietary  of  all  the  territory  on  both  sides  endaeuo 
of  the  Delaware.*  company. 

An  unexpected   danger   now  menaced   Southern  New  Argaii's  dj- 
Netherland.     After  his  recall  from  the  government  of  Vir-  the  Deia- 
ginia,  Argall  seems  to  have  contemplated  the  establish- 
ment of  a  "  new  plantation,"  to  the  northward  of  the  En- 
glish settlements  on  the  Chesapeake.     It  was,  perhaps,  to 
aid  in  this  design,  that  John  Pory,  who  had  been  one  of 
the  tools   of  Argall's  rapacious  administration,  and  was 
Colonial  Secretary  of  Virginia  under  Yeardley,  his  suc- 
cessor, "  made  a  discovery  into  the  great  bay,"  and  as-    1620. 
cended   the   River  Patuxent.      But  Pory's    explorations,  October. 

1  •    1  1  •   1       1  r-    1       Pory's  e.\- 

which  were  nearly  contemporaneous  with  the  grant  of  the  pioration . 
New  England  patent,  were  confined  to  the  tributary  wa- 
ters of  the  Chesapeake,  and  to  a  subsequent  journey  of    1621. 
sixty  miles  overland,  from  Jamestown  "  to  the  South  Riv-  ''«^^'"""y 
er  Chowanock."     A  strange   misapprehension  has  led  a 
learned  English  annalist  into  the  absurd  error  of  confound- 
ing the  "  South  River  Chowanock,"  upon  which  Edenton 
now  stands,  with  the  "  South  River"  of  New  Netherland, 
which  Pory  never  entered.! 

*  "Papers  relating  to  the  Colony  ofZwanendal,"  in  O'Call.,  App.,  479  ,  Hazard,  Ann 
Penn.,  39,  40. 

t  Chalmers,  206  ;  Purchas,  iv.,  1784-7;  Smith,  ii.,  61-€4 ;  Burk,  i.,  273  ;  Bozmao,  i., 
146,  153,  154. 


10  May 


250  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 

Chap. VIII.      After  the  accession  of  Charles  I.,  colonial  exploration 

was  pushed  ^vith  greater  diligence,  because  that  monarch 

Subsequent  histructed  the  governors  of  Virginia  to  procure  more  exact 

expfo?a^°    information  of  the  geography  of  the  province.     G-overnor 

27  August.  Yeardley,  in  1627,  and  Grovernor  Pott,  in  1629,  success- 

1629.  ively  commissioned  William  Clayhorne,  their  Secretary  of 

ciay-^'^'^''   State,  to  trade  with  the  Indians,  and  explore  the  regions 

pedmons^'  north  and  east  of  the  Chesapeake.     A  company  was  soon 

afterward  formed  in  England ;  and  through  the  influence 

of  Sir  AYilliam  Alexander,  the  Secretary  of  State  for  Scot- 

1631.  land,  Charles  I.,  under  the  pri\y  signet  of  that  kingdom, 
licensed  Clayborne  and  his  associates  to  trade  freely  "  to 
those  parts  of  America  for  which  there  is  not  already  a 
patent  granted  to  others  for  sole  trade."  To  give  effect  to 
this  royal  license,  Sir  John  Harvey,  the  new  governor  of 

1632.  A'irginia,  issued  a  colonial  commission  the  next  year,  by 
which  Clayborne  was  authorized  to  sail  and  traffic  ''unto 
any  English  plantation,"  and  also  "  unto  the  adjoining 
plantations  of  the  Dutch,  seated  upon  this  territory  of 
America."  So  entirely  ignorant  was  the  Virginia  govern- 
or of  the  geography  of  "  Lord  Delaware's  Bay,"  that  the 

September,  following  autumu  he  dispatched  a  sloop,  with  seven  or 
tempt  of  the  eight  men,  '"to  see  if  there  was  a  river  there."  This  was 
explore  the  the  first  attempt  ever  made  bv  the  English  to  explore 

Delaware.      ,         -r-v    i  /~ti       i  t        '  t 

the  Delaware.     Clayborne,  however,  does  not  appear  to 

have  entered  that  river,  or  to  have  visited  ^Manhattan.     He 

Extent  of    availed  himself  of  his  trading  licenses  only  in  the  neigh- 

borne's  ex-  borhood  of  the  Chcsapeakc,  after  exploring  the  upper  wa- 

p  ora  ions.  ^^^^  ^^^  which,  he  limited  his  ambition  to  the  establishment 

of  a  post  on  the  Isle  of  Kent,  and  another  at  the  mouth  of 

the  Susquehanna.* 

Bleanwhile,  the  characteristic  intolerance  of  the  Angli- 
can hierarchy  was  preparing  noble  materials  for  the  foun- 
dation of  a  new  colony  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac.  The 
Puritan  Non-conformists  were  not  the  most  oppressed  ob- 
jects of  religious  persecution  in  their  native  land ;  nor  was 

*  Lend.  Doc,  i., 40, 43, 45;  N.Y.  Col.  MSS.,iii.,  14, 15;  De  Vries.llO,  111  ;  anfc,  p. 227; 
Chalmers,  206,  227  ;  Bancroft,  i.,  237  ;  Hildreth,  i.,  208  ;  Bozman,  i.,  115,  265,  269. 


WOUTER  VAN  TWII.LER,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  251 

the  constancy  which  led  them  to  the  shores  of  Massachu- cuAr.viii 
setts  without  an  iUustrious  parallel.     There  were  other 
subjects  of  the  King  of  England  whose  faith  in  Christian- 
ity w*as  as  sincere,  and  whose  opposition  to  the  established 
hierarchy  was  as  conscientious.     These  were  the  Roman  Motives  to 

1      1  1  rr         1  •    •  1  1       Catholic 

.Catholics,  who  sunered  even  greater  seventies  than  the  emigration 
Puritans,  and  were  the  victims  of  a  double  persecution,  s'and. 
The  Church  of  England  struggled  against  both  Roman 
and  Puritan  dissenters  ;  for  the  ultimate  aim  of  all  the  an- 
tagonists  w^as   not  toleration,  but  supremacy.     Between 
the  Papal  and  the  Anglican  hierarchies,  Puritanism  array- 
ed itself  on  the  side  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  con- 
stantly instigated  her  to  new  rigors  against  the  sincere  be- 
lievers in  the  venerable  faith  of  Rome.     It  was*thus  that 
conscientious  Papists  had  even  stronger  motives  than  con- 
scientious Puritans  to  seek  an  asylum  in  the  New  World. 
James  I.  was  not,  however,  as  bitter  against  the  Roman 
Catholics  as  were  the  maiority  of  his  subjects.     One  of  the  George cai- 
last  acts  01  his  reign  was  to  elevate  to  the  Irish  peerage,  or  uaiti- 
under  the  title  of  Baron  of  Baltimore,  Sir  Greorge  Calvert,    1625. 
who,  after  several  years  of  faithful  service  as  Secretary  of 
State,  openly  avowing  his  adherence  to  the  Roman  faith, 
yielded  to  the  growing  cry  against  Popery,  and  resigned 
his  office.*     Charles  I.  was,  perhaps,  less  disposed  to  show 
favor  to  the  body  of  the  Roman  Catholics  than  his  father 
had  been.    Yet  he  was  magnanimous  enough  to  appreciate 
and  reward  individual  merit,  even  in  a  Papist.     Calvert, 
who  was  an  early  friend  of  American  colonization,  had  ob- 
tained the  grant  of  Avalon,  on  the  coast  of  Newfoundland, 
and  had  endeavored  to  establish  a  settlement  there.    But 
that  sterile  and  inhospitable  region  w^as  unfavorable  to  sue-    16:23. 
cess ;  and  about  the  time  Endicott  was  settling  himself 
at  Salem,  Lord  Baltimore  visited  Virginia,  in  the  hope  of    162i;. 
finding  some  unoccupied  territory  within  that  province,  oiiginia^^""' 

*  Sir  George  Calvert  was  appointed  Secretary  of  State  on  the  10th  of  February,  1619, 
and  resigned  that  office  on  the  9th  of  February,  1525.  James  I.  died  on  the  27th  of  March, 
1625,  and  Calvert's  peerage  was  probably  one  of  the  last  patents  of  that  reign.  Sir  Al 
bertus  Morton  was  appointed  Secretary  of  State  in  place  of  Calvert,  ar.d  his  patent 
bears  date  on  the  Oth  of  April,  1GC3. 


!.'02  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  VIII.  which  to  plant  a  colony.  Protestant  feeling,  however,  was 
too  strong  in  Virginia  to  allow  the  unmolested  exercise  of 
the  Roman  faith;  and  Baltimore  returned  to  England,  to 
solicit  a  royal  charter  for  the  colonization  of  the  uninhab- 
ited regions  "southward  of  James  River." 

The  personal  regard  of  Charles  I.  easily  induced  his  as- 
1632.  sent  to  an  ample  patent ;  but  before  the  legal  forms  could 
15  April,     i^g  comlpeted,  Lord  Baltimore  died.     The  royal  promise, 
howev3r,  was  substantially  kept;  and,  two  months  after 
his  father's  death,  Cecilius  Calvert,  baron  of  Baltimore, 
Royal  char- received  a  charter,  granting  to  him  another  tract  of  land, 
ryiand.      bouudcd  by  a  line  due  east  from  the  mouth  of  the  Po- 
tomac, across  the  Chesapeake  to  the  ocean,  and  thence 
along  the  coast  to  "  that  part  of  the  Bay  of  Delaware  on 
the  north,  which  lieth  under  the  fortieth  degree  of  north 
latitude  from  the  equinoctial,  where  New  England  is  ter- 
minated ;"  thence,  westwardly,  along  the  fortieth  parallel, 
to  the  "  fountain"  of  the  Potomac,  and  thence  along  the 
west  bank  of  the  river  to  its  confluence  with  the  Chesa- 
peake.    The  territory  thus  granted  was  erected  into  a 
province,  the   name  of  which,  originally  intended  to  be 
"  Crescentia,"  was,  by  the  king's  desire,  changed  to  that 
of  Maryland,  in  honor  of  his  queen,  Henrietta  Maria  of 
France.*     The  new  province  comprehended   within   its 
boundaries,  not  only  the  whole  of  the  present  States  of  Ma- 
ryland and  Delaware,  but  all  that  part  of  Pennsylvania 
lying  south  of  the  fortieth  parallel,  and  east  of  the  merid- 
ian of  the  source  of  the  Potomac.     The  proprietary  him- 
self was  invested  with  the  almost  regal  jurisdiction  of  the 
ancient  bishops  of  Durham. 
.coiiard         About  two  ycars  after  the  charter  was  sealed,  the  foun- 
gins  the     dations  of  the  colony  of  Maryland  were  peacefully  laid  by 
tionofMa-  Leonard  Calvert,  a  half-brother  of  Lord  Baltimore.     Two 
ships,  the  Ark  and  the  Dove,  conveying  nearly  two  hund- 
red Roman  Catholic  gentlemen  with  their  indented  serv- 
1634.  ants,  sailed  from  England  by  way  of  the  West  Indies,  and 
t:4Feb.      reached  the  Chesapeake  early  in  1634.     On  one  of  the 

*  Hazard, i.,  327 ;  Dozman,i.,2Tl  ;ii.,10;  SloancMSS. ;  "Lord  Baltimore's  Case,"  1653- 


WOUTER  VAN  TWILLER,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  253 

streams  flowing  into  the  Potomac,  Calvert  found  the  In-CHAP.viii 

dian  village  of  Yoacomoco,  which  was  about  being  desert- 

ed  by  its  inhabitants.     Imitating  the  honesty  of  the  Dutch 

at  Manhattan,  he  purchased  the  possessory  rights  of  the 

aborigines ;  and  the  colonists  at  once  entered  into  occupa-  27  March 

tion  of  their  wilderness  abode,  to  which  they  piously  gave 

the  name  of  "  Saint  Mary's,"     Comprehensive  benevolence  saint  Ma- 

•        f  1  1  1  'y'^  found- 

insured  the  rapid  prosperity  01  the  new  colony  where  re-ed. 

ligious  liberty  was  to  be  unrestrained.  The  conscientious 
Non-conformists  of  England  at  last  found  a  congenial  asy- 
lum, under  the  banner  of  their  country,  in  the  New  "World ; 
for  the  Ark  and  the  Dove  had  conveyed  to  the  shores  of 
the  Potomac  more  liberal-minded  fathers  of  a  state  than 
those  earlier  emigrants  who  were  peopling  the  coasts  of 
Massachusetts  Bay.* 

In  the  mean  time,  the  charter  of  Maryland  had  produced  jealousy  of 
alarm  and  excitement  among  the  colonists  of  Virginia,  who   \Q2'3. 
caused  a  remonstrance  to  be  presented  to  the  king  against 
the  dismemberment  of  their  territory.    But  the  Privy  Coun-  May. 
oil  decided  to  leave  Lord  Baltimore  "  to  his  patent,  and 
the  other  parties  to  the  course  of  law."     Clayborne,  how-3  juiy 
ever,  who  chose  to  construe  his  trading  license  into  a  com- 
mission to  plant  colonics,  refused  to*  relinquish  his  preten- 
sions to  Kent  Island,  or  submit  to  Calvert's  authority.     A 
skirmish  occurred ;  and  Clayborne,  escaping  to  Virginia,    I6S0. 
was  demanded  by  the  Maryland  authorities,  as  a  fugitive  aay^*"^ 
from  justice.     But  the  Virginians,  looking  on  the  colonists  ^n"umacy 
of  Maryland  as  intruders  within  their  territory,  were  dis- 
posed to  side  with  Clayborne.     Harvey,  however,  unwill- 
ing to  do  any  act  in  apparent  opposition  to  the  royal  char-' 

*  Chalmers,  207  ;  Bozman,  11.,  26,  27  ;  Bancroft,  i.,  247;  Ilildreth,  i.,  209  ;  Chalmers's 
Revolt  of  the  Colonies,  i.,  61,  62.  The  feelings  of  the  Massachusetts  people  toward  the 
Maryland  colonists,  who  "did  set  up  mass  openly,"  do  not  seem  to  have  been  friendly,  or 
even  charitable.  A  few  months  after  the  settlement  at  Saint  Mary's  (August,  1C34),  Cal- 
vert dispatched  the  Dove  to  Boston,  with  friendly  letters,  and  a  cargo  of  corn  to  exchange 
for  fish.  Some  of  the  crew  were  accused  of  reviling  the  people  of  Massachusetts,  as  "  holy 
brethren,  the  members,"  &c.  ;  and,  "upon  advice  with  the  ministers,"  the  supercargo 
was  arrested  while  on  shore,  in  order  to  compel  the  surrender  of  the  offenders.  But  the 
witnesses  were  found  to  "  fall  short,''  and  disagree  in  their  testimony  ;  and  the  Dove  was 
suffered  to  depart,  with  an  injunction  to  the  master  "  to  bring  no  more  such  disordered 
persons"  to  Massachusetts.— Winthrop,  i.,  134,  139,  144. 


254  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

(HAP.  VIII.  ter  to  Lord  Baltimore,  in  a  spirit  of  compromise  sent  Clay- 
borne  a  prisoner  to  England.  This  step  was  viewed  by 
Governor  ^^^^  Virginians  as  a  betrayal  of  their  interests ;  and  Har- 
poseYand '  ^^J  ^as  immediately  deposed  by  the  council,  and  Captain 
gtand."  ^"'  John  "West  appointed  to  act  as  governor  until  the  king's 
28  April,     pleasure  should  be  known.* 

While  at  Jamestown  two  years  previously,  De  Yries  had 
explained  to  Harvey  the  situation  of  Fort  Nassau ;  and  his 
account,  though  it  did  not  prevent  the  hospitable  govern- 
or from  intimating  that  the  Dutch  should  receive  no  an- 
noyance from  him,  provoked  the  covetousness  of  Clay- 
west'sde-  home's  friends.     A  foothold  on  the  Delaware,  they  now 

signsonthe    -,  t  .    ■,  ■,  i  c  i        i  c 

Delaware,  tliouglit,  might  perhaps  compensate  them  for  the  loss  of 
posts  on  the  Chesapeake ;  and  West  eagerly  seized  the 
opportunity,  which  his  temporary  authority  afforded,  to 
execute  the  design.     A  party  of  fourteen  or  fifteen  En- 
glishmen was  accordingly  dispatched  from  Point  Comfort, 
August,      under  the  command  of  Greorge  Holmes,  to  seize  the  va- 
Fon  Nas-  cant  Dutch  fort.     The  enterprise  was  promptly  effected  ; 
by  Holmes  for  tlic  Wcst  India  Company  had  now  "nobody  in  posses- 
of  Virgin-   sioii"  to  opposc  the  invaders.     But  Thomas  Hall,  one  of 
Holmes's  men,  deserting  his  party,  brought  prompt  intel- 
ligence of  the  aggression  to  Fort  Amsterdam.! 

Van  Twiller  now  perceived  that  Fort  Nassau  must  be 

reoccupied  by  the  Dutch,  "  or  they  would  otherwise  lose 

The  En-     it  to  the  EugUsh."     An  armed  bark,  belonging  to  the 

plish  cap-  IT  111-1  ■   ^ 

lured  and   Company,  was  therefore  promptly  dispatched  thither  with 
Manhattan  a  Competent  force  ;  and  Holmes  and  his  party  were  im- 
mediately dislodged,  sent  on  board,  and  brought  as  pris- 
oners to  Manhattan. 

Their  arrival  increased  the  embarrassment  of  Van  T  wil- 

'  Hazard,  i.,  337;  Bozman,  ii.,  32-35;  Bancrott,  i.,  201  ;  Ilildreth,  i.,  210;  Chalmers. 
Pol.  Ann.,  231 ;  Chalmers's  Revolt  of  the  Colonies,  i  ,  63,  64 ;  De  Vrics,  141.  After  dis- 
solving his  partnership  with  the  South  River  patroons,  De  Vries  sailed  a  second  time 
from  the  Te.\el,  on  the  10th  of  July,  1634,  to  plant  a  colony  at  Guiana.  Having  accom- 
plished this,  he  went  to  Virginia,  and  arrived,  on  the  ITth  of  May,  1635,  at  Point  Comfort 
Here  he  found  lying  at  anchor  "  a  flute  ship  of  London,  in  which  was  Sir  John  Harvey 
the  governor  for  the  King  of  England.  He  was  now  sent  to  London  by  his  council  and 
the  people,  which  have  made  a  new  governor,  which  afterward  turned  out  very  badly  for 
them." — Voyages,  p.  141. 

T  De  Vries,  143 ;  Hoi.  Doc,  v.,  399  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  338. 


WOUTER  VAN  TWILLER,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  255 

lor,  who  now  learned  that  they  had  been  expecting  a  re-CHAP.vni. 
enforcement   from  Virginia.      Meanwhile,  De  Vries   had  ~ 

visited  Manhattan  again,  in  the  ship  "King  David,"  and,  uune.''** 
after  three  months'  delay  in  repairing  his  leaky  vessel, 
which  he  had  "hauled  up  on  the  strand,"  was  about  to 
sail  for  the  Chesapeake.     His  opportune  presence  extri- 
cated the  troubled  director  from  his  new  dilemma.     At 
Van  Twiller's  earnest  entreaty,  De  Vries  delayed  his  voy-  iioimesanu 
age  for  a  week ;    the  prisoners  were  sent  on  board  the  senfback  to 
King  David  with  "  pack  and  sack  ;"  and  two  days  after-  8  sept. 
ward,  Holmes  and  his  invading  party  were  relanded  at      '"^' 
Point  Comfort.     Here  a  bark  was  found  lying  ready  to 
sail  for  the  South  River,  with  a  force  of  twenty  men  on 
board,  "  to  second"  the  enterprise  which  Holmes  had  be- 
gun ;  but  by  the  unexpected  return  of  the  captured  in- 
vaders, "  their  design  was  broken  up."*     Thus  ended  the 
first  actual  English  aggression  on  the  southern  frontier  of 
New  Netherland  ;  and  the  Dutch  continued,  for  several 
years,  in  undisturbed  possession  of  the  South  River  and 
the  Schuylkill. 

The  Plymouth  people  had  now  been  for  two  years  in  Progress 
possession  of  Windsor,  in  spite  of  Van  Twiller's  prompt  giannn-" 
but  ineffectual  protest,  and  subsequent  pusillanimous  mil-  ments." 
itary  demonstration.     Whatever  scruples  might,  at  first, 
have  restrained  Winthrop  and  his  council  from  favoring 
the  propositions  of  Winslow  and  Bradford  in  the  summer 
of  1633,  the  example  of  New  Plymouth  soon  infected  Mas- 
sachusetts Bay.t    At  the  Greneral  Court,  Hooker  urged  em-    1634. 
igration  to  the  Connecticut  valley.     The  want  of  accom-  nooker 
modation  for  their  cattle  at  Newtown;   "the  fruitfulness ^ration™' 
and  commodiousness  of  Connecticut,  and  the  danger  of  sa°hu'seu8 
having  it  possessed  by  others,  Dutch  or  English;"  and ucut!""^'^' 
"the  strong  bent  of  their  spirits  to  remove  thither,"  were 
the  arguments  he  pressed.     To  these  arguments  it  was 

*  De  Vries,  120,  142,  143.  The  incident  to  which  Winthrop  (i.,  1G7,  168),  and  Mather, 
in  the  Sixth  Book  of  his  "Magnalia,"  allude,  as  having  occurred  "at  the  Dutch  planta- 
tion," happened  to  De  Vries's  boat  on  his  arrival  at  New  Netherland,  1st  of  June,  1635. — 
See  translation,  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  iii.,  p.  75,  76. 

t  Lambrechtsen,  43 ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  98 ;  Verplanck,  in  N.  A.  Rev.,  ix.,  66. 


256  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

chap.viii.  objected  that,  "in  point  of  conscience,"  the  Newtown  peo- 
"~  pie  ought  not  to  desert  their  commonwealth,  and  that,  in 

'  point  of  civil  policy,  the  court  "  ought  not  t«  give  them 
leave  to  depart."  Their  emigration  would  weaken  Mas- 
sachusetts ;  and  "  the  removing  of  a  candlestick"  would 
be  "  a  great  judgment."  Besides,  the  emigrants  would 
be  exposed  to  great  peril,  both  from  the  Indians  and  from 
Leave  to  the  Dutch,  "  who  made  claim  to  the  same  river,  and  had 
refuaed.^  already  built  a  fort  there  ;"  and  the  home  government  in 
England  "  would  not  endure  they  should  sit  down,  with- 
out a  patent,  in  any  place  which  our  king  lays  claim  unto." 
The  court  was  divided  in  opinion.  Three  fifths  of  the  dep- 
uties were  for  granting  leave  ;  but  a  majority  of  the  mag- 
istrates refused  their  assent.  The  two  elements  in  the 
government  of  the  ecclesiastical  commonwealth  were  now 
24  Sept.  in  opposition.  With  the  aid  of  a  sermon  from  Cotton,  the 
patrician  magistrates  carried  their  point  against  the  ple- 
beian deputies ;  the  Newtown  people  gave  up  their  proj- 
ect ;  and,  for  a  time  "  the  fear  of  their  removal  to  Con- 
necticut was  removed."* 

But  the  question  of  emigration  was  soon  revived.     Two 
6  Nov.       months  afterward,  ambassadors  from  the  Pequods  came  to 

Tre?ty 

with  the  Boston,  and  "  set  their  marks"  to  a  treaty,  which  yielded 
up  "  all  their  right  at  Connecticut"  to  the  Massachusetts 
colony.  "  To  whom  did  that  country  belong?"  was  now 
the  inquiry.  "  Like  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  it  had  been 
first  explored,  and  even  occupied  by  the  Dutch  ;  but  should 
a  log-hut  and  a  few  straggling  soldiers  seal  a  territory 
against  other  emigrants?"  The  colonists  of  Massachu- 
setts did  not  stop  to  argue  the  question  of  right  with  the 
authorities  of  New  Netherland,  or  even  wait  for  the  per- 
mission of  the  English  patentees  of  Connecticut.  Nothing 
could  long  retard  the  rush  of  Puritan  emigration  to  the 
"New  Hesperia"  on  the  banks  of  the  Fresh  River.  De- 
tachments of  families  from  "Watertown  and  Roxbury  now 
1635.  obtaining  leave  from  the  Greneral  Court,  "to  remove  whith- 
^^^'-      er  they  pleased,"  provided  they  continued  under  the  gov- 

*  Winthrop,  i.,  140-142  ;  Hutchinson,  i.,  47  ;  Bancroft,  i.,  365,  366. 


WOUTEll  VAN  TWILLER,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  257 

ernment  of  Massachusetts,  journeyed  through  the  wilder- chap.viii 
ness,  and  began  a  settlement  at  Wethersfield ;  and  "the   ^^^^ 
Dorchester  men,"  establishing  themselves  near  the  Dutch,  Emigranon 
and  just  below  the  Plymouth  trading-house  at  Windsor,  [ertSwn!'' 
were  promptly  reproved,  by  letters  from  Grovernor  Bradford,  ai°d'uo7-' 
for  their  unrighteous  and  injurious  intrusion.*     Thus  the  Au|isJ; 
Plymouth  colonists  on  the  Connecticut — themselves   in- 
truders within  the  territory  of  New  Netherland — soon  be- 
gan to  quarrel  with  their  Massachusetts  brethren  for  tres- 
passing upon  their  usurped  domain. 

Meanwhile,  the  jealousy  of  the  High  Church  party  in 
England  had  been  aroused  against  the  dissenting  colonists 
in  America  ;    and  Charles  I.  constituted  William  Laud,    1634. 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  eleven  other  Privy  Coun- ^^ '*^''"'" 
selors,  a  special  commission  "  for  the  regulation  and  gov-  Plantation 
ernment  of  the  Plantations."     These  commissioners  were  tawished  in 
invested  with  full  power  to  make  laws  for  the  colonies, 
hear  complaints,  inflict  punishments,  remove  and  appoint 
governors,  regulate  ecclesiastical  affairs,  and  revoke  char- 
ters which  were  supposed  to  be  hurtful  to  the  royal  pre- 
rogative.t 

To  this  arbitrary  body  Edward  Winslow,  who  went  tojuiy. 
England  in  the  summer  of  1634  as  the  agent  of  Newwinsiow 
Plymouth,   presented    a    petition,   complaining   that   the  in  London. 
French  had  annoyed  the  New  England  Plantations  on  the 
east,  and  that  "the  Dutch  in  the  west  have  also  made 
entry  upon  Connecticut  River,  within  the  limits  of  His 
Majesty's  letters  patents,  where  they  have  raised  a  fort, 
and  threaten  to  expel  your  petitioners  thence,  who  are  also 
planted  on  the  same  river."     Winslow,  therefore,  asked 
that  the  commissioners  would  either  procure  for  the  colo- 
nists "  peace  with  those  foreign  states,  or  else  give  special 
warrant  unto  your  petitioners  and  the  English  colonies  to 
right  and  defend  themselves  against  all  foreign  enemies." 
These  propositions,  however,  did  not  suit  the  views  of  the 


•  Winthrop,  i.,  160,  166  ;  Trumbull,  i.,  60  ;  Bancroft,  i.,  395,  396  ;  ii.,  283.      ^ 
t  Winthrop,  i.,  143;  Hazard,  i.,  344;  Chalmers,  158;  Hutchinson,  i.,  442;  Bancrtft, 
,407. 

R 


258  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap. VIII.  Plantation  Board,  Gorges  and  Mason  were  opposed  to 
Winslow's  petition,  because  Grorges  hoped,  through  the 
archbishop's  influence,  to  be  sent  out  as  Governor  Gen- 
eral of  all  the  English  colonies.  Laud,  too,  was  anxious 
to  exercise  hierarchal  power  in  America,  and  stop  the 
growth  of  dissent.  Winslow  was,  therefore,  severely  ques- 
tioned in  the  board.  He  frankly  admitted,  that  "  he  did 
exercise  his  gift"  in  public  preaching;  and  that,  as  a  mag- 
istrate, "  he  had  sometimes  married  some,"  for  he  consid- 
ered marriage  "  a  civil  thing,"  and  had  himself  been  mar- 
ried in  Holland  by  the  magistrates  in  their  State  House. 
But,  by  the  statutes  of  England,  such  proceedings  were 
unlawful ;  and  the  archbishop  readily  made  out  his  case 
in  the  compliant  tribunal  over  which  he  exercised  a  para- 
mount influence.  Winslow  was  committed  to  the  Fleet, 
and  "  lay  there  seventeen  weeks,  or  thereabouts,  before  he 
could  get  to  be  released."* 

Jealousy  of      Thus  tlic  icalousy  of  the  home  government  refused  to 

the  English    ^.r.-  i-  i-- 

govern-      the  Puritau  colonists  any  authority  to  interfere  with  the 

ment.  -r-w         i  i  i 

Dutch  possessions  on  the  Connecticut.  The  people  of  New 
England  were  esteemed  "men  of  refractory  humors;"  and 
complaints  constantly  resounded  of  their  sects  and  schisms, 
their  hostility  to  the  Established  Church,  and  their  trea- 
sonable designs  against  the  royal  authority.     Emigration 

December,  was  therefore  restrained ;  the  lord  warden  of  the  Cinque 
Ports  was  directed  to  stop  "  promiscuous  and  disorderly 
departure  out  of  the  realm  to  America ;"  and  persons  of 
humble  station,  who  might  obtain  leave  to  emigrate,  were 
required  first  to  take  the  oaths  of  allegiance  and  suprem- 
acy.! 

Intolerance      Laud's    watcliful    intolerance    reached    even    further. 

hishop       While  Amsterdam  was   liberally  opening  her  gates   to 

strangers  of  every  race  and  creed,  the  Primate  of  all  En- 

1G35.  gland,  by  order  of  the  king,  was  requiring  all  the  Reform- 

2  January,  g^j  Dutch  churclics,  witliiu  the  province  of  Canterbury,  to 
adopt  the  English  Liturgy.t    But  the  attention  of  the  gov- 

♦  Winthrop,  i.,  137,  172;  Hutchinson,  ii.,  410. 

t  Hazard,  i.,  347  ;  Bancroft,  i.,  407.  t  Rymer  Fed.,  xix.,  588  ;  Rapin,  ii    '>.9X 


VVOUTER  VAN  TWILl.ER,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  259 

ernment  was  chiefly  engaged  in  checking  the  emigration  chap.viii 
of  disaffected  Englishmen  to  America.     A  Dutch  ship  "of 
four  hundred  tons,"  bound  to  New  Netherland,  was  lying 
at  Cowes,  ready  to  sail ;  and  her  officers  were  reported  to 
be  drawing  "  as  many  of  his  majesty's  subjects  as  they 
can  to  go  with  them,  by  offering  them  large  conditions." 
To  put  a  stop  to  "  so  prejudicial  a  course,"  the  Privy  Coun-  20  March. 
cil  dispatched  an  order  to  the  Earl  of  Portland,  to  restrain  subjects 
British  subjects  from  going  in  that  or  any  other  Dutch  go  to  the 
vessel  "to  the  Hollanders'  Plantation  in  Hudson's  River."* ers-  pianta- 
Three  years  before,  a  Dutch  ship,  coming  from  Manhattan, 
had  been  arrested  at  Plymouth  for  illegally  trading  within 
his  majesty's  alleged  dominions.     Now  the  chief  care  of 
the  Privy  Council  seems  to  have  been  to  prevent  English 
subjects  going  in  Dutch  vessels  to  what  the  British  govern- 
ment recognized,  in  an  official  state  paper,  as  "  the  Hol- 
landers' Plantation." 

The  New  England  patent,  which  James  I.  had  granted  in 
1620,  had  by  this  time  become  intolerably  odious  to  Par- 
liament, and  the  council  of  Plymouth  was  in  disrepute 
with  the  High  Church  party.     The  patentees,  according- 
ly, after  conveying  by  deed,  to  William,  earl  of  Stirling,  22  April. 
"part  of  New  England,  and  an  island  adjacent,  called  and  "con- 
Long  Island,"  divided  the  residue  of  the  territory  between  Lord  stir- 
Acadia  and  Vu'ginia  into  shares,  which  they  distributed,     °' 
in  severalty,  among  themselves ;   and  then,  under  their  7  June. 
common  seal,  surrendered  their  worthless  charter  to  the  England 
king.     "  Thus  was  dissolved,  by  voluntary  consent,  aris- rendered  te 
ing  from  mere  debility,  the  council  of  Plymouth,  so  famous 
in  the  story  of  New  England."! 

At  this  crisis,  John  Winthrop,  the  son  of  the  governor 
of  Massachusetts,  revisiting  England,  confirmed  the  ac- 
counts, which  had  already  been  sent  over,  of  the  value 
and  importance  of  Connecticut.  Lord  Say,  and  the  other 
grantees  of  Lord  Warwick's  conveyance  in  1632,  there- 

*  Lond.  Doe.,  i.,  55  ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  19. 

t  Lond.  Doc,  i.,  118;  N.  Y.  Col.  ^J«S.,  iii.,  42  ;  Chalmers,  95  ;  Hazard,  i.,  382,  390, 
393  ;  Gorges,  in  iii.,  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  vi.,  82,  83  ;  Bancroft,  i.  408 ;  Chalmers's  Revolt 
of  the  Colonies,  i.,  56 ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll ,  ii.,  322,  323. 


260        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

THAr.  VIII.  fore  took  immediate  measures  for  the  colonization  of  that 

77"  region.      Saltonstall  promptly    dispatched    a   bark   with 

First  cokH  twenty  men,  which  arrived   at  Boston   in  mid-summer. 

connmi-"'^  From  there  the  party  proceeded  to  the  Connecticut,  with 

u"' English  *^6  intention  of  settling  themselves  "  between  the  falls 

yfjune!^'  ^^^  *h®  Plymouth  trucking-house."    But  Ludlow  and  the 

Dorchester   men  defeated  Saltonstall's   plans ;   and  their 

selfish  conduct  soon  gave  rise  to  large  claims  for  damages.* 

18  July.      The  younger  Winthrop  was  soon  afterward  commissioned, 

John  Win-  -  -  __^  •    i  i  ,  c    i       -r>  • 

ihropcom-  by  Lord  Warwick  s  grantees,  as  "  governor  oi  the  Kiver  of 

missioned  .  •iii  ^•    •     •  i  i-ni 

as  govern-  Connccticut,  With  thc  placcs  adjoining  thereunto. '    Early 

or.  1  u  o  ^ 

()  October,  in  the  following  October,  he  reached  Boston,  accompanied 
by  his  father-in-law,  Hugh  Peters,  lately  pastor  of  the  En- 
glish church  at  Rotterdam,  and  bringing  along  with  him 
"  men  and  ammunition,  and  two  thousand  pounds  in  mon- 
ey, to  begin  a  fortification  at  the  mouth  of  the  river."t 
24  Nov.         A  few  weeks  after  his  arrival  at  Boston,  "Winthrop  dis- 
takes  pos-  patched  a  bark  of  thirty  tons,  and  about  twenty  men,  with 
the  mouth  all  ucedful  provisious,  to  take  possession  of  the  mouth  of 
necticut.     the  Connecticut,  and  erect  some  buildings;!     This  was 
the  first  regular  English  occupation  of  the  territory  com- 
prehended within  Lord  Warwick's  grant.     The  officers  of 
the  Dutch  West  India  Company  had  purchased  this  land 
from  its  Indian  occupants  three  years  before,  and  had  af- 
fixed the  arms  of  the  States  General  to  a  tree,  in  token  of 
their  possession  of  the  "  Kievit's  Hook,"  and  of  the  rivei 
The  Dutch  abovc.     Thcse  arms  the  English  invaders  now  contemptu- 
down.       ously  tore  down,  "  and  engraved  a  ridiculous  face  in  their 
place."  § 

Van  Twiller  finding  that  protests  were  ineffectual  to  dis- 
lodge the  English  intruders  from  the  Fresh  River,  had, 
meanwhile,  applied  to  the  West  India  Company  "for  com- 
Ausnst.      mission  to  deal  with"  them  summarily.     Winthrop's  new 
attempt  tV  party  had  scarcely  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Connecticut, 
Engii.sh.     before  a  sloop,  which  the  director  had  dispatched  from 

*  Letter  of  Saltonstall  to  Winthrop,  in  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  xviii.,  42,  43. 
t  Winthrop,  i.,  161,  169,  170,  172  ;  Trumbull,  i.,  497  ;  Hildreth,  i.,  229. 
t  Winthrop,  i.,  173,  174. 
4  Hoi.  Doc,  iv.,  110  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  277  ;  ante,  234. 


WOUTER  VAN  TWILLER,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL  261 

Manhattan  to  secure  the  possession  of  the  Dutch,  arrived  chap.  viir. 

at  the  Kievit's  Hook,     But  the  English  immediately  got    . 

"  two  pieces  on  shore,  and  would  not  suffer  them  to  land."*  December. 

The  Dutch  being  thus  repulsed,  the  English  changed   1636. 
the  name  of  Kievit's  Hook  to  "  Saybrook,"  in  compliment  at'say"' 
to  the  leading  English  proprietors  of  Connecticut,  Lord 
Say  and  Lord  Brook,     A  fort  was  immediately  construct- 
ed at  the  point,  under  the  superintendence  of  Lion  Gar- Lion  our- 
diner,  an  engineer  or  master  workman,  who  had  served 
under  the  Prince  of  Orange  in  Holland,  and  who  had  been 
induced  by  John  Davenport  and  Hugh  Peters,  of  Rotter- 
dam, to  enter  into  the  service  of  the  English  patentees  of 
Connecticut.     After  remaining  four  years  in  command  of 
the  post  at  Saybrook,  Gardiner  removed  his  family  to  the   1640 
island  which  now  bears  his  name,  at  the  eastern  extrem- 
ity of  Long  Island.! 

Though  the   Massachusetts    emigrants  had   originally 
gone  to  the  Connecticut  valley  under  a  stipulation  to  con- 
tinue in  allegiance  to  the  General  Court,  the  territory  upon 
which  they  planted  themselves  was  distinctly  admitted  to 
be  "  out  of  the  claim  of  the  Massachusetts  patent."     A 
new  settlement  was,  however,  soon  commenced  at  a  place    1636. 
which  was  actually  within  the  chartered  limits  of  Massa- 
chusetts   Bay.     Early  in   1636,  William  Pynchon,  withwimam 
eight  other  persons,  emigrated  froin  Roxbury  to  the  upper  beglnsT 
part  of  the  Connecticut  River,  and  built  a  trading-house  at  spnn^- 
at  "  Agawam."     The  original  Indian  name  of  that  place 
was  immediately  changed  to  "  Springfield,"  after  the  town 
in  England  where  Pynchon  had  formerly  lived.     This  new 
settlement  brought  the  English  within  a  few  miles  of  the 
Dutch  post  at  Fort  Orange.     A  large  peltry  trade,  divert- 

*  Winthrop,  i.,  166,  175;  Trninbull,  i.,  61. 

t  Winlhrc^),  i.,  174,  175;  Hubbard,  179;  Lion  Gardiner,  in  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  xxiii., 
136;  Trumbull,  i.,  61,  110.  De  Vries,  p.  149,  speaks  of  Gardiner,  whom  he  found  in  com- 
mand at  Saybrook,  on  the  7th  of  June,  1C39,  as  having  married  a  Dutch  wife  at  Woer- 
dcn,  in  Holland,  where  he  had  "  formerly  been  an  engineer  and  baas-workman."  The 
Dutch  phrase  "  werk-baas,"  or  "  work-master'" — so  familiar  to  this  day  in  New  York — 
seems  to  have  been  quite  unintelligible  to  the  learned  editor  of  Winthrop. — Savage's  note, 
i.,  p.  174.  Several  interesting  particulars  of  Gardiner's  biography  (whose  baptismal  . 
name  was  Lion,  and  not  David,  as  Trumbull  and  Savage  affirm)  may  be  found  in  Thomp- 
son's Long  I.sland,  i.,  305,  306,  and  in  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  xxiii.,  136. 


26:2        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 

c.i.u  VIII.  ed  from  the  North  River,  soon  rewarded  the  enterprise  of 
;    ~  Pynchon  ;  and  the  good  judgment,  which  originally  led 
him  to  occupy  so   advantageous  a   spot,  has  since  heen 
amply  vindicated  in  the  prosperity  of  the  flourishing  city 
of  Springfield.* 
Extent  of        Thus  English  progress,  step  by  step,  encroached  upon 
Bettkments.  the  territories  of  the  West  India  Company,  until  nearly 
the  whole  valley  of  the  "  Fresh  River"  was  wrested  from 
its  rightful  European  proprietors.     The  annals  of  coloni- 
zation "  can  scarcely  show  the  commencement  of  a  settle- 
ment so  extremely  faulty  as  that  of  Connecticut."     In  a 
short  time,  the  "  Hope,"  at  Hartford,  was  all  the  foothold 
which  the  Dutch  had  left  to  them  in  Eastern  New  Neth- 
erland.     From  Sagadahoc  to  Saybrook,  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race  was  now  without  a  European  rival ;  and  the  advanc- 
ing tide  of  its  population  was  soon  to  roll  still  nearer  to 
Manhattan.     It  was   its  destiny  ultimately  to   triumph ; 
and  numbers  and  assurance  carried  the  day  against  few- 
True  Euro-  ness   and  equity.     Yet  the  true  European  title,  by  ac- 

pean  title  to  ^        ''  .  ...  i  r 

Long  isi-    tual  discovery  and  continuous  visitation,  to  the  coasts  of 

and  and  "^ 

connecti-  Long  Island  Sound  and  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut,  was 
clearly  and  undeniably  in  the  Dutch.  As  far  as  there 
was  any  color  of  English  title  to  the  region  south  of  the 
Massachusetts  line,  that  title  was  vested  in  the  grantees 
of  the  Earl  of  AVarwick,  or,  after  the  surrender  of  the 
Plymouth  charter,  in  the  crown.  The  Puritan  colonists 
who  first  settled  themselves  on  the  Connecticut,  and  en- 
deavored to  expel  the  Hollanders  from  the  territory  which 
they  had  carefully  explored  long  before  it  was  seen  or 
known  by  the  English,  did  so  without  a  shadow  of  title 
from  the  Plymouth  Company,  under  whom  they  professed 
to  claim ;  and  it  was  not  until  two  years  after  the  Resto- 
1662.  ration  of  Charles  II.,  that  a  royal  charter  gave  the  people 
of  Connecticut  the  territorial  security  which  they  desired 

*  Chalmers,  287;  Hutchinson,  i.,  93;  Truiibull,  i.,  66;  Young,  Ch.  Mass.,  283;  Vcr- 
toogh  van  N.  N.,  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  2T3.  This  post  is  marked  on  Visscher's  and 
Van  der  Donck's  maps  of  New  Netherland  as  "  Mr.  Pinser's  handel-huys." 


cut. 


23  April 


WOUTER  VAN  TWILLER,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  26'6 

against  those  whom  they  denounced  as  their  "  noxious  chap,  viii 
neiffhhors,  the  Dutch."* 

.     If  the  relations  of  New  Netherland  with  its  colonial  neigh-  Do^jfti^' 
bors  were  not  satisfactory,  the  condition  of  its  home  affairs  ^-g''^"' yJtt,. 
was  quite  as  unpromising.     After  conveying  to  Point  Com-  ^'^'''"'' 
fort  the  English  prisoners  captured  at  Fort  Nassau,  and  as- 
certaining that  Virginia  was  "not  a  good  place  for  Holland- 
ers to  trade  at,"  De  Vries  returned  to  Manhattan  in  the 
following  spring.     Reaching  Sandy  Hook  toward  evening, 
he  piloted  the  King  David  safely  up  to  Fort  Amsterdam,  s  Ma>. 
off  which  he  anchored  about  two  o'clock  the  next  morn-  returns  lo 
ing,  without  any  one  on  shore  bemg  aware  of  his  arrival. 
No  sentinels  were  on  post ;  no  challenge  hailed  the  ship. 
At  daybreak  the  vessel  fired  a  salute  of  three  guns,  and 
the  sleepy  garrison  "  sprung  suddenly  out  of  bed,  for  they 
were  not  accustomed  to  have  one  come  upon  them  so  by 
surprise."     De  Vries,  however,  was  kindly  welcomed  by  le  May. 
the  director  ;  and  his  leaky  ship  was  soon  hauled  into  the  ship  at  tiie 
"  Smid's  Vleye,"  where  she  was  careened  and  repaired.!    vieye." 
A  few  days  afterward.  Van  Twiller,  accompanied  by  De  25  June. 

_-.  ,_r.-_,  ,.  Cornells 

Vries  and  Domme  Bogardus,  went  across  the  river,  oppo-  van  voonsi. 
site  to  Fort  Amsterdam,  on  a  visit  to  Pavonia,  where  Cor-  new  sup-r 

.  .  Ill  inlendent 

nelis  van  Voorst  had  just  arrived  as  "  head  commander  at  Pavonia 
for  Michael  Pauw,  the  patroon.  Van  Voorst  had  come  out 
in  a  small  English  bark,  and  had  brought  along  with  him 
some  "  good  Bordeaux  wine"  from  the  north  of  England. 
The  director,  who  was  always  "  glad  to  taste  good  wine," 
therefore  hastened  across  the  river  to  greet  Pauw's  new 
officer.  While  the  party  were  enjoying  themselves.  Van 
Twiller  and  Bogardus  had  "  some  words"  with  the  pa- 
troon's  commissary,  about  a  murder  which  had  just  been 

*  Chalmers,  288 ;  Letter  of  General  Assembly  of  (Connecticut  to  Lord  Say  and  Seal, 
7lh  of  June  1061,  in  Trumbull,  i.,  512 ;  N.  A.  Review,  viii.,  85  ;  Lambrechtsen,  43  ;  ii.,  N. 
y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  98 ;  post,  p.  695,  702  ;  see  also  note  L,  Appendix. 

t  De  Vries's  Voyages,  144.  This  is  the  first  mention  of  the  "  Smid's  Vleye,"  or  Smith'.s 
Valley,  which  was  the  old  familiar  name  of  the  marshy  ground  between  the  East  River 
and  Pearl  Street,  and  Pine  and  Fallon  Streets.  When  the  "  Maagde  Padtje,"  or  Maiden 
Lane,  was  extended  beyond  Pearl  Street  through  this  marsh,  in  Lord  Bellomont's  time, 
a  market- house  was  built  at  the  head  of  the  slip.  This  was  originally  called  the  "Vleye 
Market,"  or  market  in  the  swamp.  The  English  soon  corrupted  the  name  into  "Fly 
Market,"  by  which  it  continued  to  be  known  until  it  was  taken  down  a  few  years  ago.— 
See  also  Judge  Benson's  Memoir,  p.  128,  an  i  MouUon's  "  Nev  York  in  IfiT.^,"  p.  23. 


2(34  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

I iHA p. VIII.  committed  at  Pavonia.     But  they  eventually  parted  good 
friends :  and  as  the  director  was  returnins:  to  Fort  Am- 


1  r*Qr* 

■  sterdam,  Van  A^oorst  fired  a  salute  in  his  honor  from  a 

swivel  which  was  mounted  on  a  pile  in  front  of  his  house. 
A  spark  unfortunately  flying   on   the   roof,  which  was 
thatched  with  reeds,  set  it  in  a  blaze,  and  in  half  an  hour 
the  whole  building  was  burned  down. 
July.  Another  characteristic  incident  happened  soon  afterward 

ler's  arbi-  at  Manhattan.  Some  Englishmen,  having  captured  two 
duct.  small  vessels  in  the  West  Indies,  took  them  into  the  South 
River,  where  they  were  found  by  one  of  the  Dutch  trad- 
ing sloops,  which  immediately  brought  them  to  Fort  Am- 
sterdam. There  the  Englishmen  sold  their  prizes,  and 
shipped  their  goods  on  board  the  company's  vessel,  the 
"  Seven  Stars,"  which  was  loading  for  Holland.  The 
English  captain  wished  to  have  his  goods  sent  by  the  ship 
of  De  Vries,  who  was  willing  to  convey  all  his  men  at  the 
same  time  to  Europe.  But  the  director  would  not  con- 
sent to  this  arrangement,  as  it  would  interfere  with  the 
company's  monopoly,  though  he  compelled  De  Vries  to 
take  ten  of  the  Englishmen  on  board  his  vessel ;  "all  which 
trading  by  force  was  very  unreasonable." 
;<  August.        AVhen  the  ships  were  nearly  ready  to  sail,  the  constable 

Theconsta-     ^ -r,  .  ,  •  i 

bie  at  Fort  of  l^ort  Amsterdam  gave  a  parting  banquet  to  his  returning 

Amsterdam  .     ,     i  i  i   i  i  i  i 

gives  a  ban- countrymen.  A  table  and  benches  were  arranged  under 
a  tent  on  one  of  the  angles  of  the  fort  overlooking  the  pla- 
cid bay,  and  a  large  company  invited.  When  the  feast 
was  at  its  height,  the  trumpeter  began  to  blow  ;  and  some 
words  passed,  because  the  koopman  of  the  shop,  Hendrick 

•'Coriaer    Huddcu,  and  the  koopman  of  the  cargoes  "scolded  Corlaer 

the  Trump-  „         .  t  i  i   -ii     i    • 

e'er"  the  Trumpeter."  As  valiant  as  he  was  skilled  m  music, 
Corlaer  instantly  gave  them  each  "  a  drubbing ;"  upon 
which  they  ran  home  vowing  vengeance,  and  got  their 
swords.  But  they  contented  themselves  with  "many  fool- 
ish words"  at  the  director's  house  ;  their  soldiership  evap- 
orated over  night:  and  in  the  morning  "they  feared  tlie 
trumpeter  more  than  they  sought  him." 

The  irregularities  in  Van  Twiller's  government,  which 


WOUTER  VAN  TWILLER,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  26o 

De  Vries  had  so  often  witnessed  at  Manhattan,  did  not,  chap.viii. 
however,  prevent  him  from  appreciating  the  advantages 
of  a  well-organized  colony  in  New  Netherland.     Not  dis-  ^^  y^^^^' 
couraged  by  his  failure  at  Swaanendael  five  years  before,  wi?h"vtn 
he  now  determined  to   establish   a  settlement  nearer  to  J^o'ion^o'"'^ 
Fort  Amsterdam,  where  he    supposed   it  would,   at  all  5'",^^„'d"''* 
events,  be  more  secure  from  the  attacks  of  the  Indians. 
Staten   Island,   which   Pauw   had   already   appropriated, 
seemed  to  offer  unusual  advantages ;    and  De  Vries  re- 
quested the  director  to  enter  it  for  him,  as  he  "  wished  to  i3  August. 
return  and  organize  again  a  colony  there."     Van  Twiller 
readily  agreed  to  do  so ;  and  the  prospective  patroon,  after 
wooding  and  watering  his  ship  up  the  river,  at  the  "  G-roote- 
val,  which  lies  three  miles  beyond  Menates  Island,"  im- is  August 
mediately  set  sail  for  Holland.* 

The  colonial  officers  of  New  Netherland  did  not  neglect  Lands  tak- 

1.1, 1  .  ir-i  •!•    en  up  by  the 

the  opportunities  which  they  enjoyed  of  advancing  their  provincial 
own  private  interests.     Jacob  van  Curler,  the  former  com- 
missary at  Fort  Good  Hope,  now  purchased  from  the  In- lo  June. 
dians  a  flat  of  land  called  "  Castateeuw,"  on  Sewan-hacky 
or  Long  Island,  "  between  the  bay  of  the  North  River  and 
the  East  River ;"  and  Thomas  Hall,  the  English  deserter, 
was  hired  to  superintend  the  plantation.     At  the  same 
time,  Andries  Hudde,  one   of  the  provincial   council,  in 
partnership  with  "Wolfert  G-erritsen,  purchased  the  mead- 
ows next  west  to  Van  Curler's.     A  month  afterward,  Van  le  My. 
Twiller  himself  secured  the  level  grounds  further  to  the 
east.     These  purchases,  which  were  estimated  to  include 
nearly  fifteen  thousand  acres,  seem  to  have  been  made 
without  the  knowledge  or  approbation  of  the  Amsterdam 
Chamber.      Flourishing   settlements    soon   arose,  which.  New  Am- 
collectively  receiving  the  name  of  New  Amersfoordt,  after  or**Fiat- '' 
that  of  the  interesting  old  town  in  Utrecht,  where  the  il-  founded. 
lustrious  Barneveldt  was  born,  were  the  germ  of  the  pres- 
ent town  of  Flatlands.t 

About  the  same  time,  Roelof  Jansen,  who  had  been  as- 

*  De  Vries,  145,  146;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  iii.,  p.  80. 

t  Alb.  Rec.  G.  G.,  31-39,  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  338;  O'Call.,  i.,  172;  Thompson's 
Long  Island,  ii.,  182  •  Valentine's  Manual  for  1850,  542-544. 


266  HISTOllY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  VIII.  sistant  Superintendent  of  farms  at  Rensselaerswyck,  ob- 
tained  from  Van  Twiller  a  grant  of  thirty -one  morgens,  or 
Roeiof  and  sixtj-two  acrcs  of  land,  on  Manhattan  Island,  a  little  to 
ta"nTeirs  ^^^  northwest  of  Fort  Amsterdam.  This  was  the  original 
of'rortTm-  conveyance  of  the  very  valuable  estate  north  of  "Warren 
sterdain.     g^j-ggj;^  j^  the  city  of  Ncw  York,  now  in  the  possession  of 

the  corporation  of  Trinity  church.* 

vanDinck-      Van  Twiller's  irregular  administration  did  not,  however, 

dered  to  re-  escape  the  severe  criticism  of  some  of  his  owti  subordinates ; 

land.         among  whom  Van  Dincklagen,  the  schout-fiscal,  did  not 

hesitate  openly  to  censure  his  chief.     This  conduct  was 

looked  upon  as  contumacious ;  and  Van  Dincklagen  was 

refused  the  payment  of  his  arrears  of  salary,  and  ordered 

uirichLu-  to  return  to  Holland.     Ulrich  Lupoid,  a  Hanoverian,  was 

pointed      temporarily  appointed  in  his  place.     In  thus  arbitrarily 

cai.  displacing,  perhaps,  the  most  learned   and  accomplished 

man  in  the  province,  Van  Twiller  relieved  himself,  indeed, 

from  the  presence  of  an  honest  censor,  but  he  eventually 

secured  his  own  recall.     Well  might  De  Vries  indignantly 

exclaim,  as  he   observed  Van  Twiller's  incapacity,  that 

"  the  company  had  promoted  him  from  a  clerkship  to  a 

commandership,  to  act  farces"  in  New  Netherland.t 

coionie  of       The  colonic  of  Rensselaerswyck  had  meanwhile  pros- 

Rensse-  .  c    a  j 

laerswyck.  pered  undcr  the  careful  supermtendence  oi  Arendt  van 
Curler;  and  the  modest  hamlet  of  "  Beverswyck"  had  ex- 
tended itself  around  the  walls  of  Fort  Orange.  The  fer- 
tile soil  yielded  abundant  crops  to  the  laborious  farmers  ; 
pike  and  sturgeon,  and  other  choice  fish,  abounded  in  the 
river  and  creeks ;  and  deer  and  wild  turkeys  overstocked 
the  neighboring  forests.  The  emigrants,  happy  in  abun- 
dant prosperity,  wrote  joyous  letters  home  ;  and  fresh  col- 
onists, in  large  numbers  and  of  substantial  means,  came 

"  Paige's  Chancery  Reports,  iv.,  178  ;  Benson's  Memoir,  119  ;  Rensselaerswyck  MSS. ; 
O'Call.,  1.,  142  ;  ii.,  35,  581.  Roeiof  Jansen,  whose  name  survives  in  that  of  the  "  Kill" 
which  empties  into  the  North  River,  between  Hudson  and  Red  Ilook,  died  soon  after  this 
grant  was  passed  ;  and  his  widow  married  Domine  Bogardus,  about  the  year  1638.  After 
that,  Annetje  Bogardus's  farm  on  Manhattan  was  called  the  "  Domine's  Bouwery."  In 
1647,  Annetje  was  again  a  widow,  and  soon  afterward  returned  to  Beverwyck,  where 
she  died  in  1663. 

t  Hoi.  Doc,  ii.,  167,  169,  171.  173,  177,  178-181  ;  De  Vrics,  Voyages,  113  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H- 
S.  Coll..  ii..  291;  ii!..  p.  40 


I 


WOUTER  VAN  TWILLER,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  267 

out  from  Holland  in  the  autumn  of  1636.     Van  Rensse- chap-vhi 

laer  now  desired  to  enlarsre  his  extensive  domain ;  and  ' 

•  1637 

the  schipper  of  his  vessel  was  instructed  to  assist  the  co-        '    ' 

lonial  officers  in  accomplishing  this  purpose.     The  next 

spring  they  accordingly  purchased  the  tract  called  "  Pap- 13  April. 

•1  11  1  1.      ■  1  c     ^  ■  T  1  1  Additional 

sikaen,'  on  the  east  side  oi  the  nver,  extendmg  southward  laud  pur- 
from  Castle  Island  to  Smack's  Island,  and  running  a  con-  the  east 
siderable  distance  into  the  interior.      With  this  addition,  nver. 
the  colonic  of  Rensselaerswyck,  around  the  West  India 
Company's  northernmost  fort,  now  included  a  territory,  on 
both  sides  of  the  North  River,  comprehending  a  large  part 
of  the  present  counties   of  Albany,  Rensselaer,  and  Co- 
lumbia.* 

Soon  afterward.  Van  Twiller  purchased  from  the  In- le. June, 
dians,  for  his  private  use,  the  island  which  they  called  lerpur- 
"  Pagc^anck,"  lying  a  little  south  of  Fort  Amsterdam,  ganck  or  ^ 

.      .    ,         11-1  •  -IT    Nutten  U\- 

This  island,  which  was  then  estimated  to  contain  a  hund-  ami 
red  and  sixty  acres  of  land,  was  originally  called  by  the 
Dutch  "  Nooten,"  or  Nutten  Island,  "  because  excellent 
nut-trees  grow  there."     After  its  purchase  by  Van  Twil- 
ler, it  began  to  be  known  as  "  the  Governor's  Island,'^ 
which  old  familiar   name   survives   to  the  present  day. 
The  next  month,  the  director  bought  two  islands  in  the  le  Juiy. 
Hell-gate  River,  the  largest  of  which,  called  Tenkenas,  islands  m 
contained  about  two  hundred  acres,  and  Minnahonnonck,  River, 
the  smallest,  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres.     Van 
Twiller  was  now  one  of  the  largest  private  land-owners  in 
New  Netherland ;   and  the  herds   of  cattle   which  soon 
stocked  his  flourishing  farms,  gave  occasion  to  shrewd  sur- 
mises that  the  director  had  not  hesitated  to  enrich  him- 
self at  the  expense  of  the  company's  interests.t 

Some  grants  of  land  were  likewise  obtained  by  unoffi^  oeor^e 
cial  persons.     Among  these,  Joris  or  George  Rapelje,  one  tains  a 

•        •  1     ITT      11  1  •  f    T  T     1  1  1    SfJl'lt  <"  tl'f 

of  the  original  Walloon  colonists  of  Long  Island,  procured  waai-t.ogi 

*  Renss.  MSS. ;  O'Call.,  i.,  124,  326  ;  De  Vries,  J53  ;  Megapolensis's  Tract  on  the  Mo- 
hawk Indians,  in  Hazard,  i.,  518.  Mr.  Barnard  affirms  that,  "about  1637,  the  patroon  of 
this  colony  appeared  in  person  to  take  charge  of  his  estate  and  his  people  ;"  but  there  does 
not  seem  to  be  any  evidence  to  support  this  assertion  ;  sec  post,  p.  531, 

t  Alb.  Rec,  G.  G.,  41,  46  ;  De  Laet,  ix. ;  O'Call.,  i-,  174,  182 ;  Vateatine's  iWarual  fi.r 
1850,  544,  545. 


268  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  VIII,  the  formal  confirmation  of  a  tract  near  the  Waal-bogt.* 

A  pleasing  tradition  asserts,  that  the  Indians  had  relin- 
1637 
ifijune. '  quished  their  title  to  the  "Walloons  upon  the  birth  of  Rap- 

elje's  daughter  Sarah,  in  the  month  of  June,  1625,  because 

she  was  the  first  white  child  born  in  New  Netherland.t 

Jonas        Soon  afterward,  Jonas  Bronck  became  the  owner  of  the 

Bronck's 

purchasein<<  Jianaque  tract,"  on  the  "main  land"  of  West  Chester, 

WestChes-  ^  '  _  _  ' 

«".  east  of  and  "  over  against"  what  is  now  known  as  Haer- 

lem.t 
The  com-        About  the  samc  time,  the  Indian  title  to  the  island  of 
cures  the    "  Q,uotenis,"  near  the  "  Roode  Island,"  in  Narragansett  Bay, 
Quotenis,    was  sccured  for  the  West  India  Company,  and  a  trading- 
gansett      post  was  established  there,  under  the  superintendence  of 
Abraham  Pietersen.    Not  long  afterward,  Pietersen  obtain- 
ed for  the  company  the  possession  of  another  island,  lying 
near  the  Pequod,  or  Thames  River,  which,  for  many  years 
Dutch-       after  the  settlement  of  Connecticut  by  the  English,  con- 
and.          tinned  to  be  known  as  "  the  Dutchman's  Island."^ 

The  directors  at  Amsterdam  also  succeeded  in  purchas- 
ing from  Michael  Pauw  his  territorial  rights  as  patroon,  for 
which  they  paid  liim  twenty-six  thousand  guilders.     By 
Pavonia     tliis  arrangement,  Pavonia  and  Staten  Island  became  the 

and  Staten  ^  .  i   •    i    ii  i 

Island.       property  of  the  company ;  and  the  annoyance  which  rauw  s 

independent  colony  had  caused  was  at  length  stopped. II 
Fur  trade        Up  to  tliis  time  tlic  fur  trade  had  steadily  increased  ; 

in  New  ^ 

Nether-  and  notwithstanding  the  loss  of  their  sole  traffic  on  the 
Connecticut,  the  directors  received  returns  from  their  prov- 
ince, during  the  year  1635,  amounting  to  nearly  one  hund- 

*  Alb.  Rec,  G.  G. ;  Valentine's  Manual  for  1850,  545,  546. 

t  Judge  Benson,  in  his  Memoir,  p.  94,  gives  the  following  extract  from  the  Council 
Records  in  1656:  "Sarah  Jorisen,  the  Jirst-bom  Christian  daughter  in  Nexo  Netherland, 
widow  of  Hans  Hansen,  burthened  with  seven  children,  petitions  for  a  grant  of  a  piece  of 
meadow,  in  addition  to  the  twenty  morgens  (forty  acres)  granted  to  her  at  the  Waal-bogt." 
In  consideration  of  her  situation  and  birth,  Stuyvesant  and  his  council  assented  to  her 
petition.— Alb.  Ree.,  xi.  (P.),  332;  Moulton,  371,  note  ;  ante,  p.  154. 

X  Benson's  Memoir,  97  ;  Bolton's  West  Chester,  ii.,  280,  283,  289,  302  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  250 ; 
ii.,  581.  "  Bronck's  Kill,"  now  known  as  "  Bronx  River,"  derived  its  name  from  this  Jo- 
nas Bronck. 

t)  Hoi.  Doc,  vii.,  78  ;  Verbael  van  Beverninck,  608 ;  Alb.  Rec,  i.,  89  ;  xviii.,  291 ;  O'Call., 
i.,  174.  There  is  an  island  now  marked  on  the  large  official  map  of  Massachusetts,  of 
1844,  as  "  Dutch  Island."  It  is  in  the  channel  west  of  Canonicut,  and  north  of  the  BeaviT 
Tail  Light. 

II  Hoi.  Doc,  v.,  400;  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  338;  O'Call.,  i.,  199. 


land. 


WOUTER  VAN  TWILLER,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  269 

.ed  and  thirty-five  thousand  guilders.*     Besides  enjoying  chap.viii 
the  monopoly  in  New  Netherland,  the  company  had  open-       7~^ 
ed  a  profitable  commerce  with  New  England  ;  and  Dutch  traffic ' 
vessels  brought  tobacco  and  salt  from  the  West  Indies,  Eng^,a^j"' 
and  Flanders  mares,  and  oxen,  and  sheep,  fi-om  Holland 
to  Boston.     "  They  came  from  the  Texel  in  five  weeks 
three  days,  and  lost  not  one  beast  or  sheep."     All  these 
commodities  bore   high   prices   in   New   England,  where 
there  was  now  a  scarcity  of  provisions.     Potatoes,  from  iiigh prices 
Bermuda,  were  sold  at  Boston  for  two-pence  the  pound  ;  sionT7' 
a  good  cow  was  worth  twenty-five  or  thirty  pounds,  and  a 
pair  of  oxen  readily  fetched  forty.     The  cattle  in  Connec- 
ticut did  not  thrive.     In  Virginia  corn  rose  to  twenty  shil- 
lings the  bushel.     The  scarcity  in  New  England  and  Vir- 
ginia affected  the  prices  of  provisions  and  the  value  of  la- 
bor in  New  Netherland.     Before  the  close  of  1637,  a 
schepel,  or  three  pecks  of  rye,  was  sold  for  two  guilders, 
or  eighty  cents ;  and  a  laboring  man  readily  earned  two 
guilders  a  day  during  harvest.!     These  prices  were  prob- 
ably caused,  in  some  degree,  by  the  bloody  war  which 
was  now  raging  in  Connecticut. 

For  the  Puritan  colonists  of  New  England  had  become   1634. 
embroiled  witli  their  aboriginal  neighbors.     The  Pequods  the  Pequod 
had  failed  to  surrender  the  murderers  of  Stone,  according  ^'"^' 
to  their  treaty  at  Boston ;  and  had  tendered,  instead,  an 
atonement  of  wampum. '    But  Massachusetts  insisted  upon 
avenging  blood  with  blood.     Soon  afterward,  John  Old-   1636. 
ham,  the  adventurous  overland  explorer  of  the  Connecti-  oidLmv 
cut,  was  assassinated  by  the  Block  Island  Indians,  who '""^^'^'"^' 
seem  to  have  become  jealous  at  his  trading  with  the  Pe- 
quods, under  their  treaty  with  Massachusetts.     The  mag- 
istrates and  ministers  immediately  assembled  at  Boston,  as  August. 
and  commissioned  John  Endicott  to  proceed,  with  a  force  Endicotfa 
of  ninety  men,  to  Block  Island,  of  which  he  was  directed 
to  take  possession,  after  putting  to  death  all  the  warriors, 
and  making  prisoners  all  the  women  and  children.    From 

*  De  Laet,  App.,  .')0. 

t  Alb.  Rec,  i.,  89 ;  ii.,  59  ;  Winthrop,  i.,  180,  161,  182,  187,  191,  206. 


270        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1636. 


Chap.  VIII.  Block  Island  he  was  to  go  to  the  Pequods,  and  demand 
the  murderers  of  Stone,  and  a  thousand  fathoms  of  wam- 
pum as  damages :  if  satisfaction  were  refused,  the  expe- 
dition was  "to  obtain  it  by  force." 

Endicott  promptly  executed  his  "  sanguinary  orders." 
Block  isi-   The  Block  Island  savages  fled  at  the  approach  of  the  En- 
tated.        glish  invaders  ;  and  Endicott "  burned  their  wigMxims,  and 
all  their  matts,  and  some  corn,  and  staved  seven  canoes, 
and  departed."     Thence  he  went  to  Saybrook,  where  he 
was  re-enforced  by  twenty  men.     In  a  few  days,  the  expe- 
ThePe-     ditiou  Sailed  for  the  Pequod  River.     After  burning  all  the 
wa°msde-    wigwams,  and  spoiling  the  canoes  of  the  Pequods,  Endi- 
14  Sept.'     cott  returned  to  Boston,  having  done  more  than  enough  to 
exasperate,  but  nothing  to  subdue  the  now  implacable  en- 
emy of  the  English. 

The  fatal  consequences  of  Endicott's  expedition  were 
Exaspera-  soou  felt  by  tlic  colouists  ou  tlic  Conuecticut.     The  Pe- 
Pequods.    quods,  arouscd  to  vengeance,  lurked  about  the  new  fort 
at  Saybrook,  and  killed  several  of  the  garrison.     During 
the  whole  winter,  the  post  was  in  a  state  of  siege ;  and 
1637.  Ciardiner,  the  commandant,  going  with  a  small  party  a 
little  beyond  the  range  of  its  guns,  was  surprised  by  an 
Indian  ambush,  and  forced  to  seek  safety  in  a  rapid  re- 
Revenge     treat.     Wethersfield,  too,  felt  the  bitterness  of  savage  re- 
at  Say-      veugc.     Scquccn,  aggrieved  by  the  conduct  of  the  English, 
Wethers-    whom  lic  had  been  the  means  of  attracting  thither,  insti- 
Aprii.        gated  the  Pequods,  who  killed  nine  of  the  colonists,  and 
carried  two  maidens  away  into  captivity. 

Apprehension  was  now  felt  that  the  Dutch,  "  who,  by 

their  speeches  and  supplies  out  of  Holland,"  had  excited 

the  suspicions  of  their  New  England  neighbors,  would  re- 

saybrook    possBss  thcmsclves  of  Saybroolc.     Captain  John  Underbill 

forced.       was,  therefore,  promptly  sent  from  Boston  to  the  mouth  of 

^" '    the  Connecticut,  with  a  re-enforcement  of  twenty  men,  "  to 

keep  the  fort."     But  Van  Twiller,  instead  of  attempting 

to  expel  the  harassed  English  from  the  "  Kievit's  Hoeck," 

dispatched  a  sloop  from  Manhattan  to  the  Thames  River, 

near  which  the  Dutch  had  now  a  trading  post,  with  or- 


22  Feb, 


WOUTER  VAN  TWILLER,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  27] 

ders  "  to  redeem  the  two  English  maids  by  what  means  chap. via. 
soever,  though  it  were  with  a  breach  of  their  peace  with  ' 

the  Pequods."     Touching  at  Saybrook,  the  Dutch  vessel  ^he  Dutch 
was  stopped  by  the  English,  who  would  not  allow  her  to  ""^^^,1^^^ 
proceed  until  her  officers  stipulated,  by  "  a  note  under  from'X 
their  hands,"  to  make  the  release  of  the  two  Wethersfield  ^'"*"'"^'' 
girls  *'  their  chief  design."     On  reaching  the  Thames  Riv- 
er, the  Manhattan  officers  made  large  offers  to  the  Pequods 
for  the  ransom  of  the  English  captives ;  "  but  nothing 
would  be  accepted."     So  the  Dutch  detained  six  or  seven 
of  the  Pequods  on  board  of  their  sloop ;  and  with  them  they 
redeemed  the  two  maidens,  who  were  conveyed  to  Man- 
hattan, and,  not  long  afterwaird,  safely  restored  to  their 
countrymen  at  Saybrook. 

An  exterminating  war  against  the  Pequods  was  now  i  May 
decreed  by  the  colonists  of  Hartford,  Windsor,  and  Weth-  ghsu  unite 
ersfield  ;  and  Massachusetts  and  New  Plymouth  resolved  inate  the 
to  assist  Connecticut.     John  Mason,  who  had  been  bred  a 
soldier  in  the  Netherlands,  was  solemnly  intrusted  with 
the  command ;  and,  after  a  night  spent  in  prayer,  an  En- 
glish force  of  ninety  men,  accompanied  by  Uncas,  the  chief 
of  the  Mahicans,  and  sixty  of  his  warriors,  embarked  in  lo  May. 
three  vessels  at  Hartford,  and  dropped  down  to  Saybrook, 
where  the  party  was  re-enforced  by  Underbill  with  his 
twenty  men.     The  expedition  soon  reached  the  Narragan-  23  May. 
sett  Bay,  where  the  English  were  further  strengthened  by  reaches 
the  chief  sachem,  Miantonomoh,  and  two  hundred  of  his  sett  Bay 
warriors ;  and  the  combined  forces  pressed  onward  to  the 
strong-holds  of  the  Pequods,  on  the  Mistic  River.    At  dawn  20  May 
of  day,  the  assailants,  in  two  divisions,  led  by  Mason  and 
Underbill,  attacked  the  fortified  village  at  the  summit  of 
a  commanding  eminence.     The  Pequods,  taken  by  sur- 
prise, fought  with  the  energy  of  despair  ;  but  their  arrows 
'  and  robes  of  fur  availed  them  little  against  the  muskets 
and  corselets  of  the  New  England  men,  now  "bereaved  of 
pity,  and  without  compassion."     No  quarter  was  given  ;  The  Pe- 
no  mercy  was  shown.     Six  hundred  souls,  warriors  andiagede- 
women,  old  men  and  children,  perished  in  the  indiscrim- 


272  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap. VIII.  inate  carnage.  The  rising  sun  shone  on  the  smoking  ru- 
ins  of  the  devastated  village.  A  hand  of  warriors  from  the 
second  Pequod  fort  pursued  the  retreating  conquerors ;  but 
the  English  safely  reached  their  vessels,  where  they  were 
joined  hy  Captain  Daniel  Patrick,  who  had  just  come  on 
from  Boston  with  forty  men.  The  victorious  expedition 
returning  to  Saybrook,  was  welcomed  by  Gardiner  with 
joyous  salvos  of  artillery. 

June.  The  fate  of  the  remaining  Pequods  was  now  sealed. 

age's luint-  Stoughton  soou  arrived  at  Saybrook  with  re-enforcements 

westTf      from  Massachusetts ;    and  the  flying  savages  were  pur- 

*^  ^°°  '  sued  as  far  westward  as  "within  twenty  or  thirty  miles 

of  the  Dutch."     At  a  head  of  land,  near  what  is  now 

13 July.  Gruilford,  the  English  beheaded  two  sachems ;  "  where- 
upon they  called  the  place  Sachem's  Head."  Near  what 
is  now  Fairfield,  a  remnant  of  the  devoted  tribe  was  hunt- 
ed into  "a  most  hideous  swamp,"  and  many  warriors  per- 
ished. Two  hundred  old  men,  women,  and  children  were 
taken  prisoners,  reduced  to  bondage,  and  divided  among 
the  conquering  European  troops;  and  not  long  afterward, 
some  of  the  wretched  captives  were  exported  from  Bos- 
ton, and  sold  as  slaves  in  the  West  Indies.  The  scalp  of 
Sassacus,  the  Pequod  chief,  was  sent  in  triumph  from 
Connecticut  to  Massachusetts  Bay.  Scarcely  a  sannup, 
a  warrior,  a  squaw,  or  a  child  of  the  Pequod  name  sur- 

Extermin.  vived.     Au  aboriginal  nation  had  been  almost  extermin- 
ated. .    1  jt 
ated.* 

The  tragedy  which  was  thus  awfully  accomplished  was 
performed,  indeed,  within  the  eastern  territories  of  New 
Netherland,  but  by  other  actors  than  the  Dutch.  The 
victorious  warfare  of  the  New  England  colonists  secured 
for  them  nearly  forty  years  of  comparative  peace,  and  their 
courageous  vigor  has  well  received  the  most  eloquent  ap- 
plause. Yet  no  habitual  veneration  of  ancestral  fame 
should  justify  the  unvaried  panegyric   of  all    ancestral 

*  Winthrop,  i.,  189, 193-235  ;  Morton's  Memorial,  185-195  ;  Hubbard's  Narrative  ;  Col. 
Rec.  Conn.,  9  ;  Mason,  in  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  xviii.,  131-151 ;  Gardiner,  in  M.  H.  Coll.,  .xxiii., 
138-154  ;  Underbill,  in  M.  H.  Coll.,  xxvi.,  4-25  ;  Chalmers,  291,  292  ;  Trumbull,  i.,  69-93 
Bancroft, :.,  397-402  ;  HUdreth,  i.,  238-252. 


WOUTER  VAN  TWILLER,  DIRECTOR  GENERaL.  273 

works,  or  cloak  from  calm  review  the  full  significance  of  chap.vih. 
inconvenient  truth.  The  Pequod  war,  unrighteously  he- 
gun,  ruthlessly  achieved,  was  the  first  serious  attempt  of 
the  white  race  to  extirpate  the  red  race  from  the  northern 
regions  of  America.  Its  injurious  effects  did  not  end  with 
the  subjugation  and  enslavement  of  its  surviving  victims. 
Their  coveted  land  was  indeed  won.  But  the  seeds  of 
enmity  were  sown  for  ages ;  and  it  was  not  long  after 
that  the  Dutch  colonists  on  the  North  River  were  obliged 
to  witness  as  murderous  scenes  as  did  the  Puritan  con- 
querors of  Connecticut. 

Meanwhile,  Van  Dincklagen,  on  returning  to  Holland,   1636. 
had  severely  reviewed  Van  Twiller's  government,  in  a  me- van  Dmrk- 
morial  to  the  States  General,  which  was  immediately  re-  Houand. 
ferred  to  the  Amsterdam  Chamber,  with  an  intimation 
that  they  should  make  prompt  satisfaction  to  their  injured 
officer,  whose  salary  was  now  three  years  in  arrear.     The 
schout-fiscal's  complaints,  however,  were  not  confined  to  compiai.  , 
the  civil  authorities  of  New  Netherland.     Domine  Bogar-  Van  xwii- 
dus  was  also  censured,  and  to  such  an  extent  that,  when  gan'ius. 
the  report  of  the  accusations  reached  Manhattan,  the  Con- 
sistory of  the  Church  felt  it  their  duty  to  take  "  ecclesias- 
tical proceedings"  against  Van  Dincklagen,  which,  several 
years  afterward,  they  were  obliged  to  defend  before  the 
Classis  of  Amsterdam.*      But  the  answer  which  the  di- 
rectors tardily  gave  to  the  peremptory  order  of  the  States  2 )  October 
Greneral  was  a  virtual  denial  of  justice.     It  only  produced 
a  fresh  memorial  from  the  resolute  schout-fiscal,  who  re- 
newed his  complaints  against  the  colonial  administration   1637. 
of  the  company,  and  invoked  the  interposition  of  the  home  Acf  ^"' 
government  so  earnestly,  that  their  High  Mightinesses  at 


the  Dutch 
govern- 
ment. 


*  IIol.  Doc,  ii.,  16",  169  ;  Correspondence  of  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam.  The  memorial 
and  papers  which  Van  Dincklagen  presented,  on  the  30lh  of  August  to  the  States  General, 
are  not  now  in  the  Archives  at  the  Hague— at  least,  I  was  unable  to  find  them,  after  a 
careful  search.  They  were  probably  never  returned  by  the  Amsterdam  directors,  to  whom 
they  had  been  sent ;  and  their  loss  is  especially  to  be  regretted,  as  they,  no  doubt,  con- 
tained an  interesting  review  of  Van  Twiller's  administration.  The  Correspondence  of  the 
Classis  of  Amsterdam,  which  I  procured  for  the  General  Synod  of  the  R.  D.  Church,  con- 
tains several  references  to  Van  Dincklagen's  case  ;  and  on  the  18th  of  July,  1638,  it  ap- 
pears that  I?ogardus  applied  to  the  Council  of  New  Netherland  for  leave  to  return  to  Hol- 
land and  defend  himself. — Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  17;  pout,  p.  614,  note. 

s 


274 


HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


Chap.  VIII 


1637. 


Van  Twil- 
ler  super- 
seded. 


William 
Kieft  cho- 
sen as  di- 
rector. 


2  Sept. 

Kieft  com- 
missioned 
and  sworn. 


length  "  seriously"  urged  the  College  of  the  XIX.  to  grant 
him  full  redress.* 

It  was  now  apparent,  even  to  the  Amsterdam  Chamber, 
that  a  change  must  be  made  in  the  government  of  New 
Netherland.  The  constant  reiteration  of  charges  against 
their  chief  provincial  officer  damaged  the  reputation  of  the 
company  at  home  ;  and  the  testimony  of  De  Yries,  on  his 
return  to  Holland,  probably  turned  against  Van  T  wilier 
the  scale  which  had  been  kept  wavering  through  the  in- 
fluence of  the  directors  with  whom  he  was  connected.  The 
College  of  the  XIX.  resolved  to  remove  him  at  once,  and 
appoint  a  successor,  who,  with  perhaps  more  capacity  and 
experience,  seems  to  have  been  quite  as  unfit  to  direct  the 
destinies  of  a  state. 

AVilliam  Kieft  was  the  person  selected.  An  apparently 
unfriendly  pen  has  recorded  a  few  indicative  anecdotes  of 
his  earlier  life.  He  was  born  at  Amsterdam,  where  he 
was  brought  up  as  a  merchant.  After  doing  business 
awhile  at  Rochelle,  he  became  a  bankrupt ;  and  his  por- 
trait, according  to  the  uncompromising  rule  of  those  days, 
was  affixed  to  the  gallows  of  that  city.  Some  time  after 
his  failure,  he  was  sent  to  ransom  some  Christians  in  Tur- 
key, where,  it  was  alleged,  he  basely  left  in  bondage  sev- 
eral captives,  whose  friends  had  placed  in  his  hands  large 
sums  of  money  for  the  purchase  of  their  liberty.! 

To  such  an  agent  the  West  India  Company  determined 
to  intrust  the  government  of  their  American  Province. 
One  of  the  members  of  the  Amsterdam  Chamber,  Elias 
dc  Raedt,  was  accordingly  sent  to  the  Hague,  to  solicit 
from  the  States  General  a  commission  for  Kieft  as  Van 
,  Twiller's  successor.  The  request  was  promptly  granted  ; 
and  the  new  director,  in  presence  of  the  grave  Assembly, 
took  his  oath  of  office.^ 


*  IIoI.  Doc,  ii.,  17I-1T3,  177,  178. 

t  De  Vries,  147, 149  ;  Breeden  Raed;,  10 ;  International  Mag.  for  Dec.  1851,  p.  597 

t  IIol.  Doc,  ii.,  183. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT.  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  275 


CHAPTER  IX. 
1638-1641. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1638,  "William  Kieft,  the  fifth  chap.  ix. 
director  general  of  the  West  India  Company's  North  Amer-       ~~~ 
ican  Province,  arrived  at  Manhattan,  after  an  unusually  gg  March, 
protracted  voyage ;   the  "  Herring,"  in  which  he   sailed  ]^e/t'ar! 
from  Holland,  having  taken  the  southerly  course,  and  lin- ^'^^^^^fttan 
gered  over  winter  at  the  Bermudas,  for  fear  of  approach- 
ing the  coasts  of  New  Netherland,  in  the  stormy  season, 
with  inexperienced  pilots.* 

Kieft  was  an  active,  "  inquisitive,"  rapacious  person ;  in  Kiefi-s 

•  f-TT         m      -11  T        1       character 

almost  every  respect  the  opposite  of  van  TwiUer.     In  the  and  admm- 

•      1  1  T-i        1         1  •  1  istration. 

judgment  of  his  New  England  contemporaries,  he  was  "a 
more  discreet  and  sober  man"  than  his  predecessor.  But 
the  history  of  his  troubled  administration  does  not  war- 
rant us  in  considering  him  "  a  prudent  man"  or  a  good 
chief  magistrate.!  The  official  records  of  New  Nether- 
land, which  are  wanting  before,  have  fortunately  been 
preserved,  in  an  almost  unbroken  series,  from  the  time  of 
Kieft's  inauguration  ;  and  they  afford  authentic  and  co- 
pious materials  for  the  historian. $ 

The  new  director  organized  his  council  so  as  to  keep  Kieft's 
the  entire  control  in  his  hands.     Johannes  la  Montague,  s  April.' 
a  Huguenot  physician,  who  had  emigrated  to  New  Neth- 
erland the  year  before,  was  appointed  a  counselor,  with 
one  vote  at  the  board,  while  Kieft  reserved  two  votes  to 
himself.     Cornells  van  Tienhoven,  of  Utrecht,  who  had  se'cTetary' 

•ir  1  ,1  1111  />  and  schoul- 

been  lor  several  years  the  company  s  book-keeper  of  wages,  fiscal. 

*  Alb.  Rec,  i.,  89  ;  De  Vries,  149.  t  Winthrop,  i.,  299  ;  ii..  316. 

t  See  note  M,  Appendix. 


276        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

CHAP.  IX.  was  now  made  provincial  secretary ;  and  Ulrich  Lupoid, 
'  whom  Van  Twiller  had  appointed  in  the  place  of  Dinck- 

lagen,  continued  for  a  short  time  to  act  as  schout-fiscal. 
Kieft's  council  managed  all  the  general  affairs  of  the 
province,  and  was  the  supreme  court  of  justice.  "  It  was 
a  high  crime,"  said  Van  der  Donck,  a  few  years  after- 
ward, "  to  appeal  from  their  judgments."  This  organiza- 
tion, however,  was  occasionally  modified,  for  "whenever 
any  thing  extraordinary  occurred,  the  director  allowed 
some  whom  it  pleased  him — officers  of  the  company  for 
the  most  part — to  be  summoned  in  addition ;  but  that  sel- 
dom happened."* 
Condition  Finding  that  the  company's  affairs  were  in  a  ruinous 
Maniiatfcan.  Condition,  the  director  caused  a  formal  statement  of  their 
situation  to  be  recorded.  Fort  Amsterdam  was  dilapida- 
ted, and  "  open  on  every  side,"  except  "at  the  stone  point ;" 
all  the  guns  were  dismounted ;  the  house  in  the  fort,  the 
church,  the  lodge,  and  the  other  buildings  "required  con- 
siderable repair."  Even  the  place  where  the  magazine 
for  merchandise  once  stood  could  "  with  difficulty  be  dis- 
covered." Almost  every  vessel,  except  the  yacht  "  Prince 
William,"  and  another  on  the  stocks,  was  in  the  "  worst 
condition."  Only  one  of  the  three  wind-mills  was  in  oper- 
ation ;  another  was  out  of  repair ;  the  third  was  burned. 
The  five  farms  of  the  company  were  untenanted,  and 
thrown  into  commons  ;  and  all  the  cattle  with  which  they 
had  been  stocked  had  "  been  disposed  of  in  other  hands." 
Van  Twii-  But  if  Van  Twiller  failed  to  administer  the  affairs  of  the 

V-T'e  thrift.  .  .    ,  . ,       ,  ,  .  ■,  .  . 

provmee  satisfactorily,  he  took  care  to  improve  his  private 
estate.  A  few  days  after  his  supersedure,  he  hired  from 
22  April.  Kieft  the  company's  "  farm,  number  one,"  at  a  yearly 
rent  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  "guilders,  and  a  sixth  part 
of  all  the  produce ;  and  the  inventory  of  the  late  clerk- 
director's  property  exhibited  such  an  ample  estate,  that 
many  could  not  help  contrasting  it  with  the  sorry  condi- 
tion in  which  he  had  left  every  thing  else.t 

*  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  1,2;  Vertoogh  van  N.  N.,  in  Hoi.  Doc.,  iv.,  ''4,  and  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S 
Coll.,  ii.,  299.  t  Alb.  Rec,  i.,  3,  89,  91,  101 ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Co'l.,  i.,  279,  280. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  277 

Abuses  existed  in  every  department  of  the  public  serv-  chap.  tx 
ice,  which  the  bustling  Kieft  attempted  to  remedy  by   ^^^^ 
proclamations.    It  was  ordered  that  no  person  in  the  com-  prodama- 
pany's  employ  should  trade  in  peltries,  and  that  no  fursr°"\;ajg 
should  be  exported  without  special  permission,  under  pen- [fo^n^g''" 
alty  of  loss  of  wages  and  confiscation  of  goods.     The  pla- '  ^""®' 
card  forbidding  clandestine  traffic  in  New  Netherland  was 
republished ;  and  death  was  threatened  against  all  who 
should  sell  powder  or  suns  to  the  Indians.     After  night- Police  rcg- 
fall,  all  sailors  must  remam  on  board  their  ships ;  hours 
were  fixed  for  all  persons  to  commence  and  leave  off  work  ; 
subordination  and  diligence  were  enjoined ;  and  fighting, 
lewdness,  rebellion,  theft,  perjury,  calumny,  and  "all  oth- 
er immoralities,"  solemnly  prohibited.     No  person  was  to 
retail  any  liquors,  "  except  those  who  sold  wine  at  a  de- 
cent price  and  in  moderate  quantities."      And  Thursday 
in  each  week  was  appointed  as  the  regular  day  for  the 
sessions  of  the  council  as  a  court  of  civil  and  criminal  ju- 
risdiction.    Tobacco,  which  had  now  become  a  staple  pro- Tobacco  in- 

'  _  *         ^  spect;on 

duction  of  New  Netherland,  was  also  subjected  to  excise  ; 
and  regulations  were  published,  to  check  the  abuses  which  i9  August 
injured  "the  high  name"  it  had  "gained  in  foreign  coun- 
tries."* 

Another  proclamation  declared,  that  no  attestations  or  writings  to 

'^  .  .  .be  aUosted. 

other  public  writings  should  be  valid  before  a  court  in 
New  Netherland,  unless  they  were  written  by  the  colonial 
secretary.  This  arbitrary  regulation  was  soon  objected  to 
as  oppressive,  and  as  intended  to  restrain  popular  rights ; 
but  the  policy  of  the  measure  was  afterward  defended  by 
Secretary  Van  Tienhoven.  "  Most  of  the  people  living  in 
New  Netherland,"  said  the  sycophantic  official,  "  are  coun- 
try or  sea-faring  men,  who  summon  each  other  frequently 
before  the  court  for  small  matters,  while  many  of  them 
can  neither  read  nor  write,  nor  testify  intelligibly,  nor  pro- 
duce written  evidence ;  and,  if  some  do  produce  it,  it  is 
sometimes  written  by  a  sailor  or  a  boor,  and  is  often  whol- 
ly indistinct  and  repugnant  to  the  meaning  of  those  who 

*  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  1-12,  19,  21,  188 ;  Hazard's  Ann.  Penn.,  49. 


278  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IX.  had  it  Written  or  made  the  statement.    Consequently,  the 
director  and  council  could  not  know  the  truth  of  matters, 
■  as  was  proper,  and  as  justice  demanded."* 

If,  however,  the  new  director  seemed  chiefly  engrossed 

in  reforming  the  civil  administration,  he  did  not  neglect 

DomineBothe  causc  of  religion.     Bogardus,  the  clergyman  at  Fort 

lained  at    Amsterdam,  upon  learnino;  the  charges  which  Van  Dinck- 

Fort  Am-  r  i   ■  tt    ti         i      i       i     i     •  i     i      <■ 

sterdam.  lagcu,  after  his  return  to  Holland,  had  laid  before  the 
Classis  of  Amsterdam,  petitioned  Kieft  for  leave  to  return 
to  the  Fatherland  and  defend  himself.     But  the  director 

18  July,  and  council  resolved  "  to  retain  the  minister  here,  so  that 
the  increase  of  Grod's  word  may  in  no  manner  be  prevent- 
ed." The  Consistory  of  the  Church,  however,  earnestly 
defended  and  justified  their  conduct  in  1636 ;  and  Kieft 
himself  seems  to  have  supported  their  prayer,  that  the 
Classis  would  "  be  pleased  to  look  into  their  case  with 
care,  and  to  decide  the  same  against  Lubbertus  van  Dinck- 
lagen,  for  the  protection  of  the  reputation  of  their  es- 
teemed preacher  Domine  Everardus  Bogardus."t 

In  spite  of  Kieft's   proclamations,  abuses   continued. 

Muitifari-    The  population  of  New  Netherland  not  having  yet  become 

uon'at^"^  generally  agricultural,  was  too  much  disposed  to  a  lax 
""'morality,  owing  partly  to  the  mixed  character  of  the  per- 
sons attracted  to  Manhattan  for  purposes  of  trade,  and 
partly  to  the  example  which  the  late  director  had  himself 
set.  Kieft  attempted  to  introduce  a  more  rigid  system  of 
police ;  and  fresh  proclamations  threatened  all  evil-doers 
with  fines  and  penalties.     The  people  were  forbidden  to 

Passports.  Icave  Manhattan  without  passports  ;  but,  in  spite  of  pla- 
cards, they  would  go  when  they  pleased.  Complaints 
were  frequently  made,  that  private  parties  were  enriching 
themselves  at  the  company's  expense.     All  persons  were, 

18  Nov.  therefore,  ordered  to  restore,  without  delay,  every  thing  in 
their  possession  belonging  to  the  company,  unless  the\ 
could  "  prove  that  they  bought  it  from  the  former  direct- 
or."   And  criminal  prosecutions,  and  executions  for  homi- 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  v.,  360 ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  318,  336. 

t  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  IT  ;  Cor.  01.  Amst.,  19ih  Nov.,  1641,  1st  Ap.,  1642  ;  ante,  p.  273. 


Peculation. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  21\} 

cide  and  mutiny,  were  unhappily  too  frequent  to  leave  chap.  ix. 
the  new  director  much  repose  from  the  cares  of  his  gov- 
ernment.* 

Thouo^h  the   colony  at  Rensselaerswv  ck  was   steadily  si<w  prog- 

r>  •!  •'  "   ress  of  ag- 

orospering,  the  oppressive  trading  monopoly  of  the  West  ^|f""1[^^'j 
India  Company  retarded  the   agricultural   settlement  of 
other  parts  of  New  Netherland,     A  few  "free  colonists," 
however,  from  time  to  time  came  out  from  Holland,  and 
established  themselves  chiefly  in  the  neighborhood  of  Man- 
hattan.    Pavonia,  having  now  become  the  property  of  the  Pavonix 
company,  Kieft,  in  the  name  of  the  directors,  sold  some  i  May. 
land   at  Paulus'   Hook,  east  of  Ahasimus,  to  Abraham 
Isaack  Planck,  who  soon  established  a  flourishing  farm 
upon  his  purchase  ;  and  other  tracts  in  that  neighborhood 
were  leased,  before  long,  to  respectable  emigrants.     Near 
"Corker's  Hook,"  on  Manhattan  Island,  a  plantation  wasaojuiy.^ 
bought  by  Andries   Hudde,    the    "  first   commissary   of  Hook. 
wares ;"  and   La  Montague  and  others  began  to  make 
permanent  improvements.     In  the  course  of  the  summer,  i  August. 
Kieft  also  secured  for  the  company  the  Indian  title  to  a 
large  tract  of  land  upon  Long  Island,  between  the  East 
River  and  the  swamps  of  Mespath,  now  known  as  New-  Mespatii, 
town  ;  and  active  husbandmen  soon  began  to  occupy  the  island." 
fertile  regions  adjoining  the  early  AVaal-bogt.t 

Important   events   had,   meanwhile,   occurred   on    the  Affairs  on 

.the  South 

southern  frontier  of  New  Netherland.     After  the  miscar-  River. 
riage  of  West's  scheme  in  1635,  and  the  re-occupation  of 
Fort  Nassau,  the  Dutch  had  retained  the  tranquil  posses- 
sion of  the   South   River.     Arendt  Corssen,  whom  Van 
Twiller  had  appointed  commissary  there,  was  succeeded, 
soon  after  Kieft's  arrival,  by  Jan  Jansen,  of  Ilpendam,  in  jan  janse,, 
North  Holland  ;  and  Peter  Mey  was  directed  to  act  as  as-  commissa- 
sistant  commissary  at  Fort  Nassau  during  Jansen's  ab- 
sence.$     Sir  John  Harvey,  having  defeated  the  intrigues 
of  his  enemies  in  London,  returned  to  Virginia  with  a 

*  Alb.  Rec,  G.  G.,  57  ;  i.,  65  ;  ii.,  33  ;  iii.,  419. 

+  Hoi.  Doc,  v.,  399  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  338 ;  Alb.  Rec,  i.,  16,  55  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  185  ;  ii., 
581.  La  Montagne's  farm,  on  Manhattan  Island,  was  called  Vredendael,  or  "  Peaceful  Vale." 
It  was  between  the  Eighth  Avenue  and  Ilaerlem  River.  t  Hoi.  Doc,  viii.,  32,  51. 


280        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IX.  ncw  I'oyal  commission  as  governor,  in  which  post  he  re- 
mained  until  he  was  succeeded  by  Sir  Francis  Wyatt  in 

2  April.  *  1639.*  Harvey's  influence,  though  weakened  hy  the  fac- 
anoiMv.  tions  which  distracted  his  administration,  was  still  suffi- 
'""''■         cient  to  restrain  the  A^irginians  from  further  invasion  of 

New  Netherland  ;  and  the  Maryland  colonists,  under  Lord 
Baltimore's  tolerant  government,  were  too  busily  occupied 
in  harmonious  efforts  for  peopling  the  beautiful  shores  of  the 
Potomac  to  think  of  encroaching  upon  the  adjoining  terri- 
tory of  the  Hollanders.    A  friendly  intercourse  was  all  that 
they  desired ;  and  Calvert,  under  the  ofiicial  seal  of  the 
1638.  province,   encouraged   trade    and    commerce   "  with   the 
12  Feb.      Dutchmen  in  Hudson's  River."t     But  while  English  ag- 
gression was  pausing  at  the  South,  fresh  annoyance  from 
an  unexpected  source  visited  the  Batavian  possessions. 
Colonial         Swcdcu  was  now  to  become  the  competitor  of  France, 
Sweden,     and  England,  and  Holland  for  a  foothold  in  North  Amer- 
ica.    The  liberal  mind  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  early  dis- 
cerned the  benefits  to  his  people  of  colonies  and  an  ex- 
panded commerce  ;  and  William  Usselincx,  the  projector 
of  the  Dutch  West  India  Company,  visiting  the  Baltic, 
1626.  quickened  the  zeal  of  the  sagacious  sovereign.     The  plan 
14  June,     ^vi^ich  Usseliucx  proposed  was  adopted  by  Grustavus,  and 
Swedish     confirmed  by  the  Diet.     Even  wdiile  the  gallant  northern 

West  India  ,  •  /-<  •  j  i         •    ;       • 

Company,  mouarch  was  sweepmg  Cxermany  with  victorious  armies, 

his  views  of  American  colonization  became  more  enlarged ; 

1632.  and  at  Nuremberg  he  drew  up  a  recommendation  of  the 

16  October  undertaking  as  "the  jewel  of  his  kingdom."     But  the  fa- 

3  Nov.       tal  field  of  Liitzen  soon  afterward  deprived  Sweden  of  her 

magnanimous  sovereign ;  and  the  grand  enterprise  he  had 
so  much  at  heart  was  suspended  for  several  years. I 
Queen  On  the  dcmlso  of  Grustavus,  the  crown  descended  to  his 

daughter  Christina,  a  child  of  six  years  of  age  ;  and  the 
states  intrusted  the  government,  during  her  minority,  to  a 
regency,  at  the  head  of  which  was  the  illustrious  states- 
man Axel,  count  of  Oxenstierna.     One  of  the  few  great 

*  Harvey's  commission  is  in  Rymer's  Federa,  xx.,  p.  3  ;  Hazard,  i.,  400 ;  and  Wyatt'S 
in  Rymer,  xx.,  484  ;  Hazard,  i.,  477.  t  Bozman,  ii.,  593. 

t  Moulton,  408-111  ;  Bancroft,  ii.,  284  ;  Hazard's  Annals  of  Penn.,  16-20,  30 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  2S\ 

men  of  all  time,  the  Swedish  chancellor  viewed  the  con-  chap.  ix. 
sequences  of  American  colonization  as  "favorable  to  all 
Christendom,  to  Europe,  and  to  the  whole  world."     Ho   1633 
therefore  published  the  Nuremberg  proclamation,  which      ''" ' 
Gfustavus  had  left  unsigned  ;  and  the  next  year,  the  char-   1634. 
ter  which  Oxenstierna  proposed  for  the  Swedish  West  In- 
dia Company,  was  confirmed  by  the  deputies  of  the  Grer- 
man  circles  at  Francfort.* 

It  was    more    than  three   years,  however,  before   the 
scheme  was  carried  into  effect ;  and  when  it  was  at  length 
accomplished,  it  was  by  the  agency  of  a  former  officer  of 
the  Dutch  "West  India  Company.     After  his  recall  frompeterMm. 
New  Netherland,  Minuit,  going  to  Stockholm,  offered  to  den." 
the  regency  the  benefit  of  his  colonial  experience.     The 
counsels  of  the  discarded  director  won  the  confidence  of 
the  sagacious  Oxenstierna ;  and  toward  the  close  of  1637,   1637. 
Minuit  sailed  from  G^ottenburg,  with  a  commission  from 
the  infant  queen,  "  signed  by  eight  of  the  chief  lords  of 
Sweden,"  to  plant  a  new  colony  on  the  west  side  of  the 
Delaware  Bay.     The  selection  of  this  region  was  probably 
owing  to   Minuit,  who,  during  his   directorship   of  New 
Netherland,  had  become  well  acquainted  with  the  situa- 
tion of  Swaanendael  and  the  neighboring  territories  on 
the  South  River,  and  who  knew  that  there  was  now  no 
European  colony  there.     A  man-of-war,  "the  Key  of  Cal-Minuu 
mar,"  and  a  tender,  "  the  Grriffin,"  were  fitted  out,  in  which  soutu  riv- 
about  fifty  emigrants  were  embarked,  some  of  whom  being 
"  bandits,"  were  to  be  employed  as  galley-slaves  in  erect- 
ing fortifications.     The  care  of  the  Swedish  government 
added  a  pious  Lutheran  clergyman,  Reorus  Torkillus,  and 
supplied  the  expedition  with  provisions,  ammunition,  and 
goods  for  traffic  with  the  natives.! 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1638 — about  the  time  that  Kieft   1638. 
anchored  at  Manhattan — the  Swedish  expedition  put  in  at  5fnciiors  in 
Jamestown,  where  it  remained  about  ten  days,  "to  refresh pg^,[;''^**" 
with  wood  and  water."     The  treasurer  of  Virginia,  learn- 

•  Bancroa,  ii.,286  ;  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  34,  39. 

t  IIol.  Doc,  viii.,  34  ;  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  43^7  ;  Holm,  73,  109  ;  Acrelius,  408. 


282  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap. IX.  ing  that  it  was  "bound  for  Delaware  Bay,  which  is  the 

confines  of  Yirsfinia  and  New  England."  there  "to  make 

a  plantation,"  desired  to  obtain  a  copy  of  Minuit's  com- 
mission. This,  however,  he  declined  to  furnish,  "  except 
he  might  have  free  trade  for  tobacco  to  carry  to  Sweden." 
But  G-overnor  Harvey  "  excused  himself  thereof,"  as  it 
was  "contrary  to  his  majesty's  instructions;"  and  Minuit, 
Arrives  in  pursuing  liis  voyagc,  reached  the  Delaware  Bay  early  in 

ware  Day.    April.* 

pSrchises       Running  up  as  far  as  the  "  Minquas'  Kill,"  Minuit  pur- 
land  at  the  cliascd,  for  "a  kettle  and  other  trifles,"  from  the  Sachem 

'  Minquas  ' 

K'""        Mattehoorn,  who  had  his  wigwam  there,  as  much  land, 
"  included  between  six  trees,"  as  would  serve  to  build  a 
house  upon  and  make  a  plantation.     For  this  land  a  deed 
was  given,  "  written  in  Low  Dutch,  as  no  Swede  could 
yet  interpret  the  Indian."    By  this  conveyance,  the  Swedes 
claimed  to  have  obtained  all  the  territory  on  the  west  side 
of  the  river,  from  Cape  Hinlopen  to  the  falls  at  "  Santic- 
kan,"  or  Trenton,  and  as  far  inland  "  as  they  might  want."t 
Visited  by       The  news  of  the  Swedes'  arrival  quickly  reached  the 
from  Fort    Dutcli  at  Fort  Nassau,  about  fifteen  miles  further  up  the 
river ;  and  persons  were  sent  down  to  demand  the  reasons 
of  their  coming.    But  Minuit  represented  that  he  was  only 
on  a  voyage  to  the  West  Indies,  and  would  leave  as  soon 
as  he  had  supplied  his  ships  with  wood  and  water.     Re- 
visiting the  Minquas'  Kill  soon  afterward,  the  Dutch  offi- 
cers found  that  the  Swedes  "had  done  more,"  and  had 
already  made  a  small  garden.     They  inquired  "  what  it 
meant;"  and  Minuit  again  excused  himself  "by  various 
reasons  and  subterfuges."     In  a  few  days,  the  real  inten- 
tions of  the   Swedes  were   made  apparent.     Minuit  dia- 
25  April,    patched  his  tender,  the  Griffin,  up  the  river  to  trade  ;  but 
sends  his    she  was  stopped  at  Fort  Nassau,  and  Peter  Mey,  the  as- 
the  river  to  sistaut  commissary,  going  on  board,  demanded  to  see  her 


*  Murphy's  notes  on  Vertoogh  van  N.  N.,  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  327 ;  Letter 
from  Jerome  Hawley,  Treasurer  of  Virginia,  to  Secretary  Windebanke,  dated  8th  of  May, 
1638,  in  Lend.  Doc.j  i.,  57  ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  20  ;  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  42,  43. 

t  IIol.  Doc.,  viii.,  70 ;  Acrelius,  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  409 ;  Hudde'a  Report  in 
same  vol.,  p.  439. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT.  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  283 

commission.     This  the  Swedish  officer  refused  to  show,  chap.  ix. 
avowing  that  it  was  their  intention  to  establish  a  fort  on 
the  river,  and  that  "his  Q,ueen  was  as  justifiable  in  build- 
ing a  fort  there  as  was  the  company." 

As  soon  as  Kieft  received  intelligence  of  this  new  en-  Kieft-s  firsi 

dispatches 

croachment,  he  ordered  Commissary  Jansen  to  go  to  the  to  nouand 
Minquas'  Kill,  and  in  case  he  saw  Minuit  acting  to  the 
injury  of  the  Dutch,  "immediately  to  protest  against  it 
in  proper  form."     The  director's  first  dispatches  home  con-  ^s  April 
veyed  an  account  of  the  afiair  to  the  Amsterdam  Chamber.* 
Notwithstanding  the  warning  from  Fort  Amsterdam,  6  May. 

o  "  Kieft  pro- 

Minuit  persisted  ;  and  the  New  Netherland  government,  tests 

r  '  a  '  agains 

therefore,  sent  him  a  formal  protest,  in  which  the  title  of  Mmuu. 
the  Dutch  to  the  whole  of  the  Delaware  was  distinctly 
asserted.  "I  make  known,"  wrote  Kieft,  "  to  you,  Peter 
Minuit,  who  call  yourself  commander  in  the  service  of  Her 
Royal  Majesty  of  Sweden,  that  the  whole  South  River  in 
New  Netherland  has  been  many  years  in  our  possession, 
and  has  been  secured  by  us  with  forts  above  and  below, 
and  sealed  with  our  blood, t  which  also  happened  during 
your  own  direction  in  New  Netherland,  and  is,  therefore, 
well  known  to  you.  But  as  you  do  now  make  a  begin- 
ning of  a  settlement  between  our  forts,  and  are  building 
a  fort  there  to  our  prejudice  and  disadvantage,  which  we 
shall  never  endure  or  tolerate,  and  as  we  also  are  per- 
suaded that  it  has  never  been  commanded  by  Her  Swedish 
Majesty  to  build  fortresses  on  our  rivers  and  coasts,  or  to 
settle  people  on  the  adjoining  lands,  or  to  trade  in  peltries, 
or  to  undertake  any  other  thing  to  our  prejudice ;  now, 
therefore,  we  protest  against  all  the  evil  consequences  of 
such  encroachments,  and  declare  that,  while  we  will  not 
be  answerable  for  any  mishap,  bloodshed,  trouble,  and  dis- 
aster which  you  may  hereafter  suffer,  we  are  resolved  to 
defend  our  rights  in  all  such  ways  as  we  shall  deem  proper."^ 
Minuit,  however,  was   not  deterred  by  proclamations, 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  viii.,  50,  70 ;  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  44, 47  ;  Vertoogh  van  N.  N.,  ut  sup.,  282. 
t  By  this  expression,  Kieft  meant  the  massacre  of  the  Dutch  at  Swaanendael,  during 
Minuit's  time. 
t  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  7  ;  Acrclius,  409  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  131  ;  Hazard's  Ann.  Penn.,  44. 


284        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IX.  which  "he  did  not  feel  inclined  to  answer."     A  trading- 
house  and  fort  were  soon  erected  on  the  north  hank  of  the 
Minuit  per-  Minquas'  Kill,  about  two  miles  from  its  confluence  with 
d'elTgn"  ^'^  the  South  River,  near  the  spot  where  Wilmington  now 
stands  ;   the   name  of  the  kill  was   changed  to  that  of 
"  Christina   Creek  ;"  and   the   establishment  was   called 
The  "  Fort  Christina,"  in  honor  of  the  young  queen.     To  de- 

huiid "  Fort  fine  its  boundaries,  posts   were   erected,  on  which  were 
on  theMin-  carvcd  the  royal  initials,  surmounted  by  the  crown  of  Swe- 
den.    Perfectly  acquainted  with  the  Indian  trade,  Minuit 
soon  drew  "all  the  skins  toward  him,  by  his  liberal  gifts." 
Twenty- four  men  were  placed  in  gai-rison  at  Fort  Chris- 
tina, which  was  well  supplied  with  merchandise  and  pro- 
visions ;  and  the  vessels  returned  to  Sweden,  about  mid- 
juiy.         summer,  with  the  first  cargoes   from  the  new  colony.* 
Thus  the  Swedes  under  Minuit,  more  fortunate  than  the 
earlier  Dutch  colonists  under  the  patroons  of  Swaanendael, 
became  the  first  permanent  European  occupants  of  the 
State  of  Delaware. 
October.         The  new  director's  first  dispatches  scarcely  reached  Am- 
ship  seized  sterdam,  before  a  heavily-laden  Swedish  vessel  arriving  at 

in  Holland   -.riiTi  i  />  i        -.tt 

hythe        Medemblick,  on  her  return  voyage  "from  the  West  In- 

West  India  ,.        „  •        i     i  i  <^i  n  -n        ,  i 

Company,  dics,"  was  scizcd  by  the  Chamber  at  Enckhuysen,  for 
having  illegally  traded  within  the  company's  American 
territory.  The  Swedish  minister  at  the  Hague,  learning 
the  circumstances,  immediately  demanded  her  release 
from  the  States  Greneral.  It  was  not  the  policy  of  Hol- 
land to  offend  a  power  whose  victorious  generals  were 

Released    humblinsr  Denmark  and  Austria.     The  flas:  of  Sweden 

h      th 

States  Gen- protected  thc  Swedish  ship  in  the  ports  of  the  Fatherland, 
as  it  had  already  commanded  respect  in  New  Netherland  ; 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  viii.,  50,  51  ;  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  45,  47  ;  Holm,  65  ;  Acrelius,  17,  307  ; 
Iludde's  Report,  428;  Ferris,  42,  45.  Kiefl,  in  writing  to  tlie  Amsterdam  Chamber,  on 
the  3l8t  of  July,  1638  (Hoi.  Doc,  viii.,  60),  says  that  Minuit,  after  building  the  fort  on  thc 
South  River,  &e.,  "is  van  daer  vertrocken,  met  zyn  twee  byliebbende  scheepen,"  &c. 
The  Dutch  word  "  vertrC'Cken"  literally  means  "  departed  ;"  and  the  phrase  seems  to  im- 
ply that  Minuit  went  bac*  to  Sweden  with  his  two  ships.  But  Kieft,  who  wrote  his  dis- 
patch on  hearsay,  and  not  from  personal  observation,  perhaps  expressed  himself  inaccu- 
rately ;  for  Acrelius,  who  drew  his  narrative  from  reliable  sources,  distinctly  states  that 
Minuit,  "  during  three  years,"  protected  Fort  Christina,  where  he  died  [in  1641  ?]  ;  and 
that  "  his  successor  was  Peter  Hollaendare,  a  native  Swed*." — ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i    4JP 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENE  itAL.  285 

the  arrest  was  promptly  removed  ;  and  the  liberated  ves-  chap.  ix 
sel  sailed  onward  to  the  Baltic* 

In  the  mean  time,  several  shareholders  of  the  West  In- ^he  states 
dia  Company  had  represented  the  unsatisfactory  condition  qui"e?nto" 
jf  their  American  province  to  the  States  General,  who  in-  'foVoTiyeTv 
structed  their  deputies  to  the  College  of  the  XIX.  to  aid  J^p'^^""" 
in  concerting  such  "effective  order"  as  should  attracts ^"^ ^^'"'' 
thither  proper  emigrants  from  the  Fatherland,  "  so  that 
this  state  may  not  be  robbed  of  the  aforesaid  New  Neth- 
erland  by  the  indirect  intrigues  of  any  of  the  inhabitants 
of  this  country,  nor  by  the  intrusions  and  invasions  of  the 
•subjects  of  foreign  princes  and  powers."     The  report  of  the  so  April. 
deputies  was  a  gloomy  picture.     The  limits  of  New  Neth- 
erland,  according  to  the   special  grant  in  1614,  and  the 
charter  of  the  "West  India  Company,  were  claimed  by  the 
directors  as  extending  "  from  Virginia  upward ;    to  wit, 
from  Ci^apoa,  along  the  sea-coast,  to  Terra  Nova."     Of 
these  territories,  the  Dutch  were  in  possession  of  the  North 
River  ;  the  English  reached  to  the  Fresh  River,  and  their 
right  "  is  that  of  the  strongest."     The  company  could  re- 
tain the  remaining  territory,  if  it  were  populated.     "  From 
the  North  River  men  can  go  into  the  interior  as  far  as 
they  please  ;"  but  colonization  was  retarded  "because  the 
directors  can  not  a^^ree  among  themselves."     "  Would  it 
not  then  be  expedient,"  asked  the  deputies,  "to  place  the 
district  of  New  Netherland  at  the  disposal  of  the  States 
G-eneral?"     "We  have   no  such  intention,"  replied  the  The  com- 
companv,  "  unless  we  can  thereby  gain  some  advantage  ;  ciinetosur- 

1        *^'  .  .,,  „'',,..  7     '  rendt-rtheii 

we  hope  that  it  will  prove  prontable  in  time,  now  that  province, 
some  order  has  been  taken  about  Brazil.     The  chief  ap- 
prehension is  about  the  English ;  and  we  are  considering 
the  policy  of  surrendering  the  Indian  trade,  or  something 
else."t 

Thus  the  directors,  while  obliged  to  confess  their  mis- 
management of  the  fertile  province  which  had  now  been 
nearly  fifteen  years  under  their  control,  refused  to  surren- 
der it  to  the  States  G-eneral.     It  would  have  been  happy 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  ii.,  228.  t  Uol.  Doc.,  ii.,  186-195  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  176. 


) 


286  HISTORY  OF  THE  bT.vTE  CF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IX.  for  New  Netlierland  if,  instead  of  remaining  the  depend- 
ency  of  a  mercantile  corporation,  it  could  now  have  be- 
come  a  government  colony  of  the  United  Provinces.     The 
statesmanship  of  the  Hague  did  not  guide  the  Chamber 
rnsuccess-  at  Amsterdam.     From  the  first  the  company  had  sought 
agefnent  of  to  people  its  provincc  with  its  own  dependents.     This  was 
India  Com-  the  Cardinal  error ;  for  these  persons,  returning  home,  took 
'**"^*        nothing  with  them,  "  except  a  little  in  their  purses,  and  a 
bad  name  for  the  country."     The  capital  which  would 
have  been  more  wisely  employed  in  bringing  over  people 
and  importing  cattle,  was  expended  at  Manhattan  "  in 
building  the  ship  New  Netherland  at  an  excessive  outlay, 
in  erecting  three  expensive  mills,  in  brick-making,  tar- 
burning,  ash-burning,  salt-making,  and  like  operations." 
The  Charter  of  Privileges  and  exemptions,  which  oflfered 
such  large  inducements  to  patroons,  discouraged  individual 
enterprise.     Private  persons  who  might  wish  to  emigrate 
"  dared  not  attempt  it."     Though  the  company  had  at 
first  sent  over  some  emigi'ants,  it  had  not  persevered  ;  and 
while  foreigners  were  quietly  allowed  to  encroach  upon 
the  frontiers  of  New  Netherland,  the   company  had  not 
encouraged  the  colonization  of  the  Fresh  and  South  Riv- 
ers  by   its   own   countrymen.      Its   mercantile   directors 
looked  more  to  their  immediate  interests,  than  to  the  wel- 
fare of  the  province  which  their  bad  government  threat- 
ened with  ruin.* 
Result  of        The  searching  investigation  which  the  government  had 
gatiin!^''"  instituted  convinced  the  company,  however,  that  effectual 
measures  must  now  be  adopted  to  regenerate  New  Neth- 
erland.    After  several  months'  consideration,  a  draft  of 
New'Ar-  ucw  "Articles  and  Conditions"  was  accordingly  presented, 
posed  by"^""  by  the  historian  John  de  Laet,  for  the  approbation  of  the 
t^iecompa-  g^^^g^  General.      But  it  did  not  meet  the  exigency.     It 
30  August.  ^^^  prolix  and  theoretical,  instead  of  precise  and  practical. 
It  was  a  political  constitution — which  was  not  the  desid- 
eratum— instead  of  a  simple  plan  of  emigration,  which 
was  really  wanted.     It  promised  no  abrogation  of  the  op- 

*  Vc-ocsh  van  N.  N.,  in  IIol.  Doc,  iv.,  71  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  li.,  288,  289. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  287 

pressive  trading  monopoly  of  the  company,  and  proposed  chap.  ix. 
no  effectual  method  of  colonization.     It  was  at  once  dis- 


"1  r*QQ 

carded  by  the  States  Greneral  as  "  totally  inadmissible."  '    ' 

There  was  another  important  question  to  be  adjusted. 
The  difficulties  between  the  directors  and  the  patroons 
had  been  partially  arranged  by  the  purchase  of  Swaanen- 
dael  and  Pavonia.  But  the  patroons  now  attempted  to 
enlarge  their  "privileges,"  and  boldly  presented  to  the  The  pa- 
States  General  a  "new  plan,"  in  which  they  demanded mand new 
that  they  should  be  allowed  to  monopolize  more  territory ; 
have  longer  time  to  settle  colonists ;  be  invested  with  the 
largest  feudal  powers ;  be  made  entirely  independent  of 
the  control  of  the  company  with  respect  to  the  internal 
government  of  their  colonies  ;  enjoy  free-trade  throughout 
and  around  New  Netherland ;  have  a  vote  in  the  coun- 
cil of  the  director ;  be  supplied  with  convicts  from  Hol- 
land as  servile  laborers,  and  with  negro  slaves  ;  and,  final- 
ly, that  all  "  private  persons"  and  poor  emigrants  should 
be  forbidden  to  purchase  lands  from  the  Indians,  and 
should  be  required  to  settle  themselves  within  the  colo- 
nies, and  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  great  manorial  lords. 
The  Island  of  Manhattan,  the  precinct  of  Fort  Orange, 
and  Swaanendael  and  Pavonia,  should  alone  remain  un- 
der the  company's  exclusive  authority. 

The  patroons'  grasping  demands  of  new  "  Privileges 
and  Exemptions"  were  as  offensive  to  the  States  Greneral  Action  of 
as  the  diffuse  clauses  of  the  company's  new  "  Articles  and  General. 

2  Sent. 

Conditions"  were  unsatisfactory.  Both  the  proposed  in- 
struments were  immediately  sent  back  to  the  Amsterdam 
Chamber,  with  directions  to  reconsider  "  the  whole  busi- 
ness of  New  Netherland  ;"  so  that  such  measures  might 
be  taken  by  their  High  Mightinesses,  respecting  its  colo- 
nization, "  as  should  be  found  most  advisable  for  the  serv- 
ice of  the  state  and  for  the  benefit  of  the  company."* 

The  authoritative  injunction  of  the  States  General  was 
promptly  obeyed.  The  "Privileges"  of  the  patroons  were 
reserved  for  future  consideration  ;  but  it  was  now  determ- 

*  IIol.  Doc,  ii.,  146,  206,  224.  225 ;  O'Call.,  i.,  192-JOO. 


288        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

cuAP.  IX.  ined  that  the  experiment  of  opening  to  free  competition 

~~~~  the  internal  trade  of  New  Netherland  should  be  at  once 
1638 

attempted.     The  Amsterdam  Chamber  accordingly  pub- 

TheWest  lishcd  a  notification,  that  all  inhabitants  of  the  United 
pany's  ""'"  Provinccs  and  of  friendly  countries  might  freely  convey  to 
uonovcree  New  Ncthcrland,  "  in  the  company's  ships,"  any  cattle 
and  merchandise  they  desired,  and  might  "  receive  what- 
ever returns  they  or  their  agents  may  be  able  to  obtain  in 
those  quarters  therefor."  All  shipments  were  to  be  made 
by  the  company's  officers ;  a  duty  of  ten  per  cent,  was  to 
be  paid  to  the  company  on  all  merchandise  sent  from  Hol- 
land, and  a  duty  of  fifteen  per  cent,  on  all  goods  exported 
from  New  Netherland ;  and  freight  was  also  to  be  paid 
for  the  conveyance  of  goods  and  cattle.  The  Director  and 
Council  of  New  Netherland  were  to  be  instructed  to  ac- 
commodate every  emigrant,  "  according  to  his  condition 
and  means,  with  as  much  land  as  he  and  his  family  can 
properly  cultivate."  A  quit-rent  of  a  tenth  of  all  the  prod- 
uce was  reserved  to  the  company,  which  would  assure  le- 
gal estates  of  inheritance  to  the  grantees.  In  subordina- 
tion to  the  States  General,  the  company  and  its  officers 
were  to  maintain  police  and  administer  justice  in  New 
Netherland  ;  and  each  colonist  or  trader  proceeding  thith- 
er was  to  sign  a  pledge  "voluntarily  to  submit  to  these 
regulations  and  to  the  commands  of  the  company,  and  al- 
low all  questions  and  differences  there  arising  to  be  de- 
cided by  the  ordinary  course  of  justice  established  in  that 
country."* 
Effects  of  a  The  more  liberal  system  which  the  company  was  thus 
po°[cy.'  ^'^  compelled  to  adopt,  though  it  fell  short  of  the  emergency, 
was  a  step  in  advance,  and  gave  a  rapid  impulse  to  the 
prosperity  of  New  Netherland.  Private  enterprise  and  in- 
dustry were  now  unshackled  ;  and  an  anxiety  to  emigrate 
was  soon  manifested  at  Amsterdam,  which  the  directors 
wisely  encouraged  by  offering  a  free  passage,  and  other 
substantial  inducements  to  respectable  farmers.! 

*  Hoi.  Doc.,  ii.,  220,  370  ;  O'Calt.,  i.,  201-20J. 

t  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  96  ;  v.,  155-157  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  330 ;  O'Call.,  i.,  206. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  289 

The  proclamation  was  no  sooner  published,  than  plans  chap.  ix. 
of  colonization  were  formed  by  persons  of  capital  and  in- 
fluence.     De  Vries,  who  had  arranged  with  Van  Twiller  35  sept.^ 
two  years  before,  for  lands  on  Staten  Island,  now  sailed  f^^^n^^^fj,^ 
from  the  Texel  with  several  emigrants,  who  had  agreed  NpihcT 
to  go  out  with  him  and  commence  a  colony.     Arriving  off  '^"''" 
Sandy  Hook  in  mid-winter,  the  master  of  the  ship,  want- 
ing a  pilot,  and  observing  the  ground  covered  with  snow, 
began  to  talk  of  returning  to  the  West  Indies,  and  wait- 
ing there  until  summer.     He  had  "old  false  charts,"  only, 
with  him.     But  some  of  the  passengers,  "who  had  lived 
several  years  in  New  Netherland,"  asked  De  Yries  to  pilot 
them  in  ;  for  they  knew  that  he  had  formerly  "  taken  his 
own  ship  in  by  night."     De  Vries  assenting,  conducted  27  Dec. 

A.rriv6s  &t 

the  vessel  safely  up  to  Fort  Amsterdam,  "where  there  Manhattan 
was  great  joy,  because  no  ship  was  expected  there  at  that 
time  of  the  year."     After  spending  a  few  days  at  Kieft's 
house,  where  he  was  cordially  welcomed,  De  Vries  sent  1639. 
his  people  to  Staten  Island,  to  build  some  cabins,  and  be-  nuud"  mV 

/,        1        •     ,«j«.  Staten  I.s!- 

gm  a  "  colonic.    *  and 

In  the  course  of  the  following  summer,  several  other 
persons  of  substantial  means  came  out  from  Holland, 
bringing  along  with  them  emigrants  and  cattle.     Amonsr  ifiji"" 

J.  p.  Kuv- 

them  was  Jochem  Pietersen  Kuyter,  of  Darmstadt,  whoteran.i  " 

•'         '  '  Cornells 

had  formerly  been  a  commander  in  the  East  Indies  under  weiynar- 

""  rive  at 

the  King  of  Denmark.     Cornelis  Melyn,  of  Antwerp,  also  ■^^"'i^""' 
came  to  see  the  country ;  which  pleased  him  so  well  that 
he  soon  returned  to  bring  his  family  out  to  Manhattan. 
Both  Kuyter  and  Melyn  afterward  rose  to  prominence  in 
their  new  home.t 

The  liberal  policy  which  the  \yest  India  Company  had  strangers 

1,1,1  •  •;.i     from  the 

now  adopted  not  only  encouraged  the  emigration  of  sub-  neighhor- 
stantial  colonists  from  the  Fatherland,  but  also  attracted  attracted  to 
strangers  from  Virginia  and  New  England.     Conscience  eriand. 
had  always  been  unshackled  in  New  Netherland  ;    and 
now  the  internal  trade  and  commerce  of  the  province  were 
made  free  to  all.     In  Massachusetts,  where  political  fran- 

*  De  Vries,  148,  149.  t  IIoI.  Doc,  iii.,  365 ;  De  Vries,  151. 

T 


290        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IX.  chises  Were  limited  to  memlDers  of  the  Church,  "many 
men  began  to  inquire  after  the  southern  parts;"  and  it 
was  not  because  the  necessaries  of  life  or  a  healthy  cli- 
mate were  wanting,  that  that  colony  was  "  disesteemed 
of  many."  Besides  seeking  relief  in  Virginia  and  the  "West 
Indies,  the  dissatisfied  began  to  escape  from  their  "insup- 
portable government,"  to  find  more  congenial  homes  in 
New  Netherland.  From  Virginia,  too,  numbers  of  persons, 
whose  terms  of  service  had  expired,  were  attracted  to  Man- 
hattan, where  they  introduced  improved  modes  of  culti- 
vating tobacco.  Cherry  and  peach  trees,  which  hitherto 
had  been  seen  only  near  Jamestown,  now  began  to  flour- 

Prosperity  ish  arouud  the  walls  of  Fort  Amsterdam.     Prosperity  and 

of  the  prov-  ...  .  i  .' 

ince.         progress  replaced  dilapidation  and  ruin.     Instead  of  "  sev- 
en bouweries  and  two  or  three  plantations,"  full  thirty, 
"  as  well  stocked  with  cattle  as  any  in  Europe,"  were 
soon  under  cultivation.     The  numerous  applications  for 
land  promised  "full  one  hundred  more ;"  and  there  was  a 
prospect  that,  in  two  or  three  years'  time,  provisions  could 
be  furnished  for  fourteen  thousand  men.*" 
15  January.      In  vicw  of  the  increasing  demand  for  homesteads  near 
chases       Fort  Amsterdam,  Kieft  purchased  from  the  chief  of  the 
Long  isi-    tribe  living  near  Manhassett,  or  Schout's  Bay,  all  the  landi-- 
company,   from  Rockaway  eastward    to    "  Sicktew-hacky,"  or    Fire 
Island  Bay  ;  thence  northward  to  Martin  Gerritsen's  Bay, 
or  Martinnehouck,  and  westward  along  the  East  River 
"  to  th3  Vlaeck's  Kill ;"  and  thus  secured  to  the  West  In- 
dia Company  the  aboriginal  title  to  nearly  all  the  territory 
now  forming  the  county  of  Queens.     A  few  month.s  after- 
3  August,   -^vard,  the  Indian  owners  of  "  Kekesick"  appeared  at  Fort 

Acquires  '  ^  '  . 

in'^west''    Amsterdam,  and  ceded  to  the  company  aU  the  territory 
Chester,     u  ^hich  Hcs  ovcr  against  the  flats  of  the  Island  of  Man- 
hates,"  adjoining  "  the  great  kill."     This  purchase  is  sup- 
posed to  have  included  a  part  of  the  present  town  of  Yon- 
kers,  in  the  county  of  West  Chester.! 

*  IIol.  Doc,  ii.,  370,  371  ;  iii.,  98.  99;  Alb.  Rcc,  i.,  109;  O'Call.,  i.,  2C8,  229,  418; 
Winthrop,  i.,  331 ;  De  Vries,  109  :  Doc.  Ili.st.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  6. 

t  Alb.  Rec,  G.  G..  59,  02;  xxii..  8:  OTall.,  i.,  210;  ii.,  335;  Thompson's  1.  I.,  i  . 
94  ;  Bolton's  West  Chester,  ii.,  401  ,  IIol,  Uoc,  v.,  137 ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv  ,  28, 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  291 

Among  the  prominent  men  in  New  England  whose  at-  CH-vr.  ix. 
tention  was  turned  toward  New  Netherland,  was  Captain 
John  Underhill,  one  of  the  heroes  of  the  Pequod  war,  and  captam 
now  Grovernor  of  Piscataqua,  or  Dover.     Dissatisfied  with  ^eXiVpro- 
his  abode,  he  applied  to  Kieft  for  permission  to  reside  with  come  umici 
a  few  families  under  the  protection  of  the  Dutch,  provid-p^ot^,"'oM. 
^d  they  might  enjoy  all  the  privileges  of  the  inhabitants 
of  New  Netherland.     The  director  and  council  promptly  s  scpt 
granted  Underbill's  request,  upon  condition  that  "  he  and 
his  adherents  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  their  High 
Mightinesses  the  States   G-eneral,  and  his  highness  the 
Prince  of  Orange."* 

The  only  obligation  required  from  strangers  was  an  oath  obligation;" 
of  fidelity  and  allegiance,  similar  to  that  which  was  im-iegesonbr 
posed  upon  Dutch  colonists.     The  liberal  maxims  of  the  New  keth- 

errand 

Fatherland  in  regard  to  citizenship  were  adopted  and 
proclaimed  in  New  Netherland.  In  no  one  respect  were 
foreigners  subjected  to  greater  restraints  than  natives,  or 
excluded  from  any  privilege  which  Hollanders  themselves 
enjoyed.  New  Amsterdam  was  to  be  as  much  a  city  of  the 
world  as  was  old  Amsterdam ;  and  the  provincial  records 
show  how  readily  the  English  new-comers  bound  them-  September 
selves  by  oath  "to  follow  the  director,  or  any  one  of  the 
council,  wherever  they  shall  lead ;  faithfully  to  give  in- 
stant warning  of  any  treason  or  other  detriment  to  this 
country  that  shall  come  to  their  knowledge  ;  and  to  assist 
to  the  utmost  of  their  power  in  defending  and  protecting 
with  their  blood  and  treasure  the  inhabitants  thereof 
against  all  its  enemies."! 

Numerous  grants  of  land  were  soon  obtained  by  the  Grants  or 
adopted  citizens  of  New  Netherland.     Anthony  Jansen,  eigners. 
of  Saleo,   a  respectable   French  Huguenot,  entered  two 
hundred  acres  opposite  Coney  Island,  and  began  the  set- 

*  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  64.  Underhill,  however,  did  not  come  to  New  Netherland  until  1643. 
In  1642,  after  undergoing  ecclesiastical  discipline  at  Boston,  he  removed  to  Stamford  ;  and 
the  ne.xt  year  entered  the  military  service  of  the  Dutch. — See  Winthrop,  i.,  270,  291,  306, 
326  ;  ii.,  14,  63, 97  ;  and  Thompson's  L.  I.,  ii.,  353-361.  In  a  letter,  dated  the  28th  of  June, 
1638,  Underhill  gives  an  account  of  the  proceedings  of  the  "  proud  Pharisees"  against 
him,  somewhat  more  circumstantial  than  Winthrop's  statemci  "s. 

t  Alb.  Rec.  ii..  63. 


292 


HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


Chap.  IX. 

1639. 

15  Nov. 


Deutel 
Bav. 


Kieft's  do- 
mestic ad- 
ministra- 
tion. 


1  July. 


Cornells 

van  der 

lluygens 

appointed 

scliout-fis- 

cal. 


13  July. 


tlement  of  Gravesend.  Thomas  Belcher  soon  afterward 
took  up  a  tract  at "  Marechkaweick,"  in  what  is  now  Brook- 
lyn. And  George  Holmes,  the  leader  of  the  expedition 
against  Fort  Nassau  in  1635,  who  had  been  carried  back 
to  Virginia,  returning  to  Manhattan,  in  conjunction  with 
Thomas  Hall,  his  former  companion,  obtained  a  grant  of 
land,  and  built  a  house  near  "Deutel  Bay,"  a  beautiful 
secluded  nook  on  the  East  River.* 

While  every  thing  was  now  beginning  to  wear  an  air 
of  progress  and  improvement  around  Manhattan,  the  act- 
ive director  employed  himself  diligently  in  reforming  the 
colonial  administration.  Discipline  was  enforced  among 
the  soldiers,  and  the  company's  mechanics  and  laborers 
obliged  to  regulate  their  working  hours  by  the  ringing  of 
the  bell.  Jacob  van  Curler  and  David  Provoost  were  ap- 
pointed inspectors  of  the  new  staple,  tobacco.  Oloff  Ste- 
vensen  van  Cortlandt,  who  had  come  out  with  Kieft  from 
Holland  as  a  soldier  in  the  service  of  the  company,  was 
promoted  to  be  commissary  of  the  shop.  A  change  was 
also  made  in  the  office  of  schout-fiscal,  but  not  by  Kieft's 
agency.  This  important  post  was  now  conferred,  by  the 
Amsterdam  Chamber,  upon  Cornelia  van  der  Huygens. 
Van  Dincklagen,  whose  representations  had  so  materially 
contributed  to  the  changes  introduced  into  the  administra- 
tion of  New  Netherland,  was  neither  reinstated  nor  re- 
ceived into  the  company's  favor.  Upon  the  arrival  of 
Van  der  Huygens  at  Manhattan,  Ulrich  Lupoid,  who  had 
acted  as  schout-fiscal  for  three  years,  was  immediately  ap- 
pointed commissary  of  wares  by  Kieft,  who  frequently  in- 
vited his  presence  at  the  colonial  council  board.! 

*  Alb.  Rec,  i.,  116  ;  ii.,54;  O'Call.,  i,  208,  211  ;  ii.,  581  ;  Thompson's  L.  I.,  11.,  171,  218. 
Deutel  Bay  is  the  small  cove  on  the  East  River  about  two  miles  above  Corlaer's  Ilook, 
now  known  as  "  Turtle  Bay."  The  original  name,  "  Deutel,"  which  the  English  soon 
corrupted  to  "Turtle,"  signified,  according  to  Judge  Benson  (Memoir,  p.  96),  a  peg  with 
which  casks  were  "gedeutelt,"  or  secured.  As  these  pegs  were  short,  but  broad  at  the 
base,  and  as  the  bay  was  narrow  at  its  entrance  and  wide  within,  the  supposed  resem- 
blance between  it  and  the  peg  probably  suggested  the  name  of  "  Deutel." 

t  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  57,  61,83,99,  132;  O'Call.,  i.,  211,  228  ;  IIol.  Doc,  398  ;  ii.,N.Y.H.S. 
ColL,  ii.,  299,  337.  A'an  Cortlandt  left  the  company's  service  in  1648,  and  afterward  be- 
came prominent  in  colonial  affairs.  Notices  of  his  descendants,  who  form  one  of  the  most 
respectable  families  in  the  state,  may  be  found  in  O'Call.,  i.,  212  ;  and  in  Bolton's  West 
Chester,  1.,  51. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL  393 

The  emancipation  of  the  internal  trade  of  the  province,  chap  ix. 
however,  soon  began  to  produce  irregularities  ;  and  a  new 
proclamation  warned  all  persons,  of  whatever  rank  or  con-  g^  M^rcV 
dition,  against  selling  guns  or  ammunition  to  the  Indians,  t^on'^a^in',. 
A  similar  edict  prohibited  any  person  from  sailing  to  Fort  jrachng'" 
Orange,  the  South  River,  or  Fort  Hope,  without  a  permit 
from  the  director  general,  and  from  returning  without  a 
passport  from  the  company's  commissary.    But  Kieft's  in- 
discretion hurried  him  into  the  adoption  of  another  meas- 
ure, which  produced,  before  long,  the  most  disastrous  re- 
sults.    Under  the  plea  that  the  company  was  burdened 
with  heavy  expenses  for  its  fortifications  and  garrisons  in 

New  Netherland,  the  director  arbitrarily  resolved  to  "de-issept. 
-1       11     <•        •        /•  r  ^    Kieft  re- 

mand some  tribute     of  maize,  furs,  or  sewan  from  thesowesto 

Igvv  &  trilv 

neighboring  Indians,  "whom  we  thus  far  have  defended  ute  on  the 

.  .  savages. 

against  their  enemies,"  and  threatened,  in  case  of  their 
refusal,  to  employ  proper  measures  "  to  remove  their  re- 
luctance."* 

Meanwhile,  the  colonists  of  New  England  had  been  rap-  Progress  of 

•  11  •  1  r  •  />  TVT  TkT      1        1         1    English en- 

idly  narrowing  the  eastern  frontier  of  New  Netherland.  croacumem 
The  exterminating  war  against  the  Pequods  had  revealed  ticiu. 
a  territory  hitherto  unknown  to  the  English ;  and  Stoughton 
and  Underbill,  returning  in  triumph  to  Boston,  extolled  the    1637. 
beauty  of  the  fertile  coasts  between  Say  brook  and  Fairfield. 
"  The  place  whither  G-od's  providence  carried  us,  that  is, 
to  Q,uillipeage  River,  and  so  beyond  to  the  Dutch,"  wrote  h  aiv-hsj. 
Stoughton  to  Winthrop,  "is  abundantly  before"  Massachu- 
setts Bay.     "  The  Dutch  will  seize  it  if  the  English  do  not," 
he  urged,  "and  it  is  too  good  for  any  but  friends."     Just 
then  Davenport,  the  former  Non-conformist  clergyman  at 
Rotterdam,  and  Eaton  and  Hopkins,  "  two  merchants  of 
London,  men  of  fair  estate  and  of  sreat  esteem  for  reli2:ion, 
and  wisdom  in  outward  affairs,"  arrived  at  Boston,  antj 
were  besought  to  s'^.ttle  themselves  in  Massachusetts.     But 
they  could  not  be  satisfied  to  "choose  such  a  condition,"    1038. 
and   determined  to  remove   to  the  "  parts  about  Q,uilli- 
pieok."     Sailing  from  Boston,  the  English  colonists  soon  so  M^rcn, 

*  Alb.  Rec,  ii,,  46,  47,  65. 


294  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IX.  reached   the   place   which   Block   had   first   named  the 

"  Roodenberg,"  or  Red  Hills.     The  Dutch  title  was,  how- 

loJo.   ever,  disrejjarded  ;  and  Davenport,  under  the  shadow  of  a 

Colonists  '     .  ,       1    •  T      1         r  1       •  p    TV- 

sent  from   spreadinor  oak,  laid  the  foundations  of  JNew  Haven.     A 

Boston  to       ^  °  .  . 

New  Ha-    Simple  "plantation  covenant'  bound  the  colonists  to  be 


ven 


18  April.     "  ordered  by  the  rules  which  the  Scriptures  held  forth  to 
them ;"  land  was  purchased  from  the  Indian  sachems ; 
1639.  ^^^  ^^®  vigorous  settlement  tlirove  apace.     In  a  year,  its 

25  October,  population  cxccedcd  two  hundred  ;  and  Theophilus  Eaton 
was  chosen  governor  by  electors,  whose  qualification  was 
church  membership.* 

With  a  boldness  fostered  by  the  consciousness  of  supe- 
rior numbers,  English  emigrants  now  aimed  at  possessing 
"  all  the  land"  as  far  westward  as  the  Hudson  River.t 

.lune.        At  the  mouth  of  the  Housatonic,  the  village  of  Stratford 

Slratlord.  r  r        i  -n 

already  contained  more  than  fifty  houses.     Enterprising 
Norwaik.    emigrants  were  also  beginning  to  build  at  Norwalk  and 
Stamford ;  and  even  at  Greenwich  two  houses  were  al- 
Patrick  and  ready  erected.     One  of  these  was   occupied  by  Captain 
Green-       Daniel  Patrick,  "who  had  married  a  Dutch  wife  from  the 
Hague."    Patrick,  who  had  been  in  command  of  a  portion 
of  the  troops  sent  from  Massachusetts  during  the  Pequod 
war,  had  ample  opportunities  of  observing  the  country  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  Dutch.     Becoming  dissatisfied 
with  AVatertown,  he  resolved  to  seek  a  more  congenial 
home ;  and  in  company  with  Robert  Feake,  who  had  mar- 
ried the  daughter-in-law  of  Winthrop,  he  removed  to  Con- 
necticut, and  commenced  the  settlement  of  Greenwich.t 
Fort  at  At  the  mouth  of  the  Connecticut  "  a  strong  fort"  was 

now  completed  by  Gardiner,  the  governor  of  Saybrook. 
Prowth  of  Hartford  was  already  a  little  town,  with  over  one  hundred 

Jtartford.  i  i        -^^         i      i 

houses  and  a  fine  church.  The  Dutch,  however,  contin- 
ued in  possession  of  the  flat  lands  around  "  the  Hope," 
where  Gysbert  op  Dyck  was  now  commissary,  with  a  gar- 

*  Winthrop,  i.,  228,  400,  405 ;  Hutch.  Coll.,  62  ;  Trumbull,  i.,  96-99,  104  ;  ante,  p.  56 
De  Vries,  149,  says,  that  on  the  6th  of  June,  1039,  he  anchored  over  night  at  New  Haven, 
■where  ho  found  "  about  three  hundred  houses  built,  and  a  handsome  church." 

*  Mather's  Magnalia,  i.,  6. 

T  De  Vries,  151  ;  Winthrop,  i.,  69, 74  ;  ii.,  151 ;  Trumbull,  i.,  118  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  29S.  The 
maiden  name  of  Captain  Patrick's  wife  was  Annetje  van  Beyeren. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  295 

rison  of  fourteen  or  fifteen  soldiers.     At  their  first  coming,  chap.  ix. 
the  Enijliah  conducted  themselves  discreetly  ;  but  increas- 
ing  in  numbers,  they  boldly  began  to  plow  up  the  re-^gg^^^.  " 
served  lands  around  the  Dutch  redoubt.     Op  Dyck  en- jj""^^^,^" j"'" 
deavored  to  resist;  but  the  English  cudgeled  some  of  the  i"®"'"'^' 
garrison   who   attempted  to   stop  their  proceedings,  and 
Haynes,  the  newly-elected  governor  of  Connecticut,  justi- 
fied his  countrymen.     The  Dutch,  he  said,  had  been  many  9  June. 
years  in  possession,  and  had  done  nothing  to  improve  the 
land,  which  "was  lying  idle"  around  their  house.     "It  Grounds  of 
would  be  a  sin  to  leave  uncultivated  so  valuable  a  land,  justiiica- 
which  could  produce   such  excellent  corn."     Thus   the 
Hartford  people  vindicated  their  conduct.     They  "  gave 
out  that  they  were  Israelites,  and  that  the  Dutch  in  New 
Netherland,  and   the    English   in  Virginia,  were    Egyp- 
tians."* 

The  next  year  witnessed  still  bolder  aggression.     The   1640. 
right  of  the  Dutch  to  any  of  the  land  around  their  little  ^^gre^** 
fort  was  openly  denied.     In  vain  Commissary  Op  DyckjJanford. 
pleaded  Dutch  discovery  before  English  knowledge  of  the 
river,  and  Dutch  possession  under  a  title  from  the  Indian 
owners,  anterior    to    English   purchase    and    settlement. 
"Show  your  right,"  said  Hop'kins,  who  had  succeeded 23 April 
Haynes  as  governor,  "  and  we  are  ready  to  exhibit  ours." 
Evert  Duyckingk,  one  of  the  garrison,  while  sowing  grain, 
was  struck  "  a  hole  in  his  head  with  a  sticke,  soe  that  the  25  April. 
blood  ran  downe  very  strongly."     Ingenuity  was  taxed  to 
devise  modes  of  worrying  the  Hollanders ;  and  to  fortify  the 
English  claim  oftitle,  Sequasson,  the  son  of  the  sachem  who 
had  assented  to  Van  Curler's  original  purchase,  was  brought  12  Juiy 
into  court,  to  testify  "  that  he  never  sold  any  ground  to  the 
Dutch,  neither  was  at  any  time  conquered  by  the  Pequods, 
nor  paid  any  tribute  to  them."     Kieft's  repeated  protests 
brought  no  alleviation  of  annoyance  ;  for  no  re-enforce- 
ments came  from  Manhattan  to  vindicate  the  rights  of  the 
"West  India  Company.     Disgusted  with  a  post  where  he 
was  so  constantly  insulted.  Op  Dyck  resigned  his  office,  25  octoi.cr. 

•  De  Vries,  149,  150,  151  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  11.  S.  Coll.,  iii.,  p.  85-88  ;  ante,  p.  261,  note. 


296  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ckap.  IX.  and  Jan  Hendricksen  Roesen  succeeded  him  as  cummis- 
sary  at  the  Hope.* 

The  progress  of  English  encroachment  along  the  shores 
of  the  Sound  naturally  awakened  the  anxiety  of  the  New 
Netherland  government.     Excepting  Bronck  and  his  les- 
sees, there  were  as  yet  scarcely  any  Dutch  colonists  east 
19  April,    of  the  Haerlem  River.     In  order  to  "  maintain  the  char- 
chaser"the  tcr  aud  privileges"  of  the  West  India  Company,  Kieft  dis- 
tween  Nor-  patched  Secretary  Van  Tienhoven,  early  in  the  spring  of 
the  North    1640,  with  iustructions  to  purchase  the  "Archipelago,"  or 
group  of  islands  at  the  mouth  of  the  Norwalk  River,  to- 
gether with  all  the  adjoining  territory  on  the  main  land, 
"  and  to  erect  thereon  the  standard  and  arms  of  the  High 
and  Mighty  Lords  States  General ;  to  take  the  savages 
under  our  protection  ;  and  to  prevent  effectually  any  other 
nation  encroaching  on  our  limits."     These  directions  were 
executed ;  and  the  "West  India  Company  thus  obtained  the 
Indian  title  to  all  the  lands  between  Norwalk  and  the 
North  River,  comprehending  much  of  the  present  county 
of  West  Chester.! 

Patrick  and  Feake,  who  had  been  quietly  settled  for 
?« April,    some  time  at  Petuquapaen,  or  Greenwich,  now  purchased, 
from  one  of  the  neighboring  sachems,  his  title  to  that  re- 
gion.    Kieft,  however,  who  had  already  secured  a  formal 
15  October,  cession  from  the  savages,  soon  afterward  protested  against 
PatnciTand  Patrick's  intrusiou,  and  warned  him  and  his  associates 
submit  °    that  they  would  be  ejected,  unless  they  recognized  the 
t^emsc  \es  g^^gyg^gj^^y  ^f  ^]^g  Dutch.     But  Patrick,  though  he  imme- 
diately declared  that  he  would  do  nothing  "that  should 
be  in  the  least  against  the  rights  of  the  States  General," 
continued  in  adverse   possession  at   Greenwich  for  two 
years  longer,  before  he  formally  acknowledged  the  juris- 
diction of  the  authorities  of  New  Netherland.t 


*  IIoI.  Doc.,  ix.,  192-19T ;  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  104  ;  Hazard,  ii.,  263,  264  ;  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Co.':  , 
i.,  272,  273  ;  Col.  Rec.  Conn.,  51,  52  ;  ante,  p.  235,  note. 

t  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  78,  147 ;  De  Laet,  viii. ;  Hazard,  ii.,  213  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  215  ;  Bolton'i 
West  Chester,  i.,  120,  283  ;  ii.,  16,  145. 

t  Hoi.  Doc,  ix.,  198,  204  ;  Hazard,  ii.,  264,  265  ;  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  274,  275  ;  O'CaU., 
i.,  218,  252  ;  Trumbull,  i.,  118. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  297 

Up  to  this  time,  the  Dutch  settlements  on  Long  Island  chap.  ix. 
had  been  confined  to  the  neighborhood  of  the  present  city 
of  Brooklyn,     By  purchases  from  the  Indians,  the  West^^tentof 
India  Company  had  already  become  the  proprietary  of  ■uri^'j'ctJon 
Mcspath,  or  Newtown,  and  of  the  regions  eastward  as  far  iJiand.""^ 
as  Cow  Bay,  and  southward  to  the  Atlantic  coast.     Kieft 
now  bought  from  "the  great  chief  Penhawitz,"  the  head  loMay. 
of  the  tribe  of  Canarsee  Indians,  who  claimed  the  territo- 
ry forming  the  present  county  of  Kings,  and  a  part  of  the 
town  of  Jamaica,  his  hereditary  rights  to  lands  on  Long 
Island.     Thus  all  the  Indian  title  to  that  part  of  the  isl- 
and westward  of  Oyster  Bay,  comprehending  the  present 
counties  of  Kings   and   Queens,  became  vested,  by  pur- 
chase, in  the  West  India  Company.     The  territory  east 
of  Oyster  Bay,  now  forming  the  county  of  Suffolk,  how- 
ever, remained  in  the  hands  of  its  aboriginal  lords.     But 
the  Dutch,  who  were  the  first  Europeans  that  occupied 
any  part  of  Long  Island,  always  considered  it  the  "crown 
of  New  Netherland,"  whence  they  obtained  their  supplies 
of  wampum  ;  and  the  possession  which  they  had  formally 
asserted,  by  affixing  to  a  tree  the  arms  of  the  States  Gren- 
eral,  they  were  determined  to  maintain.* 

A  new  encroachment  now  threatened  this  "  crown"  it- 
self.    Under  his  grant  from  the  council  of  Plymouth  in 
1635,  Loi-d  Stirling  soon  afterward  gave  a  power  of  attorn-   1637 
ey  to  James  Farrett,  to  dispose  of  any  part  of  his  prop-  5o  ^i^"^'' 
erty  upon  Long  Island  or  its  neighborhood.     Farrett  ac- James  Fir 

,.,  ••iTiT  -nil  11-  ic       ''^"  coin  s 

cordmgly  visited  New  Lngland;  and,  having  selected  fortoNcwE.i 
his  own  private  use  Shelter  Island  and  Robins'  Island,  in  Lord  stir- 

.  .  .  ling's 

Peconick  Bay,  extinguished  the  Indian  title  by  a  formal  agent, 
purchase.t     Previously  to  Farrett's  arrival,  however,  Lion 
Gardiner,  the  commandant  at  Say  brook,  had  purchased  of    1639. 
"  the  ancient  inhabitants"  the  island  near  Montauk  Point,  nerVr-"^  ' 
"  called  by  the  Indians  Manchonack  ;  by  the  English,  the  diner's  i si* 
Isle  of  Wight."     This  valuable  purchase  was  soon  after- 

*  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  83  ;  Thompson's  L.  I.,  i., 93  ;  O'Call.,  i ,  215 ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  275. 
+  Hartford  Records,  Towns  and  Lands,  1.,  5  ;  Southampton  Rec.  ;  Thompson's  L.  L, 
I.,  364,  3PT  ;  Winthroo,  i.,  231  ;  anle,  p.  259. 


298  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IX.  Ward  Confirmed  by  Farrett,  who,  in  the  name  of  Lord 
Stirling,  granted  to  Gardiner  and  his  heirs  the  full  posses- 
10  M^ch    ^^^^  o^  ^^®  island,  and  the  power  "  to  make,  execute,  and 
put  in  practice  such  laws  for  church  and  civil  government 
as  are  according  to  God,  the  king's,  and  the  practice  of 
the  country."     Gardiner  immediately  removed  from  Say- 
brook,  and  fixed  his  residence  on  the  island,  which  has 
1641.  since  been  known  by  his  name.    The  next  year  his  daugh- 
14 Sept.     ^^^  Elizabeth  was  born  at  "Gardiner's  Island  ;"  and  thus 
was  commenced  the  fijrst  permanent  English  settlement 
within  the  present  limits  of  the  State  of  New  York.* 
Had  Lord  Stirling's  agent  limited  his  grants  to  the  east- 
1  pt A    ern  portion  of  Long  Island,  no  difficulties  would  probably 
IT  April,     have  occurred  with  the  Dutch.     A  month  after  the  con- 
thorizes     firmation  of  Gardiner's  purchase,  however,  Farrett,  on  be- 
peopieto    half  of  Lord  Stirling,  made  an  agreement  with  Lieuten- 
seives  on    ant  Daniel  Howe,  Edward  Howell,  Job  Sayre,  and  other 
and."        inhabitants   of  Lynn,  in  Massachusetts,  by   which  they 
were  authorized  to  settle  themselves  upon  any  lands  on 
Long  Island  that  they  might  purchase  from  the  native 
Indians.     Soon  afterward,  Farrett  visited  Manhattan  in 
person ;  and,  in  the  name  of  Lord   Stirling,  boldly  laid 
Farrett  ar-  claim  to  the  whole  of  Long  Island.     But  he  was  instant- 
Manhattan,  ly  arrested  by  Kieft,  by  whom  "his  pretension  was  not 
much  regarded ;  and  so  he  departed  without  accomplish- 
ing any  thing,  having  influenced  only  a  few  simple  peo- 
ple."! 
May.  The  Lvnn  emigrants  arriving  at  Manhassett,  at  the 

The  Lynn  -^  ,.  •.      ,        ta    7  i  ^     i 

emigrants  j^ead  of  Cow  Bay,  found  the  Dutch  arms  erected  upon  a 
"ay-  tree ;  and  Howe,  the  leader  of  the  expedition,  pulled  them 
10  May.  down.  But  the  Sachem  Penhawitz,  who  had  just  before 
ceded  all  his  rights  to  the  Dutch,  promptly  informed  Kieft 
that  some  "foreign  strollers"  had  arrived  at  Schout's  Bay, 
where  they  were  felling  trees  and  building  houses,  and 
"  had  even  hewn  down  the  arms  of  their  High  Mighti- 

*  Thompson's  Long  Island,  i.,  305,  306  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  i.,  685.  Mr.  Thompson  gives 
the  date  of  the  confirmation  as  the  10th  of  March,  1639  ;  but  as  the  English  then  used  the 
old  style,  it  was  actually  in  1640,  according  to  our  present  system  of  reckoning. 

t  Thompson's  L.  I.,  i.,  326  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  275. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  299 

nesses."     Commissary  Van  Curler  was  sent  to  ascertain  chap,  ix 
tlie  facts ;  and  the  sachem's  story  was  found  to  be  true. 
The  arms  of  the  States  G-eneral  had  been  torn  down,  and 
in  their  place  had  been  drawn  "an  unhandsome  face." 

Kieft's  "high  displeasure"  was  instantly  aroused;  and  14 May. 
Van   Tienhoven,  the  provmcial  secretary,  was   promptly  iioven  sein 
dispatched  with  the  vinder-schout,  a  sergeant,  and  twenty  tiw  intra  1- 
men,  to  break  up  the  settlement,  arrest  the  trespassers, 
and  bring  them  to  Fort  Amsterdam.     It  was  a  whole  day 
before  the  expedition  reached  the  Schout's  Bay.     When  15  May. 
Van  Tienhoven    arrived    at  the   English   settlement,  he 
found  one  house  already  built,  another  in  progress,  and 
"  eight  men,  one  woman,  and  a  babe  ;"  for  Howe  and  the 
rest  of  his  party,  anticipating  the  danger  which  threaten- 
ed them,  had  already  prudently  retired.     The  trespassers  The  En- 
stated  that  they  had  been  authorized  to  settle  themselves  passers 
there  by  "  a  Scotchman  named  Farrett,  the  agent  of  Lord  Manhattan 
Stirling,"  who  had  left  for  New  Haven,  after  the  Dutch 
arms  had  been  thrown  down.     Sayre  and  five  more  of  the 
party  were  immediately  arrested  and  conveyed  to  Fort 
Amsterdam,  where  they  were  examined  by  the  director  le  May. 
and  council.     Satisfied  that  they  had  been  instigated  by 
others,  Kieft  liberated  them  from  arrest,  three  days  after- 19  May. 
ward,  upon  their  signing  an  agreement  to  "  leave  the  ter- 
ritory of  their  High  Mightinesses." 

Thus  ended  the  attempt  to  plant  an  English  colony 
within  the  present  county  of  Q,ueens.     Kieft  immediately  Kieft 

writes  to 

addressed  a  letter,  '^  in  Latin,"  to  Governor  Dudley  at  Governor 
Boston,  complaining  of  "  the  English  usurpations,"  both  Boston, 
at  Connecticut  and  on  Long  Island,  and  of  the  insult  of- 
fered to  the  Dutch  arms  at  Schout's  Bay  by  the  Lynn 
trespassers.     Dudley  returned  an  answer,  also  in  Latin,  Dudiey-s 
professing  the  desire  to  maintain  a  neighborly  correspond- 
ence ;  and  that  as  to  the  Connecticut  people,  "  they  were 
not  under  our  government,  and  for  those  at  Long  Island, 
they  went  voluntarily  from  us."* 

*  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  83-93 ;  Hazard,  ii.,  213,  264  ;  Winthrop,  ii.,  6,  7  ;  Lechford,  44  ;  O'Cal!., 
!.,  216;  Thompson,  ii.,  52;  Wood,  9;  Vertoogh  van  N.  N.,  ut  sup.,  275;  Trumbull,  i., 


300  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

cuAP.  IX.       The  ejection  of  the  trespassers  from  Manhassett  led, 
however,  to  the  immediate  settlement  of  the  town  of  South- 
settiement  ampton,  within  the  present  county  of  Suffolk.     Finding 
aiiSn*!"    that  the  New  Netherland  authorities,  while  they  utterly 
derided   Lord   Stirling's  claim,  were   chiefly   anxious  to 
maintain  their  possession  of  the  western  extremity   of 
Long  Island,  Farrett  now  determined  to  gain  a  permanent 
foothold  at  the  east,  near  Lion  Grardiner's  settlement.    He 
2-f  June     therefore  released  to  Howe,  Sayre,  and  Howell,  and  their 
associates,  "  all  patent  right  of  all  those  lands  lying  and 
being  bounded  between  Peaconeck  and  the  easternmost 
point  of  Long  Island,  with  the  whole  breadth  of  the  said 
island  from  sea  to  sea."     The  consideration  stated  by  Far- 
rett was  "barge  hire,  besides  they  being  drove  off  by  the 
Dutch  from  the  place  where  they  were  by  me  planted," 
and  a  sum  of  money,  "  all  amounting  unto  four  hundred 
pounds  sterling."*     Under  this  release,  Howe  and  his  as- 
sociates came  to  Southampton,  and  obtained  a  conveyance 
13  Dec.      of  the  Indian  title  in  the  following  winter.     The  new  plant- 
ation extended  eastward  from  Canoe  Place,  on  Shinnecoek 
Bay,  nearly  to  Sag  Harbor,  opposite  Shelter  Island,  "com- 
1641.  monly  known  by  the  name  of  Mr.  Farrett's  Island."     The 
e  April.      ^^^^  town  meeting  was  held  early  the  next  spring  ;  and 
regular  records  were  then  commenced,  "which  exist  in  good 
preservation.! 
1640.       The  adjoining  town  of  Southold,  on  the  north  side  of 
coion'lze'd    Pccouick  Bay,  was  settled  nearly  at  the  same  time.     Its 
jurildi'c-^   first  colonists  were  natives  of  England,  who  accompanied 
New°Ha-    their  minister,  John  Youngs,  from  Hingham,  in  Norfolk, 
and  first  came  to  New  Haven.     From  there  they  crossed 
over  to  "Yennecock,"  near  G-reenport,  and  secured  the 
Indian  title  to  the  land.     The  conveyance  was  taken  in 
the  name  of  New  Haven,  which  for  some  years  exer- 
cised a  limited  control  over  the  settlement.     A  church 

119,  122.  Savage,  in  a  note  on  Winthrop,  ii.,  p.  5,  justly  remarks  that  Trumbull's  ac- 
count is  "  not  very  satisfactory ;"  and  adds,  "  tlie  right  appears  to  me  to  have  been  on  the 
side  of  the  Dutch." 

*  Lond.  Doc,  i.,  60,  63  ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  21,  22 ;  App.,  note  N. 

Y  Southampton  Rec. ;  Thompson's  L.  I.,  i.,  326-328.  In  1644,  Southampton  becam« 
"  associated  and  joined"  to  the  jurisdiction  of  Connecticut.— Col.  Rec.  Conn.,  112,  566. 


ven 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  30} 

was  "  gathered  anew ;"  and  the  English  colonists  at  South-  chap.  ix 
old,  like  their  neighbors  at  Southampton,  quietly  pursued  ~7~~ 
their  own  way,  without  any  opposition  from  the  govern-  21  October 
ment  at  Fort  Amsterdam.* 

Though  an  air  of  progress  and  improvement  was  al- Tardy  agri- 

•  1  -111  ir-TiTi  1  cultural 

ready  manliest  in   the   neighborhood  of  Manhattan   andcoioniza- 
tort  Orange,  the  unadjusted  dirhculties  between  the  com-  Nether- 

11  1-111  •  CI  land. 

pany  and  the  patroons  hindered  the  prosperity  of  the  rest 
of  New  Netherland.  Even  the  plantation  which  De  Vries 
had  established  at  Staten  Island  languished  for  want  of 
proper  colonists,  for  whom  he  had  depended  upon  his  part- 
ners at  Amsterdam ;  and  finding  "  a  beautiful  situation" 
of  full  sixty  acres  of  natural  meadow-land  on  the  river  10  Feb. 
side,  about  five  miles  above  Fort  Amsterdam,  he  went 
there  to  live,  partly  "  for  the  pleasure  of  it,"  and  partly  as 
there  was  hay  enough  for  two  hundred  head  of  cattle, 
"which  was  a  great  article  there."  Well,  however,  as 
the  patroon  was  acquainted  with  the  southern  and  eastern 
coasts  of  New  Netherland,  he  had  never  yet  gone  up  the 
North  River.     His  enterprising  nature  now  led  him  to  voyage  of 

^  ° .  De  Vries 

visit  Fort  Orange,  to  "see  the  country  there;"  and  his  to  Fort  or- 
circumstantial  Journal — the  only  known  narrative  of  any 
Dutch  navigator,  except  those  given  by  De  Laet  and  Pur- 
chas — ^has  left  us  an  interesting  record  of  the  North  River 
in  the  year  1640. 

Sailing  from  Fort  Amsterdam  in  his  own  sloop,  De  Vries  is  April. 
arrived  in  the  evening  at  "  Tapaen,"  where  he  found  aTappan. 
beautiful  valley  under  the  mountains,  of  about  five  hund- 
red acres  in  extent,  and  through  which  ran  a  fine  stream, 
offering  attractive  mill-seats.  Delighted  with  the  spot, 
which,  moreover,  -was  so  near  Fort  Amsterdam,  he  pur- 
chased it  from  the  Indians.  From  Tappan  he  crossed  over 
to  Weckquaesgeek,t  where  he  observed  the  beautiful  un-quaesgtu-. 

*  Trumbull,  i.,  119  ;  Thompson,  i.,  374,  391. 

t  Van  Tienhoven,  in  1650,  described  this  region,  which  is  now  the  town  of  Green- 
burg,  in  West  Chester  county,  as  a  fine  land  for  cultivation,  and  well  watered.  "It  is 
situated  between  two  streams  called  Sintsinck  and  Armonck."— llol.  Doc,  v.,  134.  Bol- 
ton supposes  these  streams  to  be,  the  one  which  runs  through  Sing  Sing,  and  the  Byram 
River.  This  region  is  even  now  remarkable  for  its  deciduous  trees,  as  well  as  for 
nany  of  that  most  beautiful  of  all  evergreens,  the  American  hendock. 


302  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IX.  (lulating  couiitry  full  of  evergreens,  whence  the  ship-build- 
ers   at  Manhattan  were   accustomed  "to  procure   green 

•26  April.  "While  passing  Haverstraw,  a  creek  was  noticed,  where 
straw.       there  was  a  waterfall,  which  "  made  such  a  noise  that  it 

could  be  heard  from  the  river."  At  noon  the  sloop  entered 
The  High-  the  majestic  Highlands,   "  which   are   prodigiously  high 

stony  mountains,"  where  the  river,  at  its  narrowmost,  was 

"  not  over  five  or  six  hundred  paces  wide."  About  sun- 
Dans-ka-    set,  reaching  the  "  Dans-kamer,"  where  there  was  a  party 

of  riotous  savages,  who  only  threatened  trouble,  the  sloop's 

company  "  stood  well  on  their  guard."* 

27  April.         The  next  day  they  came  to  the  "  Esoopes,"  where  "  a 

creek  emptied,  and  the  Indians  had  some  cleared  corn- 
catskiii.  land."  In  the  evening  they  reached  "  the  Catskill," 
where  there  was  some  open  land,  upon  which  the  Indians 
were  planting  corn.  Up  to  this  place  the  river  banks  were 
"  all  stony  and  hilly,"  and  were  judged  to  be  "  unfit  for 

28  April,     dwellinofs."     At  the  "  Beeren  Island"  many  Indians  were 

ijeeren  Isl- 

and.  found  fishing,  and  the  beautiful  meadows  which  skirted 

the  river's  banks  were  noticed  as  very  "  good  for  cultiva- 

Brandt      tiou."     Toward  evening  the  sloop  arrived  at  Brandt  Peel- 

Peelen's  . 

Island.  en's,  or  Castle  Island,  "  which  lies  a  little  below  Fort  Or- 
ange." Inviting  De  Vries  to  his  house,  Peelen  astonished 
his  guest  by  telling  him  that,  for  ten  successive  years,  he 
had  raised  beautiful  wheat  there  without  ever  summer- 
fallowing  the  land.t 
30  April.  While  De  Vries  was  enjoying  Peelen's  hospitality,  a  sud- 
ireshet.  dcu  frcshct  iuuiidated  the  island,  which  was  ordinarily 
seven  or  eight  feet  above  the  tides.  The  flood  lasted  three 
days,  during  which  the  colonists  were  obliged  to  desert 
their  houses  and  betake  themselves  to  the  woods,  where 

*  The  "  Dans-kamer"  is  a  point  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  above  Newburg,  which 
still  retains  the  name  that  the  Dutch  gave  it  before  1640.    It  means  "  Dance  Chamber." 

t  De  Vries,  151-153.  This  statement  is  confirmed  by  Megapolensis,  in  his  Tract  upon 
the  Mohawk  Indians,  Hazard,  i.,  519 ;  and  by  Van  der  Donck,  in  his  Description  of  N.  N., 
p.  27 ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  159,  who  says,  "  I  had  the  land  adjoining  this  same  farm, 
and  have  seen  the  eleventh  crop,  which  was  tolerably  good.  The  name  of  the  man  who 
did  this  was  Brandt  Peelen,  a  native  of  the  province  of  Utrecht,  and  at  that  time  a  schepen 
in  the  colonic  of  Rensselaerswyck." 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  303 

tliey  '•  pitched  tents  and  kindled  great  fires."     The  waters  chap.  ix. 
even  ran  into  Fort  Orange,     This  freshet  was  probahly  the  ~~ 
highest  that  had  occurred  on  the  North  River  since  the 
great  flood,  wliich    in  1617  swept  away  the   first   Fort 
Nassau. 

The  experience  which  De  Vries  had  stained  as  a  pa- Proin-ietoM 

,  of  Rensse* 

troon  of  Swaanondael  did  not  incline  him  to  look  very  laerswyck. 
favorably  upon  the  proprietors  of  Rensselaerswyck  ;  who, 
"being  commissaries  of  New  Netherland,"  had  taken  good 
care  of  themselves,  while  the  "naked  fort"  Orange  was  the 
West  India  Company's  sole  possession.  The  patroons  had 
all  "  the  farms  around,  and  the  traffic,  and  every  peasant 
was  a  trader." 

Yet  the  colonists  lived  amid  nature's  richest  profusion.  Abundant 
In  the  forests,  by  the  water-side,  and  on  the  islands,  grew  products  of 
a  rank  abundance  of  nuts  and  plums ;  the  hills  were  cov- 
ered with  thickets  of  blackberries  ;  on  the  flat  lands,  near 
the  rivers,  wild  strawberries  came  up  so  plentifully,  that 
the  people  went  there  to  "lie  down  and  eat  them."  Vines 
covered  with  grapes,  "  as  good  and  sweet  as  in  Holland," 
clambered  over  the  loftiest  trees.  Deer  abounded  in  the 
forests,  in  harvest-time  and  autumn,  "  as  fat  as  any  Hol- 
land deer  can  be."  Enormous  wild  turkeys,  and  myriads 
of  partridges,  pheasants,  and  pigeons,  roosted  in  the  neigh- 
boring woods.  Sometimes  the  turkeys  and  deer  came 
down  to  the  houses  and  hog-pens  of  the  colonists  to  feed  ; 
and  a  stag  was  frequently  sold  by  the  Indians  for  "a  loaf 
of  bread,  or  a  knife,  or  even  for  a  tobacco-pipe."  The  riv- 
er produced  the  finest  fish;  and  there  was  a  "great  plenty 
of  sturgeon,"  which  at  that  time  the  "  Christians  did  not 
make  use  of,  but  the  Indians  eat  them  greedily."  Flax 
and  hemp  grew  spontaneously ;  peltries  and  hides  were 
brought  in  great  quantities  by  the  savages,  and  sold  for 
trifles ;  "  the  land  was  very  well  provisioned  with  all  the 
necessaries  of  life."  European  manufactured  goods,  cloths, 
woolens,  and  linens  were  alone  scarce  and  dear.* 

The  colonic  of  Rensselaerswyck  was  the  only  successful  popmatlon. 

•  Dc  Vrics,  152,  153  ;  Hazard,  i.,  517-519;  ii.,  N,  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  iii.,  p.  91,  149,  151. 


304        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IX.  patroonsliip  under  the  charter  of  1629 ;  and  the  marvel- 
ous  crops  of  corn  which  Peelen  raised  on  his  fertile  island 
were  for  many  years  the  wonder  of  New  Netherland.    Con- 
stant emigration  from  Holland  rapidly  increased  its  popu- 
lation; and  comfortahle  farm-houses,  many  of  them  built 
Devers-      at  the  patroou's  expense,  arose  at  various  points.     Bevers- 
'*^'^  ■       wyck  was  already  a  village.     Had  the  colonists  contented 
themselves  with  agriculture,  instead  of  seeking  to  become 
traders  as  well,  the  prosperity  of  the  frontier  settlement  of 
the  province  would  have  been  assured. 
jurisdic         Arendt  van  Curler  continued  to  act  as  the  commissary 
pa"roons.^  of  tlic  colonic  and  the  representative  of  the  patroon.     His 
jurisdiction  included  all  the  territory  on  both  sides  of  the 
North  River,  between  Beeren  Island  and  the  mouth  of  the 
Fort  Or-     Mohawk,  except  the  precinct  of  Fort  Orange.     This  post, 
which  was  the  property  of  the  West  India  Company  when 
the  first  purchases  in  its  neighborhood  were  made  by  Van 
Rensselaer,  was  always  occupied  by  a  small  garrison,  com- 
manded by  officers  under  the  immediate  direction  of  the 
provincial  authorities  at  Manhattan.* 
Judicial  Accordiug  to  the  Charter  of  Privileges,  the  patroon  was 

the  pa-  invested  with  the  "chief  command  and  lower  jurisdiction" 
within  his  colonic.  In  person,  or  by  deputy,  he  might  ad- 
minister justice,  and  pronounce  and  execute  sentences  for 
all  degrees  of  crime.  He  had  the  power  of  life  and  death. 
He  could  decide  civil  suits.  The  right  of  appeal  to  the 
director  and  council  at  Manhattan  was,  indeed,  nominally 
reserved  to  the  colonists  ;  but  the  right  was  virtually  an- 
nulled by  the  obligation  under  which  all  the  colonists  upon 
Colonial  ju-  the  manor  werc  obliged  to  come,  not  to  appeal  from  the  judg- 
dence  and  mcuts  of  tlic  manorial  tribunals.     The  civil  law,  the  ordi- 

govern- 

ment.  uauccs  of  the  Province  of  Holland  and  of  the  United  Neth- 
erlands," and  the  edicts  of  the  West  India  Company,  and 
of  the  director  and  council  at  Manhattan,  were  the  legal 
code  of  New  Netherland.     The  same  code  obtained  when 

*  Kr.  Barnard,  in  his  sketch  (p.  127),  affirms  that  the  Company  "  did  not  own  a  foot 
of  land  within  the  colony  ;"  and  that  "the  soil  on  which  Fort  Orange  stood  was  included 
in  the  purchase  made  by  the  patroon."  These  statements,  however,  do  noi  agree  with 
the  evidence  in  our  colonial  records  ;  see  post,  p.  521 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  gOg 

duly  published  within  the  colonic  ;   and  the  colonists,  in  chap.  ix. 
addition,  were  subjected  to  such  laws  and  regulations  as       ; 
the  patroon  or  his  local  officers  might  establish.     Theoret- 
ically, the  patroon  was  always  present  in  his  court  baron. 
Practically,  the  government  of  the  colony  was  adminis- 
tered by  a  court  composed  of  two  commissaries  and  two 
schepens,  assisted  by  the  colonial  secretary  and  the  schout. 
The  laws  and  customs  of  the  colonic  partook  largely  of  the  Feudal 
tipirit  of  feudalism.     The  terms  of  the  leases  under  which  manorial 
the  farms  were  held  required  a  return  of  all  produce  ;  and  nons. 
of  this  produce  the  patroon  had  the  pre-emptive  right. 
An  annual  ground-rent  was  levied  on  each  house  erected. 
When  property  changed  hands,  the  patroon  was  privileged 
to  have  the  first  offer  ;  and  if  he  declined  to  purchase,  he 
was  entitled  to  a  certain  proportion  of  the  consideration 
money  received.     He  was  the  legal  heir  of  all  intestates. 
Without  his  leave,  none   could  fish  or  hunt  within  the 
manor.     At  the  patroon's  mills  alone  could  the  colonists 
grind  their  corn. 

The  greater  part  of  the  colonists  were  farmers  and  their  condition 
servants,  who  had  been  sent  out  from  Holland  at  the  pa-  nists. 
troon's  expense.     For  these  farmers  lands  were  set  apart, 
houses  erected,  and  stock  and  agricultural  implements  pro- 
vided.    Besides  these  substantial  encouragements,  small 
advances  of  money  and  supplies  of  clothing  were  frequent- 
ly  furnished  to   the   emigrant  on  his  leaving  Holland. 
These  advances  the  colonist  was  to  repay  after  his  arrival 
with  a  large  interest.     The  capital  of  the  patroon  was  free- 
ly and  liberally  expended ;  and  the  emigrant  began  his 
frontier  toil  with  more  ample  resources  and  with  greater 
facilities  than  the  first  tenants  of  a  wilderness  generally 
enjoy.     Yet  the  scheme  of  feudal  colonization  was  not  a 
happy  one,  either  for  emigrant  or  patroon.     Apart  from  Results  of 
the  political  evils  which  it  entailed,  it  necessarily  intro-  at  liensse- 
duced  a  system  of  accounts  which  encouraged  deceit  and 
tempted  to  dishonesty.    The  payments  of  the  colonists  be- 
gan to  fall  in  arrear ;  the  patroon's  revenue  suffered ;  and 
he  felt  himself  obliged,  before  long,  to  instruct  his  colonial 

U 


306 


HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


Chap.  IX. 


1640. 


De  Vries 
visits  the 
Cohooes. 


The  Mo- 
hawk In- 
dians. 


14  May. 
Vc  Vries 
returns  to 
Manhattan 


15  Max 


ofRcers  that  there  was  "  no  latitude  to  be  given  to  the 
consciences  or  discretion  of  the  boors,  but  the  law  to  be 
stringently  enforced."* 

Anxious  to  see  the  interior  of  the  country,  De  Vries 
went  through  the  forests  with  several  Indians  to  visit  the 
Mohawk.  The  Falls  of  the  Cohooes  seemed  to  him  "  as 
high  as  a  church  ;"t  the  waters,  as  they  ran  over,  were 
"  as  clear  as  crystal,  and  as  fresh  as  milk."  Within  the 
sound  of  their  roar  lived  "  Broer  Cornells, "t  at  that  time 
the  frontier  colonist  of  New  Netherland.  The  Mohawks 
were  noticed  as  a  brave  people,  who  had  "  brought  the 
other  tribes  under  contribution."  They  had  enormous  ca- 
noes, hollowed  out  of  trees,  and  easily  conveying  eighteen 
or  twenty  men.  Their  arms  were  bows  and  arrows,  and 
stone  axes  and  hammers,  until  they  got  guns  from  the 
Dutch.  "  But  he  was  a  rascal  who  first  sold  them,  and 
showed  their  use  ;  for  they  said  that  it  was  the  Devil,  and 
did  not  dare  to  touch  them.  There  used  to  be  but  one  In- 
dian who  went  about  with  a  gun,  whom  they  called  Kal- 
lebacker."s^ 

After  a  six  weeks'  sojourn,  De  Vries  took  leave  of  the 
commander  at  Fort  Orange,  and  sailing  rapidly  down  the 
river,  anchored,  in  the  evening,  at  Esopu^,  "where  a  creek 
empties,  and  there  is  some  corn  land  where  some  Indians 
live. "II  Setting  sail  at  dawn  of  the  next  day,  he  observed 
at  the  Dans-kamer  "  many  Indians  a  fishing ;"  and  pass- 
ing onward  through  the  Highlands  without  any  adven- 


*  Hoi.  Doc,  v.,  364,  380,  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  330,  331  ;  Renss.  MSS. ;  O'Call.,  i  , 
320-326,  442  ;  Moulton,  391  ;  Barnard's  Sketch,  11&-121. 

t  With  less  accuracy  than  De  Vries,  Van  der  Donck  several  years  afterward  "  guess- 
ed" these  falls  to  be  one  hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred  feet  hi^h. — Btsch.  van  N.  N., 
p.  9.  Megapofensis  (Hazard,  i.,  519),  on  the  other  hand,  exactly  coincides  with  De  Vries. 
There  is  a  remarkable  similarity — almost  an  identity — in  parts  of  the  descriptions  by 
these  two  writers.  Megapolensis's  tract  was  written  in  1644,  and  published  in  1651. 
As  De  Vries  did  not  print  his  journal  until  1655,  several  years  after  his  return  to  Holland, 
1  think  it  very  probable  that  he  adopted  much  of  Megapolensis's  work,  in  regard  to  affairs 
at  Fort  Orange,  in  preference  to  his  own  less  polislied  language.  This  would  account 
for  his  anachronism  about  Jogues.    See  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  iii.,  p.  156. 

t  This  person  was  otherwise  known  as  Cornells  Antonissen  van  Slyck,  whose  name 
survives  in  that  of  an  island  opposite  SchenectaHy.  If  De  Vries,  158. 

II  De  Vries  uses  almost  the  same  expressions  in  referring  to  Esopus,  on  the  2Tth  of 
April,  as  he  passed  up  the  river.  On  neither  occasion  does  he  speak  of  any  redoubt  a5 
then  existing  ;  nor  to  the  presen'-".  at  that  or  any  previous  time,  of  Dutch  traders  there. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  307 

ture,  he  anchored  over  night  at  Tappan.  The  next  morn-  ch.u'.  ix. 
ing,  a  strong  ebb  tide  and  a  fresh  gale  from  the  north- 
west  carried  the  sloop,  in  three  hours,  safely  to  Fort  Am-  jg  ^j^j. 
sterdam.  In  the  judgment  of  De  Vries,  the  mountain- 
bordered  stream  was  "  little  fitted  to  be  peopled ;"  for  he 
had  seen  only  "here  and  there  a  little  corn-land,  which 
the  Indians  had  prepared  by  removing  the  stones."  Yet 
his  mariner's  eye  observed  with  admiration  that  "  the 
tide  runs  up  the  whole  river  to  Fort  Orange ;"  and  per- 
haps, even  at  that  early  day,  there  were  not  wanting  those 
who  foresaw  the  swelling  commerce  which  now  rolls  be- 
tween its  cultivated  banks.* 

Up  to  this  time,  the  intercourse  between  the  Dutch  and  Relations 
the  Indians  had  been,  upon  the  whole,  friendly;  and  with  Indians, 
the  opening  of  the  fur  trade,  a  large  prosperity  promised 
to  visit  New  Netherland.  But  freedom  soon  ran  into 
abuses ;  and  the  temptation  of  gain  led  to  injurious  ex- 
cess. The  colonists  soon  began  to  neglect  agriculture  for 
the  quicker  profits  of  traffic  with  the  savages.  To  push 
their  trade  to  the  best  advantage,  the  colonists  separated 
themselves  from  each  other,  and  settled  their  abodes  "far 
in  the  interior  of  the  country."  Presently  they  began  to 
allure  the  savages  to  their  houses  "  by  excessive  familiar- 
ity and  treating."     This  soon  brought  them  into  contempt  Results  of 

•   1       1        T     1  •  1-1  I     the  (ree- 

with  the  Indians,  who,  not  bemg  always  used  with  im- dom  of kk 
partiality,  naturally  became  jealous.     Some  of  the  sava- 
ges, too,  were  occasionally  employed  as  domestic  servants 
by  the  Dutch.     This  unwise  conduct  only  produced  evil. 
The  Indians  frequently  stole  more  than  the  amount  of 
their  wages ;  and,  running  away,  they  acquainted  their 
tribes  with  the  habits,  mode  of  life,  and  exact  numerical 
strength  of  the  colonists.     The  knowledge  thus  gained  was 
used,  before  long,  with  fatal  effect  against  the  Europeans, 
whose  presence  now  began  to  inconvenience  the  aborig- 
ines.    For  the  colonists,  in  their  avidity  to  procure  pel- Diffiruines 
tries,  neglected  their  cattle,  which,  straying  away  without  ravSg-fs. 
herdsmen,  injured  the  unfenced  corn-fields  of  the  savages. 

*  De  Vrics,  102-161  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  iii.,  p.  eS-97. 


308  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1640. 


Chap.  IX.  Finding  this  the  cause  of  much  complaint,  Kieft  issued  a 
proclamation,  requiring  all  the  inhabitants  whose  land  ad- 
joined that  of  the  Indians  to  inclose  their  farms,  so  as  to 
JiMay.  prevent  trespasses  upon  the  red  men.  The  evil,  how- 
ever, continued ;  and  the  Indians  avenged  themselves  hy 
"killing  the  cattle,  and  even  the  horses,"  of  the  Dutch.* 
Tiieiro-  The  most  unhappy  result  of  all  was  the  supplying  of 
plied  with  the  savages  with  new  weapons  of  offense.  The  Iroquois 
warriors,  from  the  day  they  first  recoiled  before  the  arque- 
buses of  Champlain,  dreaded  the  superiority  of  the  Euro- 
peans, At  first  they  considered  a  gun  "  the  Devil,"  and 
would  not  touch  it.  But  the  moment  they  became  ac- 
customed to  their  use,  they  were  eager  to  possess  the  fire- 
arms of  Europe.  No  merchandise  was  so  valuable  to 
them.  For  a  musket  they  would  willingly  give  twenty 
beaver  skins.  For  a  pound  of  powder  they  were  glad  to 
barter  the  value  of  ten  or  twelve  guilders.  Knowing  the 
impolicy  of  arming  the  savages,  the  "West  India  Company, 
in  wise  sympathy  with  the  English  government,  had  de- 
clared contraband  the  trade  in  fire-arms ;  and  had  even 
forbidden  the  supply  of  munitions  of  war  to  the  New  Neth- 
erland  Indians,  under  penalty  of  death.  But  the  lust  of 
large  gains  quickly  overcame  prudence.  The  extraordi- 
nary profits  of  the  traffic  early  became  generally  known ; 
and  the  colonists  of  Rensselaerswyck  and  "  free  traders'' 
from  Holland  soon  bartered  away  to  the  Mohawks  enough 
guns,  and  powder,  and  bullets  for  four  hundred  warriors. 
In  the  neighborhood  of  Manhattan,  where  a  more  rigid  po- 
lice was  maintained,  the  supply  of  arms  was  prevented. 
The  river  This,  howcvcr,  only  excited  the  hatred  of  the  river  tribes 
leaded.  against  the  Dutch ;  for  the  Iroquois,  in  full  consciousness 
of  their  renovated  power,  now  not  only  carried  open  war 
into  their  enemies'  country  along  the  Saint  Lawrence  and 
the  Great  Lakes,  but,  more  haughtily  than  ever,  exacted 
the  tribute  which  they  claimed  from  the  subjugated  tribes 
between  the  Mohawk  and  the  sea.t 

*  Journal  van  N.  N.,  in  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  97-102 ;  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  SI. 
t  Journal  of  N.  N.,  in  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  103 ;  Report,  in  IIol.  Doc,  ii.,  368 ;  O'Call.,  L 
224,  419  ;  De  Vries,  158  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  5, 6, 7, 8. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT.  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  309 

While  the  river  Indians  were  brooding  over  what  they  chap.  ix. 

thought  the  unjust  partiality  of  the  Dutch  toward  the  Ir- ^ 

oquois,  a  new  provocation  was  added  to  the  existing  an-  The  in 
noyance.      Kieft,    alleging   "  express    orders"   from   Hoi-  Manha"^^ 
larti,  unwisely  determined  to  exact  the  contribution  of  morTexas- 
corn,  furs,  and  wampum  from  the  savages  in  the  neigh- p'^"'^"^''- 
borhood  of  Fort  Amsterdam,  which  he  had  resolved  upon 
the  previous  autumn.     The  directors  of  the  Amsterdam 
Chamber  afterward  positively  denied  that  they  had  ever 
authorized  the  measure,  or  even  knew  that  the  contribu- 
tion had  been  exacted.*     But  the  mischief  was  already 
done. 

The  river  Indians  were  now  totally  estranged.     "  The  Kiea  amie- 
Hollanders,"  said  the  irritated  savages,  "are  Materiotty — mptw-e. 
men  of  blood  :  though  they  may  be  something  on  the  wa- 
ter, they  are  nothing  on  the  land  :  they  have  no  great  sa- 
chem or  chief."     Perceiving  the  temper  of  the  Indians  in  The  Dutet 
his  neighborhood,  Kieft,  in  apprehension  of  a  sudden  at- arnTthem* 
tack,  ordered  all  the  residents  of  Manhattan  to  provide  lo  May 
themselves  with  arms  ;  and,  at  the  firing  of  three  guns,  to 
repair,  under  their  respective  officers,  "  to  the  place  ap- 
pointed," properl}''  equipped  for  service.! 

But  without  waiting  to  be  attacked,  the  imprudent  di- 
rector soon  found  an  opportunity  to  become  the  aggressor. 
It  happened  that  some  persons  in  the  company's  service.  The  Ran- 
on  their  way  to  the  South  River,  landed  at  Staten  Island  ed"with^ex- 

/•  1  1  J  1  T       1  •  11  cesses  at 

tor  wood  and  water;  and,  on  re-em  barkmg,  stole  some  staten  isi- 
swine  belonging  to  De  Vries  and  to  the  company,  which 
had  been  left  there  in  charge  of  a  negro.  The  blame  was 
thrown  on  the  innocent  Raritan  Indians,  who  lived  about 
twenty  miles  inland.  These  savages  were  also  accused 
of  having  attacked  the  yacht  Vrede,  which  had  been  sent 
among  them  to  trade  for  furs.  No  lives  were  lost,  though 
tJie  Indians  made  of!  with  the  trading  party's  canoe.t 
Kieft  rashly  resolved  to  punish  the   alleged  offenders 


*  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  65,  81  ;  Vertoogh  van  N.  K.,  289,  300  ;  ante,  p.  293  ;  IIoI.  Doc,  v.,  30. 
t  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  82  ;  Journal  van  N.  N..  in  Hol.  Doc,  iii.,  104  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  8. 
t  De  Vries,  161,  103;  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.  iii.,  p.  98. 


310  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IX.  with  admonitory  severity.     Van  Tienhoven,  the  provincial 
secretary,  was  commissioned  to  lead  a  party  of  fifty  sol- 
16  July      diers  and  twenty  sailors  to  attack  the  Indians  and  destroy 
dispatched  ^^^^ir  com,  unlcss  they  should  make  prompt  reparation. 
RlihtMr*^  When  he  reached  his  destination,  Van  Tienhoven  demand- 
ed satisfaction  ;  but  his  men,  knowing  the  director's  tem- 
per, wished  to  kill  and  plunder  at  once.     This  Van  Tien- 
hoven refused  to  permit ;  but  at  last,  vexed  with  their  im- 
portunity, he  left  the  party,  protesting  against  their  dis- 
obedience.    Several  of  the  Indians  were  killed ;  their  crops 
were  destroyed;  and  "such  tyranny  was  perpetrated"  by 
the  company's  servants,  that  there  was  now  little  hope  of 
regaining  the  friendsliip  of  the  savages.* 

Thus  was  laid  the  foundation  of  a  bloody  war,  which, 

before  long,  desolated  New  Netherland,  whose  provincial 

government  had  now  read  to  the  Raritans   the  lessons 

which,  four  years  before,  Massachusetts  had  read  to  the 

Block  Island  Indians.     Determined  to  pursue  his  policy 

of  levying  contributions  on  the  river  tribes,  Kieft  soon  aft- 

20  October,  crward  sent  sloops  up  to  Tappan ;  but  the  savages  de- 

tion  fevre'd  murrcd  against  the  novel  tribute.     "  They  wondered  how 

paiis.'^  ''^'the  sachem  at  the  fort  dared  to  exact  such  things  from 

them."     "He  must  be   a  very  shabby  fellow;    he  had 

come  to  live  in  their  land  when  they  had  not  invited  him, 

and  now  came  to  deprive  them  of  their  corn  for  nothing."t 

The  sav-    Tlicy  refuscd  to  pay  the  contribution,  because  the  soldiers 

ages  refuse  .         "^  i  i         •         j      ji  i 

10  pay.  m  Fort  Amsterdam  were  no  protection  to  the  savages,  who 
should  not  be  called  upon  for  their  support ;  because  they 
had  allowed  the  Dutch  to  live  peaceably  in  their  country, 
and  had  never  demanded  recompense ;  because  when  the 
Hollanders,  "having  lost  a  ship  there,  had  built  a  new  one, 
they  had  supplied  them  with  victuals  and  all  other  neces- 
saries, and  had  taken  care  of  them  for  two  winters,  until 
the  ship  was  finished,"  and  therefore  the  Dutch  were 
under  obligations  to  them ;  because  they  had  paid  full 
price  for  every  thing  they  had  purchased,  and  there  wa.'s. 

*  De  Vries,  161  ;  Alb.  Rec,  i..  26.S :  it..  95  :  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  165  ;  v.,  314  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  227. 
t  De  Vrios,  162 ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Col!.,  iii.,  p.  98. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  3]  | 

therefore,  no  reason  why  they  should  supply  the  Holland-  chap.  ix. 
ers  now  "  with  maize  for  nothing  ;"  and,  finally,  said  the      ~ 
savages,  because,  "  if  we  have  ceded  to  you  the  country 
you  are  living  in,  we  yet  remain  masters  of  what  we  have 
retained  for  ourselves."* 

In  the  mean  time,  the  States  G-eneral  had  instructed  is  Marcu. 
their  deputies  to  the  College  of  the  XIX.  to  aid  in  recon-  pany's  dir 
ciling  the  differences  between  the  patroons  and  the  com-  arranged. 
pany,  and  devise  some  plan  by  which  the  colonization  of 
the  province  might  be  promoted,  and  its  inhabitants  put 
"in  the  best  condition."    The  company  accordingly  agreed 
upon  a  new  charter  of  "  Freedoms  and  Exemptions"  for 
all  patroons,  masters,  and  private  persons,  which  was  senti9.iuij. 
to  the  Hague,  and  promptly  approved. 

The  new  charter  amended  materially  the  obnoxious  in-  New  char- 
strument  of  1629.  "All  good  inhabitants  of  the  Nether- troons 
lands"  were  now  allowed  to  select  lands  and  form  colo- 
nies, which,  however,  were  to  be  reduced  in  size.  Instead 
of  four  Dutch  miles,  they  were  limited  to  one  mile  along 
the  shore  of  a  bay  or  navigable  river,  and  two  miles  into 
the  country.  A  free  right  of  way  by  land  and  water  was 
reserved  to  all ;  and,  in  case  of  dispute,  the  director  gen- 
eral of  New  Netherland  was  to  decide.  The  feudal  privi- 
leges of  erecting  towns  and  appointing  their  officers ;  the 
high,  middle,  and  lower  jurisdiction;  and  the  exclusive 
right  of  hunting,  fishing,  fowling,  and  grinding  corn,  were 
continued  to  the  patroons  as  an  estate  of  inheritance,  with 
descent  to  females  as  well  as  males.  On  every  such 
change  of  ownership,  the  company  was  to  receive  a  pair 
of  iron  gauntlets  and  twenty  guilders,  within  one  year. 

Besides  the  patroons,  another  class  of  proprietors  wasiiead.sof 
now  established.  "Whoever  should  convey  to  New  Neth- 
erland five  grown  persons  besides  himself,  was  to  be  rec- 
ognized as  a  "  master  or  colonist;"  and  could  occupy  two 
hundred  acres  of  land,  with  the  privilege  of  hunting  and 
fishing.  If  settlements  of  such  colonists  should  increase 
in  numbers,  towns  and  villages  might  be  formed,  to  which 

*  Breeden  Raedt,  14,  15  ;  De  Vries,  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  11.  S.  Coll.,  iii.,  p.  118. 


312  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IX.  municipal  governments  were  promised.  The  magistrates 
in  such  towns  were  to  be  selected  by  the  director  and 
council,  "from  a  triple  nomination  of  the  best  qualified  in 
the  said  towns  and  villages."  From  these  courts,  and 
from  the  courts  of  the  patroons,  an  appeal  might  lie  to  the 
director  and  council  at  Manhattan.  The  company  guar- 
anteed protection,  in  case  of  war,  to  all  the  colonists  ;  but 
each  adult  male  emigrant  was  bound  to  provide  himself, 
before  he  left  Holland,  with  a  proper  musket,  or  a  hanger 
and  side  arms. 
commer-  The  Commercial  privileges,  which  the  first  charter  had 
feges  ex'  restricted  to  the  patroons,  were  now  extended  to  all  "  free 
colonists,"  and  to  all  the  stockholders  in  the  company. 
Nevertheless,  the  company  adhered  to  a  system  of  onerous 
imposts,  for  its  own  benefit ;  and  required  a  duty  of  ten  per 
cent,  on  all  goods  shipped  to  New  Netherland,  and  of  five 
per  cent,  on  all  return  cargoes,  excepting  peltries,  which 
were  to  pay  ten  per  cent,  to  the  director  at  Manhattan  be- 
fore they  could  be  exported.  All  shipments  from  New 
Netherland  were  to  be  landed  at  the  company's  ware- 
houses in  Holland.  The  prohibition  of  manufactures 
within  the  province  was,  however,  abolished.  The  com- 
pany renewed  its  pledge  to  send  over  "  as  many  blacks 
as  possible ;"  and  disclaiming  any  interference  with  the 
"  high,  middle,  and  lower  jurisdiction"  of  the  patroons,  re- 
served to  itself  supreme  and  sovereign  authority  over  New 
Netherland,  promising  to  appoint  and  support  competent 
officers  "  for  the  protection  of  the  good,  and  the  punish- 
ment of  the  wicked."  The  provincial  director  and  coun- 
cil were  to  decide  all  questions  respecting  the  rights  of  the 
company,  and  all  complaints,  whether  by  foreigners  or  in- 
habitants of  the  province ;  to  act  as  an  Orphan's  and  Sur- 
rogate's Court :  to  iudge  in  criminal  and  religious  affairs, 

The  Re-  O  7  j        o  o  ' 

formed      ^nd  generally  to  administer  law  and  justice.     No  other 

Church  to  relijjion  "  save  that  then  taught  and  exercised  by  author- 
be  the  relig-  O  o  ./ 

ioaswor-   [^y  [j^  i\^q  Reformed  Church  in  the  United  Provinces," 

snip  of  the       •'  ' 

province,    ^y^g  to  be  pubUcly  sanctioned  in  New  Netherland,  where 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  313 

the  company  bound  itself  to  maintain  proper  preachers,  chap.  ix. 
schoolmasters,  and  comforters  of  the  sick.* 


New  Netherland  soon  felt  a  fresh  impulse  to  her  pros-  prl  res^or 
perity.     De  Vriea  now  "  took  hold"  in  earnest  of  his  pur- J"^^'°"'^*' 
chase,  the  previous  spring,  from  the  Indians  at  Tappan, 
and  began  a  colonie  at  his  new  estate,  which  he  named 
*'Vriesendael."      It  was    beautifully  situated   along  the'^^f- 

»'  ~  De  \  nes  at 

river  side,  sheltered  by  high  hills  ;  and  the  fertile  valley,  |j'^^[',fe"- 
through  which  wound  a  stream,  affording  handsome  mill 
seats,  yielded  hay  enough,  spontaneously,  for  two  hund- 
red head  of  cattle.  Buildings  were  soon  erected,  and 
Vriesendael  became,  for  several  years,  the  home  of  its  en- 
ergetic owner.! 

Early  the  next  year,  another  colonie  was  established,    1641 
"  within  an  hour's  walk"  of  Vriesendael,  by  Myndert  Myn-  Korst-rooi 
dertsen  van  der  Horst,  of  Utrecht.    The  new  plantation  ex-  ulckm- 
tended  from  "  Achter  Cul,"1:  or  Newark  Bay,  north  toward 
Tappan,  and  included  the  valley  of  the  Hackinsack  River. 
The  head-quarters  of  the  settlement  were  abovit  five  or  six 
hundred  paces  from  the  village  of  the  Hackinsack  Indians, 
where  Van  der  Horst's  people  immediately  commenced  the 
erection  of  a  post,  to  be  garrisoned  by  a  few  soldiers.^ 

Corneiis  Melyn  now  returned  to  New  Netherland,  with  20  Aug jst 
his  family  and  servants,  to  begin  a  colonie  on  Staten  Isl-Meiyn  - 
and,  an  order  for  which  he  had  procured  in  Holland  from  and. 
the  directors  of  the  Amsterdam  Chamber.     De  Vries,  who 
was  already  in  possession  of  a  part  of  that  island,  felt  ag- 
grieved at  this  interference ;  but  Kieft,  who  had  himself 
just  established  a  small  distillery  and  a  buckskin  manu- 
factory there,  soon  obtained  the  patroon's  consent  to  Me- 
lyn's  establishing  a  plantation  near  the  Narrows,  provided 
"  his  rights  should  not  be  prejudiced."     The  Staten  Island 
Indians  soon  afterward  committing  acts  of  hostility,  the 

*  IIol.  Doc,  ii.,  2."?4-262  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  218-222.  t  De  Vries,  162,  ISO,  162. 

t  "Achter  Cul,"  or  "Achter  Kol,"  now  called  "Newark  Bay,"  was  so  named  by  the 
Dutch,  becau.se  it  was  "  achter,"  or  "  behind""  the  Great  Bay  of  the  North  River.  The  pas- 
sage to  the  Greit  Bay  was  known  as  the  "  Kll  van  Cul,"  from  which  has  been  derived  the 
present  name  o' "  the  Kills."  The  English  soon  corrupted  the  phrase  into  "  Arthur  Cull's" 
Bay. — Benson's  Memoir,  93. 

A  De  Vries,  1G5  ;  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  99,  135  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  238 ;  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  51,  56 


314  HISTORY  OF  THE  STA  TE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

CHAP.  IX.  director  and  council  ordered  a  small  redoubt  to  be  built  on 
one  of  the  headlands ;  and  the  soldiers  stationed  there  were 
1-2  Sept.  '  ordered  to  make  a  signal  by  raising  a  flag,  to  warn  the 
Pfa'^gg'Jalf  gt^fiicers  at  Fort  Amsterdam  whenever  any  vessels  arrived 
rows."*"^      in  the  lower  bay.     In  the  course  of  the  following  sum- 
mer, Kieft  issued  a  formal  patent,  granting  to  Melyn  the 
privileges  of  a  patroon  over  all  Staten  Island,  excepting 
De  Vrics's  reserved  "bouwerij."* 

Municipal  affairs  engaged  much  of  the  attention  of  the 
11  April     bustling  director.     Fresh  regulations  were  published  for 

New  police  <-•  or 

reguia-      thc  bcttcr  observancc  of  Sunday ;  and  the  tapping  of  beer 

during  Divine  service,  and  after  ten  o'clock  at  night,  was 

Provincial  forbidden.     The  currency  of  the  province,   too,  was  re- 
currency  ''  r  '  > 

reformed,   formed.     The  coins  of  Europe  were  seldom  seen  in  New 
Netherland.     Payments  were  almost  universally  made  in 
sewan  or  wampum  ;  and  for  many  years  the  Sunday  con- 
tributions in  the  churches  continued  to  be  paid  in  this  na- 
tive currency,  of  which  that  of  Long  Island  and  Manhat- 
tan was  always  esteemed  the  best.     Of  this  "  good  splen- 
did sewan,  usually  called  Manhattan's  sewan,"  four  beads 
were  reckoned  equal  to  one  stiver.     By  degrees,  however, 
inferior  wampum,  loose  and  unstrung,  began  to  take  the 
place  of  the  better  currency ;  and  even,  in  the  judgment 
of  the  director,  to  threaten  "the  ruin  of  the  country."    An 
18  April,     order  in  council,  therefore,  directed  that  the  loose  beads 
wampum    should  pass  at  the  rate  of  six  for  a  stiver.     The  only  rea- 
law.         son  why  the  "loose  sewan"  was  not  entirely  prohibited 
was,  "  because  there  was  no  coin  in  circulation,  and  the 
laborers,  boors,  and  other  common  people  having  no  other 
money,  would  be  great  losers."     To  encourage  the  grow- 
ing tendency  toward   agricultural  pursuits,  two  annual 
Pairs esiab- fairs,  the  ouc  for  cattle  and  the  other  for  hogs,  were  soon 

lished.  '  " 

13  Sept.     afterward  established  at  Manhattan.! 

Had  the  government  of  New  Netherland  been  in  the 
hands  of  a  "prudent"  direotor,  its  prosperity  would,  per- 

*  De  Vries,  163  ;  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  133  ;  O'Call.,  1.,  228,  239  ;  u.,  592.  De  Vries's  statement 
is  the  first  record  of  the  establishment  of  a  marine  telegraph  in  New  York  harbor. 

t  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  110,  118,  134;  Van  Tienhoven's  Korte  bericht,  in  Hoi.  Doc,  v.,  360; 
and  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  332. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  315 

haps,  have  now  been  permanently  estahlished.     But  pru-  chap.  ix. 
dence  was  not  an  element  in  Kieft's  character.     His  levy 
of  contributions  had  already  alienated  the  savages  around  Temper  of 
Manhattan  ;  and  the  cruelties  inflicted  upon  the  Raritans  agt^  *" 
had  aroused  a  feeling  of  revenge,  which  only  waited  a  fit- 
ting moment  for  its  display. 

That  moment  came.     "While  they  cajoled  the  director  The  Ran- 

tans  de- 

by  peaceful  messages,  the  Raritans  suddenly  attacked  Destroy  De 

Vries's  unprotected  plantation  onStaten  Island.     Four  of  onyatstat- 
'^  '^  ,  en  Island. 
his  planters  were  killed,  and  his  dwelling  and  tobacco  June. 

house  burned.     Thus  the  feeble  colony  was  smothered  at 

its  birth,  through  Kieft's  blind  folly  in  "  visiting  upon  the 

Indians  the  wrongs  which  his  own  people  had  done."* 

Folly  breeds  folly.     The  director  no  sooner  heard  how 

the  Raritans  had  avenged  their  wrongs,  than  he  resolved 

upon  their  extermination.     "  The  savages  of  Raritan  daily  Ktefi  offers 

'  ...  rewards  for 

grow  bolder" — so  began  the  proclamation,  in  which  Kieft  "le  offend- 
offered  a  bounty  of  ten  fathoms  of  wampum  for  the  head  4  July. 
of  every  one  of  that  tribe.     For  each  head  of  the  actual 
murderers,  twenty  fathoms  were  promised.! 

Incited  by  the  offered  bounties,  some  of  the  River  In- 
dians attacked  the  Raritans.  In  the  autumn,  a  chief  of  2  Nov 
the  Tankitekes,  or  Haverstraw  tribe,  named  Pacham,  provoked 
"  who  was  great  with  the  governor  at  the  fort,"  came  in 
triumph  to  Manhattan,  with  a  dead  man's  hand  hanging 
on  a  stick.  This  he  presented  to  Kieft  as  the  hand  of  the 
chief  who  had  killed  the  Dutch  on  Staten  Island.  "  I 
have  taken  revenge  for  the  sake  of  the  Swannekens,"  said 
Pacham,  "for  I  love  them  as  my  best  friends."1: 

Meanwhile,  the  island  of  Manhattan  had  become  the 
scene  of  a  bloody  retribution.  Revenge  never  dies  in  the 
breast  of  the  Indian.  It  may  slumber  for  years,  but  it  is 
never  appeased  until  the  "just  atonement"  which  Indian 
law  demands  is  fully  paid.  The  young  "Weckquaesgeek 
savage,  whose  uncle  had  been  murdered  near  "the  Kolck," 
during  the  building  of  Fort  Amsterdam,  was  now  grown 

*  De  Vrics,  1G3  ;  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  128  ;  Winthrop,  ii.,  32.  t  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  128, 129. 

t  De  Vries,  103.    The  Indians,  both  on  the  South  and  North  Rivers,  were  in  the  habit 
of  calling  the  Dutch  "  Swannekens." 


31  d        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1641. 


to  man's  estate,  and  upon  him  Indian  usage  imposed  the 
duty  of  avenging  his  kinsman's  unatoned  death.  The 
Weckquaesgeeks  were  in  the  constant  hahit  of  visiting 
Manhattan  ;  and  their  beaten  trail  passed  near  the  Deutel 
Bay,  on  the  East  River,  where  Claes  Smits,  a  harmless 
Dutchman,  had  built  a  small  house,  and  was  carrying  on 
A  Dutch-  the  trade  of  a  wheel-wright.  The  nephew  of  the  murder- 
dered  at     ed  savagc,  coming  to  the  wheel-wright's  humble  dwelling, 

Deutel  o    '  O  p  O' 

Bay  stopped  to  barter  some  beaver  skins  for  duffels.     While 

August. 

the  unsuspecting  mechanic  was  stooping  over  the  great 
chest  in  which  he  kept  his  goods,  the  savage,  seizing  an 
axe,  killed  him  by  a  blow  on  the  neck.  The  murderer 
quickly  plundered  his  victim's  lonely  abode,  and  escaped 
with  his  booty. 
The  Week-  Kicft  promptly  sent  to  Weckquaesgeek  to  demand  satis- 
justifythe  faction.  But  the  murderer  replied,  that  while  the  fort 
was  building,  he,  and  his  uncle,  and  another  Indian,  bring- 
ing some  beaver  skins  to  trade,  were  attacked  by  some 
Dutchmen,  near  the  "  Fresh  Water,"  who  killed  his  un- 
cle, and  stole  his  peltries.  "  This  happened  while  I  was 
a  small  boy,"  said  the  savage,  "  and  I  vowed  to  revenge 
it  upon  the  Dutch  when  I  grew  up ;  I  saw  no  better 
20  August,  chance  than  with  this  Claes  the  wheel-Avright."  The  sa- 
chem of  the  tribe  refused  to  deliver  up  the  criminal ;  who, 
he  said,  had  but  avenged,  after  the  manner  of  his  race,  the 
murder  of  his  kinsman  by  the  Dutch,  more  than  twenty 
years  before.  Some  soldiers  were  then  sent  out  from  the 
fort  to  arrest  the  assassin ;  but  they  returned  disappointed.* 
Kiea'sanx-  Thc  dircctor  burned  to  treat  the  Weckquaesgeeks  as  he 
war.  had  treated  the  Haritans,  and  commence  open  hostilities. 
Yet  he  feared  to  exasperate  the  people,  who  charged  him 
with  seeking  a  war  in  order  to  make  "a  wrong  reckoning 
with  the  company,"  and  who  now  began  to  reproach  him 
for  personal  cowardice.  It  was  all  very  well,  they  said, 
for  him,  "  who  could  secure  his  own  life  in  a  good  fort, 
out  of  which  he  had  not  slept  a  single  night  in  all  the 

*  De  Vries,  164 ;  ante,  p.  106,  292 ;  Hoi.  Doc,  ii.,  373  ;  v.,  314 ;  Journal  van  N.  N.,  in 
Hoi.  Doc.,  iii.,  105 ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  8,  9. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  3x7 

years  he  had  been  here,"     Kieft  perceivmg  that  he  would  chap,  ix 
have  to  bear  the  whole  responsibility  of  the  proposed  war, 
reluctantly  sought  the  counsel  of  the  community.* 

All  the  masters  and  heads  of  families  at  Manhattan  and 
its  neighborhood  were  accordingly  summoned  to  meet  at  23  Augusi 
Fort  Amsterdam,  "  to  resolve  there  on  something  of  the 
first  necessity."!     On  the  appointed  day,  Kieft  submitted  29  August. 
these  questions  to  the  first  popular  meeting  ever  held  in  First  meet- 
New  Netherland.     "  Is  it  not  just  that  the  murder  lately  commonai- 
committed  by  a  savage  upon  Claes  Smits  be  avenged  and  province 
punished  ;  and  in  case  the  Indians  will  not  surrender  the 
murderer  at  our  requisition,  is  it  not  just  to  destroy  the 
whole  village  to  which  he  belongs  ?     In  what  manner, 
and  when  ought  this  to  be  executed  ?     By  whom  can  this 
be  effected  ?" 

The  assembly  promptly  chose  "  Twelve  Select  Men"  to  "Twelve 
consider  the  propositions  submitted  by  the  director.  These  pointed, 
persons  were  Jacques  Bentyn,  Maryn  Adriaensen,  Jan  Jan- 
sen  Dam,  Hendrick  Jansen,  David  Pietersen  de  Vries, 
Jacob  Stoffelsen,  Abram  Molenaar,  Frederik  Lubbertsen, 
Jochem  Pieters3n  (Kuyter),  Gerrit  Dircksen,  George  Rap- 
elje,  and  Abram  Planck.  Of  these  first  representatives 
of  the  people  of  New  Netherland,  De  Yries  was  chosen 
president.  The  "  Twelve  Men"  were  all  Hollanders,  or 
emigrants  from  Holland.^ 

The  popular  representatives  did  jiot  delay  their  answers  29  AagB.st. 
to  Kieft's  questions.     "While  they  agreed  that  the  murder  tiiVTwriv. 
of  Smits  should  be  avenged,  they  thought  that  "  God  and 
the  opportunity"  ought  to  be  taken  into  consideration ; 

♦  De  Vries,  165.  t  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  130. 

t  IIol.  Doc,  v.,  327-329  ;  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  136,  137  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  277,  278.  De 
A'riea,  165,  says  that  Kieft  caused  the  election  of  the  Twelve  Men  "to  aid  him  in  manag- 
ing the  affairs  of  the  country;"  but  Van  der  Donck,  in  his  "  Vertoogh,"  written  eight 
years  afterward,  affirms  that  they  "  had  in  juditial  matters  neither  vote  nor  advice,  but 
were  chosen  in  view  of  the  war,  and  some  other  occurrences,  to  serve  as  cloaks  and  cats- 
paws."— ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  300.  Of  these  "  Twelve  Men,"  Bentyn  was  one  of  Van 
Twiner's  council ;  Adriaensen  came  out  as  a  colonist  to  Rensselaerswyck  in  1631 ;  Dam 
was  also  a  colonist  there  in  1634  ;  Hendrick  Jansen  was  a  tailor  at  Manhattan  ;  Stoffelsen 
was  one  of  Van  Twiller's  commissaries,  and  had  married  the  widow  of  Van  Voorst,  of 
Pavonia ;  Lubbert.sen  was  "  first  boatswain  ;"  Pietersen,  or  as  he  usually  wrote,  Kuyter, 
came  out  in  1039 ;  Rapelje  was  one  of  the  original  Walloon  settlers  at  the  Waal-bogt ; 
Planck,  or  Verplanck,  was  a  farmer  at  Paulas'  lloeck  ;  of  Molenaar  and  Dircksen  the  rec- 
inls  say  little  ;  o'"De  Vries  much. 


318        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IX.  and  that  the  director  should  make  the  necessary  prepara- 
tions,  and  especially  procure  a  sufficient  number  of  coats 
of  mail  "  for  the  soldiers,  as  well  as  for  the  freemen,  who 
are  willing  to  pay  their  share  in  these  expenses."  Trade 
and  intercourse  with  the  savages  should,  nevertheless, 
be  temporarily  maintained,  and  no  hostile  measure  be  at- 
tempted by  any  one,  "  of  whatever  state  or  condition,"  ex- 
cept against  the  murderer  himself,  until  the  hunting  sea- 
son. Then  it  would  be  proper  to  send  out  two  parties, 
the  one  to  land  near  the  "Archipelago,"  or  Norwalk  Isl- 
ands, and  the  other  at  Weckquaesgeek,  "  to  surprise  them 
from  both  sides."  As  the  director  was  commander  of  the 
soldiery  as  well  as  governor,  he  "  ought  to  lead  the  van ;" 
while  the  community  offered  their  persons  "to  follow  his 
steps  and  obey  his  commands."  Yet  they  humanely  add- 
ed, "we  deem  it  advisable  that  the  director  send  further, 
once,  twice,  yea,  for  the  third  time,  a  shallop,  to  demand 
the  surrender  of  the  murderer  in  a  friendly  manner,  to 
punish  him  according  to  his  deserts."* 

De  vries's       To  tlicse  official  auswcrs  of  the  Twelve  Men  De  Vries, 

counsels.  \vho  kcculy  felt  his  double  losses  at  Swaanendael  and 
Staten  Island,  added  his  own  opinion.  The  Dutch  were 
all  scattered  about  the  country,  and  their  cattle  running 
wild  in  the  woods.  "  It  would  not  be  advisable  to  attack 
the  Indians  until  we  had  more  people,  like  the  English, 
who  had  built  towns  and  villages."  Besides,  the  directors 
of  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  were  resolutely  opposed  to 
war ;  for  when  applied  to  for  permission  to  commence 
hostilities  against  the  South  River  Indians,  who  had  de- 
stroyed Swaanendael,  they  had  replied,  "  you  must  keep 
at  peace  with  the  savages.  But  Kieft  "  did  not  wish  to 
listen."! 

Kieft  urges  At  Icugth  the  hunting  season  came ;  and  Kieft,  impa- 
tient to  attack  the  Weckquaesgeeks,  was  even  more  anx- 
ious to  secure  the  concurrence  of  the  Twelve  Men.     To  ac- 

1  Nov.  complish  his  favorite  design,  he  now  asked  them,  separate- 
ly, for  their  opinions  on  the  question  of  immediate  hostil- 

*  Alb.  Rec,  ii..  136.  137  ;  IIol.  Doc,  v.,  326-329.  1  De  Vries,  165. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  319 

ities.  Had  he  convened  them  in  a  body,  he  suspected,  and  chap.  ix. 
with  reason,  that  the  popular  delegates  would  hardly  con- 
tent  themselves  with  answering  his  queries ;  they  would 
very  probably  turn  their  attention  to  the  condition  of  the 
provincial  government.  But  the  impatient  director  was 
again  foiled.  The  separate  opinions  of  a  majority  of  the  The 
Twelve  Men  were  for  procrastination.     The  savages  were  Men  op- 

,       .  1  11  i.     P°^®  hostil- 

still  too  much  on  their  guard  :  it  was  better,  at  all  events,  ities. 
to  await  the  arrival  of  the  next  vessel  from  the  Father- 
land.    De  Vries,  the  president,  was  decidedly  opposed  to 
hostilities  with  the  Indians  under  any  circumstances.* 
For  a  time  longer  war  was  averted. 

The  Swedes  had,  meanwhile,  continued  in  quiet  pos-The 

IT-,.  mi        f'         Swedes  on 

session  of  Fort  Christina,  on  the  South  River.     The  first  the  south 
year  after  their  settlement  they  prospered  abundantly,  and 
did  "  about  thirty  thousand  florins'  injury"  to  the  trade  of 
the  Hollanders.     During  the  second  winter  of  their  resi- 
dence,  however,  receiving  no   succors   from  home,  they 
were  reduced  to  great  extremities,  and  so  much  discour-    1640. 
aged,  that  the  next  spring  they  resolved  "to  break  up,  and  *''"' 
come  to  Manhattan."!    But  unexpected  relief  was  at  hand. 
The  fame  of  the  pleasant  valley  of  the  South  River, 
which  had  now  reached  Scandinavia,  began  also  to  spread 
through  the  United  Provinces ;  and  several  prominent  Hol- 
landers, in  apparent  disregard  of  the  claims  of  their  own 
West  India  Company,  undertook  to  send  out  emigrants 
there,  under  the  authority  of  the  Swedish  government.    A 
letter,  signed  by  Oxenstierna  and  his  colleagues,  was  ac-  24  January 
cordingly  obtained  by  Van  der  Horst  and  others,  of  Utrecht,  ish  govem- 
declaring  that  they  were  permitted  "to  establish  them- oourajie 
selves  on  the  north  side  of  the  South  River,  and  there  to  from  iim- 
found  a  colony  ,     and  a  passport  was  also  issued  in  lavor  south  Riv- 
of  the  ship  Fredenburg,  commanded  by  Jacob  Powelson, 
who  was  about  departing  from  Holland  with  colonists  for 
New  Sweden.     Van  der  Horst,  however,  upon  further  con- 
sideration, apparently  preferring  to  avail  himself  of  the 

*  Alb.  Rec    ii.,  140,  141  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  278. 

t  Hoi.  Doc.  viii.,  50,  52,  53 ;  S  Hazard,  Arn.  Penn.,  v.,  45,  50,  56. 


320  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IX.  new  charter  for  patroons,  did  not  accept  the  Swedish  grant, 

which  was,  therefore,  transferred  to  Henry  Hockhammer. 

„  ?!^      It  authorized  him  and  his  associates  to  send  out  vessels, 

Hocknam- 

"raiit        cattle,  and  colonists  from  Holland  under  the  royal  protec- 
tion, and  to  take  up  as  much  land  on  both  sides  of  the 
South  River  as  should  he  necessary  for  their  purposes,  pro- 
vided it  be  "  at  least  four  to  five  German  miles  from  Fort 
Christina."    The  exercise  of  the  Reformed  religion  of  Hol- 
land was  guaranteed,  and  the  support  of  ministers  and 
30  January,  schoolmasters  enjoined.     Joost  de  Bogaerdt  was  appoint- 
gaerdt  com-  ed  spccial  commaudaut  of  the  new  colony,  at  an  annual 
salary  from  the  Swedish  government  of  five  hundred  flor- 
ins, or  two  hundred  rix  dollars,  "to  be  remitted  to  his 
banker  in  Holland"  by  the  Swedish  resident  at  the  Hague.* 
April.  Powelson  reached  the  Delaware  early  in  the  spring.    His 

Swedes  en- arrival  gladdened  the  desponding  Swedes,  who  had  de- 
courage  .  .j.gj.j^^j^g|^  .j-Q  abandon  Fort  Christina  the  next  day.     The 
new  colonists  from  Holland  were  soon  settled  a  few  miles 
south  of  the  fort,  under  the  superintendence  of  De  Bo- 
gaerdt.     Traffic  with  the  Indians  was  now  prosecuted 
with  vigor,  and  the  Dutch  West  India  Company's  trade 
on  the  South  River  was  "  entirely  ruined."    In  the  foUow- 
15  October,  ing  autumu,  Kieft  wrote  from  Manhattan  to  the  Amster- 
dam Chamber,  informing  them  of  the  "  re-enforcement  of 
people"  which  the  Swedes  had  received  the  previous  spring, 
"otherwise  it  had  been  arranged  for  them  to  come  here;" 
but  stating  his  intention  to  treat  them  "  with  every  po- 
liteness, although  they  commenced,  with  many  hostilities, 
forcibly  to  build,  attack  our  fort,  trading,  and  threatening 
to  take  our  boats."! 
Peter  Hoi-       Thc  samc  autumn,  Peter  Hcillsendare  arrived  from  Got- 
tenburg,  at  Fort  Cliristina,  as  deputy  governor  of  New 
Sweden,  bringing   a  number  of  fresh  colonists  and  the 
Mounce     promiscd  supplies.     Mounce  Kling,  who  had  formerly  act- 
'"^        ed  as  deputy  to  Minuit,  followed  soon  afterward  with  two 
vessels.     The    Swedes   now  purchased   additional  lands 

*  Swedish  Documents,  in  Hazard's  Reg.  of  Fenn.,  iv.,  17"  ;  S.  Hazard's  Ann.  Penn.,  51-56. 
t  Ho'.  Doc,  viii.,  53,  54  ;  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  56,  57  ;  Acrelius,  411  ;  Ferris,  52-54 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  3;:^1 

from  the  Indians ;  and,  in  token  of  the  sovereignt}-   of  chap.  ix 
their  queen,  set  up  "the  arms  and  crown  of  Sweedland." 
The  next  year,  it  is  said,  that  Peter  Minuit  died  at  hispg^tfiQ," 
post,  and  was   buried   at  Fort  Christina,  which  he   had"^''""" 
"  protected  during  three  years."     On  his  death,  Hollaen- 
dare,  the  deputy  governor,  succeeded  to  the   command, 
"  who,  after  one  year  and  a  half,  returned  to  Sweden,  and 
obtained  a  military  post  there."* 

The  enterprising  men  of  Connecticut  were  now  hoping  New  iia- 
to  obtain  a  foothold  on  the  Delaware,  which,  hitherto,  had  poses  a 
been  occupied  exclusively  by  the  Dutch  and  the  Swedes. ln"hl '"" 
Sometime  during  the  year  1640,  Captain  Nathaniel  Turn-  er. 
er,  as  the  agent  of  New  Haven,  is  said  to  have  made  a 
large  purchase  of  lands  "on  both  sides  of  Delaware  Bay 
or  River."     In  the  following  spring,  a  "bark  or  ketch" Lambenon 
was  fitted  out  at  New  Haven  by  Grcorge  Lamberton,  aweirs^ex- 
principal  merchant  there,  and  dispatched  to  the  Delaware,  ^^  ' '"" 
under  the  command  of  Robert  Cogswell.     When  the  ves- 
sel reached  Manhattan,  Kieft  learning  her  destination,  and 
warned  by  his  experience  with  the  Hartford  people,  in- 
stantly protested  against  the  enterprise;  and  notified  the 8 April. 
New  England  adventurers  not  to  "build  nor  plant  upon Manhati m 
the  South  River,  lying  within  the  limits  of  New  Nether- 
land,  nor  on  the  lands  extending  along  there,"  unless  they 
would  agree  to  settle  themselves  under  the  States  G-en- 
eral  and  the  West  India  Company,  and  swear  allegiance 
to  them.     But  upon  Cogswell's  assurance  that  they  did 
not  intend  to  intrude  upon  any  territory  over  which  the 
States  General  had  authority  ;  and  that  if  they  found  no 
land  free  from  claims,  they  would  either  peaceably  return, 
or  else  settle  themselves  in  allesfiance  to  the  Dutch  srov- 
ernment,  the  New  Haven  bark  was  allowed  to  proceed.!   prorred" '" 

Aided  by  a  refugee  Pequod  sachem,  the  New  Haven 
adventurers  succeeded  in  purchasing  from  the  Indians 
"  what  land  they  desired"  on  both  sides  of  the  South  Riv- 

'  .^.crelius,  in  N.  Y.  11.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  410 ;  Ferris,  57  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  366  ;  Mulford,  83 ;  S. 
lla/.aid's  Ann.  Penn.,  57,  59,  00;  ante,  p.  284,  note. 

t  Hoi.  Doe.,  ix.,  205;  Hazard,  ii.,  213,  265;  Trunnbull,  i.,  119;  O'Call.,  i.,  231;  S. 
ria.-.ard,  Ann.  Penn.,  58. 


322  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IX.  er.     TracUng-houses  were  immediately  commenced  at  the 

Varkens'  Kill,  near  Salem  in  New  Jersey,  and  also  "on 

Settlements  ^^®  Schuylkill,"  wlicre  atout  twenty  English  families  set- 

at  Varkens'  ^^q^  themselvcs.     The  same  summer,  the  Greneral  Court 

Kill  and  tne  ' 

so'au'usI'  °^  New  Haven  resolved  that  the  plantations  in  Delaware 
Bay   should  be    considered  "  in    combination    with  this 
town ;"  and  Turner  was  formally  authorized  to  go  there, 
"  for  his  own  advantage  and  the  public  good,  in  settling 
the  affairs  thereof."* 
Vexatious       While  advcuturcrs  from  New  Haven  were  thus  intrud- 
theiiart-    ing  withln  southern  New  Netherland,  the  English  colo- 
15  April,     nists  at  Hartford  were  pertinaciously  vexing  the  Dutch, 
and  endeavoring,  by  petty  annoyances  around  Fort  Good 
Hope,  to  drive  them  out  of  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut. 
"  Will  ye  three  resist  the  whole  English  village  ?"  cried 
the  assailants,  as  the  Holland  plowmen  sturdily  endeav- 
ored to  maintain  their  rights.     An   appeal  to  Grovernor 
Hopkins  brought  no  redress.     Upon  receiving  intelligence 
6  June.      of  thcsc  uew  provocatious,  Kieft  ordered  a  force  of  fifty 
cee^dings!^"  mcu  to  bc  dispatchcd,  in  two  yachts,  to  Fort  Good  Hope, 
under  the  command  of  La  Montague.    "  But,"  wrote  Win- 
throp,  "it  pleased  the  Lord  to  disappoint  the  purpose"  of 
the  Dutch ;  for  the  Staten  Island  Indians  just  then  sud- 
denly attacking  De  Vries's  plantation,  the  New  Nether- 
land authorities  "  were  forced  to  keep  their  soldiers  at 
The  Hart-  homc  to  defend  themselves."     The  Hartford  people,  how- 
refer  tiieir  ever,  thought  it  prudent  to  lay  a  statement  of  their  case 
Massachu-  before  the  government  of  Massachusetts,  "  for  advice  about 
21  June,     the  difference  between  them  and  the  Dutch."     Belling- 
ham,  by  direction  of  the  General  Court,  accordingly  "re- 
Repiy.       turned  answer,  without  determining  of  either  side,  but 
advising  to  a  moderate  way,  as  the  yielding  some  more 
land  to  the  Dutch  house — for  they  had  left  them  but  thirty 
acres. "t     Thus  Massachusetts  quietly  reproved  the  cupid- 
ity of  Connecticut. 

*  S-  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn  ,  59  ;  Winthrop,  ii.,  62,  76  ;  Ferris,  59  ;  Mulford,  71. 
t  Hoi.  Doc,  ix.,  199-203  ;  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  123  ;  Winthrop,  ii.,  32  ;  Hazard,  iL,  264,  265  ; 
i.,  N.  y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  274.  275. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  223 

In  the  mean  time,  events  had  occurred  in   England  chap.  ix 
which  were  to  have  a  material  influence  upon  the  rival  "7" 
European  colonies  in  America.     Soon  after  the  meeting  p^gg^g^g^j. 
of  the  "Long  Parliament,"  among  the  members  of  which j^^g^J^''^,,. 
were  many  zealous  friends  of  New  England,  the  Puritan  ^'*"'^- 
emigrants  were  urged  to  "  send  over  some"  to  solicit  fa- 
vors for  them  in  that  body,  to  which  the  king  had  now 
left  "  great  liberty."     At  first,  the  suggestion  was  declined. 
But  the  next  year,  news  of  the  fall  of  the  Earl  of  Straf-   1641. 
ford,  and  of  Archbishop  Laud,  their  "great  enemy,"  reach- ^  •^""'^• 
ing  Massachusetts,  the  Greneral  Court  thought  fit  "to  send 
some  chosen  men  into  England,  to  congratulate  the  hap- 
py success  there,"  and  "  to  be  ready  to  make  use  of  any 
opportunity  G-od  should  offer,  for  the  good  of  the  country 
here."      The   persons   chosen   for  this    service  were    the  Deiegaten 

j2  TT        1       T>  c      1  1  1       •         r     1  ^^''^  from 

"  nery"   Hugh  Peters,  pastor   of  the  church  m   fealem,  Massacuu 
Thomas  Welde,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Roxbury,  and 
William  Hibbins,  of  Boston.     The  younger  "Winthrop  also 
accompanied  the  commissioners,  who  presently  sailed  for  3  August. 
England  by  way  of  Newfoundland.* 

The  Hartford  people  now  determined  to  arrange,  if  pos-iiopkins 
sible,  their  controversy  with  the  Dutch.  Edward  Hop- Hartford.' 
kins,  who  had  just  been  succeeded  by  John  Haynes  as 
governor,  being  about  to  visit  London,  the  Greneral  Court  9  sepi. 
desired  him  "  to  arbitrate  or  issue  the  difference  betwixt 
the  Dutch  and  us,  as  occasion  shall  be  offered  when  he  is 
in  England."!  As  Peters  was  well  acquainted  with  some 
of  the  leading  members  of  the  West  India  Company,  it 
was  thought  that  advantage  might  be  taken  of  that  cir- 
cumstance to  "  pacify"  the  directors,  and  arrange,  if  pos- 
sible, the  questions  in  dispute  between  New  Netherland 
and  New  England. I  Winthrop  and  Haynes,  as  governors 
of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  accordingly  signed  a 
joint  letter  authorizing  Peters,  "if  occasion  permit  him  to 
go  to  the  Netherlands,  to  treat  with  the  West  India  Com- 
pany there  concerning  a  peaceable  neighborhood  between" 

*  Winthrop,  ii.,  25,  26,  31,  32  ;  Chalners's  Revolt  of  the  Colonies,  i.,  83,  84. 

t  Col.  Rec.  Conn.,  68.  i  Winthrop,  ii.,  32. 


324  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  IX.  the  New  England  and  New  Netlicrland  colonists.     A  se- 
ries  of  "propositions,"  the  scope  of  which  was  to  induce 
10  October.  ^^^  Amsterdam  directors  to  define  the  limits  between  the 
mfss'ione™'  Dutch  and  English  territory  ;   "  ahstain  from  molesting" 
wi'tYuh^'^ tl^6  English  on  the  Connecticut;  and  "see  in  the  inhab- 
compsny!^  itants  of  Ncw  England,  who  number  about  forty  thousand 
souls,  a  people  who  covet  peace  in  their  ways,  the  plant- 
ing of  the  Gospel  above  all  things,  and  not  to  cause  trouble 
or  injury  in  any  manner  whatever  to  the  company,"  was 
also  sent  out  to  Peters.* 

The  New  England  agents,  on  reaching  London,  found 
many  warm  friends  of  the  Puritan  colonies.    Among  these. 
Dr.  Law-    was  Dr.  Lawrcncc  Wright,  of  the  Charter  House,  an  "  hon- 
wright,  of  ored  friend"  of  Hopkins. t      Wright  was  also  a  familiar 
correspondent  of  Sir  William  Boswell,  the  English  minis- 
ter at  the  Hague  ;  to  whom  he  immediately  sent  a  memo- 
1642.  rial  which  Hopkins  had  drawn  up,  on  the  subject  of  the 
22january.  j^j^o^jjg]^  Settlements  in  Connecticut.     In  a  few  days,  Bos- 

1  February.  °  "^    ' 

Bosweii's  -yvell  replied  to  Wright,  lamenting  that  the  unsettled  state 
Wright,  of  English  domestic  politics  had  diminished  his  own  in- 
fluence with  the  Dutch  government ;  but  suggesting  that 
the  parties  in  London  who  had  drawn  the  memorial 
should  procure  from  Parliament,  or,  "  at  least,  from  the 
House  of  Commons,"  some  declaration,  "  whereby  it  may 
appear  that  they  take  notice  and  care  of  our  people  and 
plantations  in  those  parts."  Formal  instructions  on  the 
subject  should  also  be  sent  him  from  the  council ;  and 
"persons  of  quality"  should  acquaint  the  Dutch  ambassa- 
dor in  London  with  the  state  of  the  case.  But,  above  all, 
Boswell  urged  that,  in  the  mean  time,  the  English  in  Con- 
necticut should  "  not  forbear  to  put  forward  their  planta- 
tions, and  crowd  on — crowding  the  Dutch  out  of  those 
places  where  they  have  occupied."^ 

♦  Hoi.  Doc,  vii.,  131  ;  ix.,  224,  225  ;  O'Call.,  1.,  235, 236.  As  these  papers  are  re-trans- 
iated  from  the  Dutch  in  the  Archives  at  the  Hague,  they  may  not  be  precisely  identical 
with  tlie  original  English.  But  they  show,  at  all  events,  that  Winthrop  is  strangely  io- 
accurate  in  stating  that,  when  Peters  "  undertook  to  pacify  the  West  India  Company,* 
they  "would  not  treat  with  him,"  "for  u-ant  of  corjunissionfrom  those  of  Hartford." 

t  Winthrop,  i.,  229.  i  Trumbull's  Col.  Rec.  Conn.,  App.,  p.  565,  566. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  325 


CHAPTER  X. 
1642-1643. 

The  spirit  of  popular  freedom  which  the  Dutch  colo-  chap.  a. 
nists  hrou^ht  with  them  to  New  Netherland  had  already 
made  itself  felt  by  the  provincial  government.     Under  the  ^^^^  ^^.^[^ 
pressure  of  public  sentiment,  Kieft,  though  intrusted  with  ^^^^^^  ^^,^ 
almost  dictatorial  authority,  had  been  compelled  to  sum- j^j'^Jf^^Jj^j^, 
mon  the  people  into  council,  and  yield  his  personal  wishes 
to  the  judgment  of  their  representatives.     The  war  which 
the  director  was  anxious  to  begin,  had  been  postponed  by 
the  votes  of  the  Twelve  Men.     But  Kieft  did  not  abandon 
his  design ;  the  moment  winter  had  fairly  set  in,  he  con- 
voked again  the  popular  delegates. 

The  Twelve  Men  met  accordingly.     The  murderer  of  suanuary 

.  The 

Smits  had  not  been  delivered  up ;  and  the  Indians  were  Twelve 

T      .     ,  .  .  T  ^  f  1  ^^"  again 

now  on  their  huntmg  excursions.  It  was,  therefore,  agreed  convoked. 
that  an  expedition  should  be  prepared  at  once  to  attack 
the  Weckquaesgeeks.  The  director  should  head  it  in  per- 
son, and  the  commissariat  of  the  company  should  provide 
ammunition  and  necessary  provisions.  Such  of  the  expe- 
dition as  might  be  wounded  while  on  service  should  be 
nursed,  and  their  families  maintained  at  the  expense  of 
the  company,  which  had  promised  to  "protect  and  de- 
fend" all  the  colonists.*  Upon  these  conditions  the  Twelve  Assent  to 
Men  assented  to  the  hostile  measures  which  Kieft  so  urg- rosed  e.xpe 

.  .    dition 

ently  pressed.     Their  assent  was  unwillingly  given;    ita^amstiUf, 
was   conditional,  specific,  and   limited ;   it  was  obtained  quaes- 
only  after  repeated  solicitations  had  failed  to  procure  the 
surrender  of  an  identified  murderer ;  it  had  no  ultimate 

*  IIol.  Doc,  v.,  330,  332. 


■326  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

chap.x.  design  to  exterminate  an  aboriginal  race,  that  strangers 
might  turn  the  red  man's  pleasant  hunting  grounds  into 
fields  of  waving  corn. 

Popular  But  the  popular  representatives  were  not  content  to  lim- 

spiritofthc  i  •  f     i      • 

Twelve  it  their  action  to  the  registry  of  a  proposed  decree  of  then 
director.  The  time  had  now  come  for  the  people  to  take 
the  initiative.  For  many  generations,  the  towns  and  vil- 
lages of  the  Fatherland  had  been  accustomed  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  magistrates  elected  by  their  fellow  -  citizens. 
Domineerincr  arrogance  was  restrained,  and  honest  ambi- 
tion  encouraged,  by  the  system  of  rotation  in  office,  under 
which  the  burghers  of  Holland  annually  invested  new 
candidates  with  municipal  dignities.  The  self-relying 
men,  who  had  won  their  country  from  the  sea,  and  their 
liberties  from  the  relaxing  grasp  of  feudal  prerogative, 
knew  that  they  could  govern  themselves ;  and  they  did 
govern  themselves.* 

Why  should  the  system,  under  which  Holland  had  pros- 
pered and  grown  great,  not  be  transplanted  into  New 
Netherland  ?  It  was  true,  indeed,  that  the  circumstances 
of  the  Fatherland  differed  somewhat  from  those  of  its  prov- 
ince. The  supreme  government  at  the  Hague  had  unwise- 
ly committed  the  management  of  New  Netherland  to  a 
commercial  corporation,  whose  enormous  monopoly,  at  the 
same  time,  comprehended  interests  in  comparison  with 
which  even  the  affairs  of  an  embryo  empire  were  too  often 
esteemed  insignificant.  But  if  the  Fatherland  sometimes 
forgot  its  transatlantic  province,  the  emigrants  from  Hoi- 
Desire  the  land  did  not,  in  their  wilderness  home,  forget  the  country 
of  the  Fa-  of  their  birth,  nor  her  local  names,  her  religion,  her  laws, 
and  her  freedom.  When  they  first  emigrated,  they  volun- 
tarily pledged  themselves  to  submit  to  the  government  of 
the  West  India  Company.  For  many  years  they  did  pa- 
tiently submit  to  that  government ;  and  though  experi- 

*  Alb.  Rec.,  X.,  221  ;  xix.,  131  ;  "  It  is  customary  in  our  Fatherland,  and  other  well-regu- 
lated governments,  that  some  change  takes  place  annually  in  the  magistracy,  so  that  some 
new  ones  are  appointed,  and  some  are  continued  to  inform  the  newly  appointed."  See 
also  Meyer's  "Institutions  Judiciaires,"  iii.,  47-70,  165-185  ;  Davies,  i., "iT-lOe;  O'Cali., 
i.,  392  ;  post  p.  453. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  327 

ence  had  prompted   many  to   long  for  those   franchises  ckap.  x 
which  they  had  enjoyed  in  Holland,  no  opportunity  for  in- 
troducing  any  political  reforms  had  yet  occurred. 

The  grievance  which  they  felt  most  oppressively  was  organiza- 
the  organization  of  the  Council  of  New  Netherland.     This,  Provincial 

i'        T        -»T  1       Council  the 

in  effect,  was  the  director  alone;  for  La  Montague,  the  chief  griev- 

'  .  .  ance. 

only  nominal  counselor,  had  but  one  vote,  while  Kieft  re- 
served two  votes  to  himself.  It  often  happened,  however, 
that  the  director  found  it  necessary  to  have  the  assistance 
of  other  persons  ;  and  on  these  occasions,  instead  of  call- 
ing upon  such  of  the  colonists  as  were  the  most  compe- 
tent and  worthy,  he  invariably  chose  some  of  the  inferior 
agents  of  the  company  ;  "  common  people,"  who  were  de- 
pendent immediately  upon  himself  for  their  daily  emolu- 
ments. This  naturally  excited  criticism  and  distrust ; 
and  the  discontent  of  the  community  was  now  officially 
expressed  in  a  memorial  to  the  director.  The  Twelve  Men 
demanded  that  the  colonial  council  should  be  reorganized,  21  January. 

^  '  The 

and  the  number  of  its  members  mcreased,  so  that  there  Twelve 

Men  de- 
should  be  at  least  five  ;  for,  argued  the  popular  represent-  mand  re- 

atives,  "in  the  Fatherland  the  council  of  even  a  small 
village  consists  of  five  or  seven  schepens."  To  save  "  the 
land  from  oppression,"  four  persons,  elected  by  the  com- 
monalty, should  have  seats  in  the  colonial  council.  Two 
of  these  four  counselors  should  annually  be  replaced  by 
two  others,  to  be  chosen  from  the  Twelve  Men  selected  by 
the  people.  The  company's  "  common  men"  should  no 
longer  have  seats  in  the  council.  Judicial  proceedings 
should  be  had  only  before  a  full  board.  The  militia  of  the 
province  should  be  mustered  annually,  and  every  male, 
capable  of  bearing  arms,  should  be  required  to  attend  with 
a  good  gun ;  the  company  to  furnish  each  man  with  half 
a  pound  of  powder  for  the  occasion.  Every  freeman  should 
be  allowed  to  visit  vessels  arriving  from  abroad,  "  as  the 
custom  is  in  Holland."  All  the  colonists  should  enjoy 
the  right  freely  to  go  to  and  trade  with  the  neighbor- 
ing places  belonging  to  friends  and  allies,  always  paying 
the  company's  duties  and  imposts.     To  these  demands, 


cessions. 


328  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  X.  conccived  in  an  enlarged  and  liberal  spirit,  the  Twelve 
Men  added  two  others,  dictated  by  a  short-sighted  impol- 
icy. As  some  kinds  of  cattle  imported  from  Holland  had 
fallen  in  value,  in  consequence  of  the  sale  of  English  stock 
within  New  Netherland,  they  asked  that,  in  future.  En- 
glish  traders  should  be  allowed  to  introduce  oxen  and.  poul- 
try only,  and  should  be  forbidden  to  sell  cows  or  goats. 
And,  to  prevent  the  currency  of  the  province  being  ex- 
ported, they  solicited  that  its  nominal  value  should  be 
increased. 

Kieft'scon-  Klcft's  jealousy  was  aroused  by  the  demands  of  the  pop- 
ular delegates ;  but  he  saw  the  imprudence  of  refusing 
any  concessions.  He  replied,  that  he  had  already  written 
to  Holland,  and  expected,  by  the  first  ships,  "  some  per- 
sons of  quality,"  and  "  a  complete  council."  The  "  com- 
mon men"  had  been  called  upon  because  the  council  was 
so  small ;  but  the  commonalty  might  now  choose  four  per- 
sons "  to  help  in  maintaining  justice  for  them."  Two  of 
these  persons  should  be  changed  every  year ;  they  should 
be  called  into  council  "  when  need  required,"  and  certain 
times  in  the  year  should  also  be  appointed  for  them  to  as- 
semble together  "upon  public  affairs,"  and  advise  upon 
specific  propositions — "  thus  far  their  authority  should  ex- 
tend." With  respect  to  the  Twelve  Men,  added  the  di- 
rector, "  I  am  not  aware  that  they  have  received  from  the 
commonalty  larger  powers  than  simply  to  give  their  ad- 
vice respecting  the  murder  of  the  late  Claes  Smits."  An 
annual  muster  of  the  militia  should  be  required  ;  but  as 
the  company  was  bound  to  provide  ammunition  only  in 
cases  of  emergency,  he  could  not  furnish  powder  merely 
for  practice.  The  freemen  could  not  be  allowed  to  visit 
vessels  arriving  from  abroad  ;  it  would  be  contrary  to  the 
company's  instructions,  and  "  would  lead  to  disorder,"  es- 
pecially as  several  prizes  were  soon  expected  in  port.  The 
inhabitants  might,  however,  freely  trade  with  neighboring 
friendly  colonies,  upon  condition  of  paying  the  company's 
recognitions,  and  abstaining  from  trade  with  the  enemy. 
The  English  should  be  prohibited,  in  future,  from  selling 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  309 

70WS  and  sheep  within  New  Netherland ;  and  tlie  vakie  chap.  x. 
of  the  provincial  currency  should  be  raised. 

Thus  ended  the  first  attempt  to  ingraft  upon  New  Neth-  j.^^  ^^^^^ 
erland  the  franchises  of  the  Fatherland.     The  demand  of  monaity*"" 
the  commonalty  was  the  spontaneous  act  of  the  emigrants  ous"^*"*' 
from  Holland,  who  composed  the  Twelve  Select  Men  of 
the  Province.     It  was  prompted  by  no  desire  to  imitate 
any  other  form  of  government  than  that  to  which  they  had 
been  accustomed  in  their  Fatherland. 

But  Kieft  was  no  friend  to  popular  reform.     He  had 
secured  the  assent  of  the  representatives  of  the  people  to 
the  hostilities  which  he  longed  to  commence  against  the 
savages.     In  return,  a  reluctant  promise  of  very  limited 
concessions  had  been  extorted,  which,  if  he  ever  intended 
to  do  it,  the  event  proved  he  never  did  fulfill.     He  there-  Kieft  dis- 
fore  determined  to  save  himself  from  further  embarrass- "Twelve 
ment  by  dissolving  the  Twelve  Men.     A  proclamation  was  is  Feb. 
presently  issued,  thanking  them  for  their  advice  in  respect 
to  the  war  against  the  savages,  which  would  be  adopted, 
"with  G-od's  help  and  in  fitting  time;"   and  forbidding 
the  calling  of  any  assemblies  or  meetings  of  the  people 
without  an  express  order  of  the  director,  as  they  "  tend  to 
dangerous  consequences,  and  to  the  great  injury  both  of 
the  country  and  of  our  authority."* 

The  director  did  not  delay  the  execution  of  his  cherish-  March. 
ed  design,  which  the  people  had  now  formally  sanctioned,  fm  expedi- 
barly  the  next  month,  an  expedition  of  eighty  men  was  tiie  wecu- 
dispatched  against  the  Weckquaesgeeks,  with  orders  togeeUs 
punish  that  tribe  with  fire  and  sword.     Kieft  did  not  head 
the  forces  in  person,  but  intrusted  the  command  to  Ensign 
Hendrick  van  Dyck,  who  had  now  been  about  two  years 
in  garrison  service  at  Fort  Amsterdam.     A  guide,  who  pro- 
•  fessed  a  full  knowledge  of  the  country,  accomjianied  the 
expedition,  which  pressed  on  vigorously  toward  the  ene- 
my's village.     Crossing  the  Haerlem  River,  Van  Dyck  ar- 
rived in  the  evening  at  Armenperal,t  where  he  halted  his 

*  llol.  Doc,  iii.,  175-180,  214,  i215  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  244-240 ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  9. 
t  This  was  the  Sprain  River,  which  rises  back  of  Dobbs's  Ferry,  and  empties  into 
the  Bronx.— Bolton,  ii.,  490,  49J. 


330         HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  X.  Command.  The  men  were  eager  to  push  on  before  the 
savages  should  be  warned  of  their  coming.  But  more  than 
■  an  hour  was  lost  by  delay ;  night  set  in  dark  and  cloud- 
ed ;  and  the  guide  missed  his  way.  Van  Dyck,  in  the 
midst  of  embarrassment,  losing  his  temper,  ordered  a  re- 
treat ;  and  the  expedition,  which  Kieft  had  dispatched  to 
lay  waste  the  wigwams  of  the  West  Chester  savages,  re- 
turned to  Fort  Amsterdam  in  all  the  mortification  of  fail- 
ure. 

Yet  a  fortunate  result  followed.     The  Indians,  alarmed 
at  the  danger  to  which  the  trail  of  the  white  men  showed 
Treaty      them  they  had  been  exposed,  sent  to  ask  for  peace.     Van 
Week-       Tienhoven,  the  provincial  secretary,  was  therefore  dispatch- 
at  Bronx    cd  to  Wcst  Chester,  and  a  treaty  was  made  with  the  Weck- 
quaesgeeks,  on  the  Bronx  River,  at  the  house  of  the  pion- 
eer  colonist,  Jonas    Bronck.     The   Indians   bound  them- 
selves to  surrender  the  murderer  of  Smits ;  but  they  never 
fulfilled  their  promise.* 
Hostile  The  treaty  with  the  Weckquaesgeeks  had  scarcely  been 

temper  of  iiiip  t  ii  ^        n 

the  Con-     coucluded  Dcfore  rumors  began  to  spread  that  the  Connec- 

necticut  In-  t         •  i  i        i 

dians.        ticut  savagcs  wcrc  meditatmg  a  bloody  vengeance  agamst 
the  European   colonists.     Uncas,  the  chief  of  the  Mohe- 
gans,  who  was  in  high  favor  with  the  English  for  his  as- 
sistance in  exterminating  the  Pequods,  sought  to  discredit 
his  rival  Miantonomoh,  the  chief  of  the  Narragansetts ; 
and  accused  him  of  combining  with  the  sachems  on  the 
Connecticut,  to  destroy  the  colonists  throughout  New  En- 
gland.    Anxiety  and  alarm  prevailed ;  Hartford  and  Ts^ew 
Haven  concerted  measures  of  defense ;  and  a  constant  vig- 
ilance was  thought  indispensable  to  the  security  of  the 
English  plantations.t 
Tho  settle-      Under  these  circumstances.  Captain  Patrick  and  his 
Greenwich  frlcnds,  wlio  had  now  been  established  about  two  years  at » 
the  Dutch.  Greenwich,  determined  to  submit  themselves  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  New  Netherland.     Tliey  declared  that  they 

*  De  Vries,  164  ;  Journal  van  N.  N.  ;  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  107,  146,  166,  371  .  Alb.  Rec,  ii., 
202  ;  iii.,  25  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  9. 

t  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  106,  107  ;  Col.  Rec  Conn.,  71,  73  ;  Winthrop,  ii.,  78, 79,  80-64  ;  Trum 
bull,  i.,  121 ;  Hutchinson,  i.,  108,  109  ;  Hubbard's  Indian  Wars,  42. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  331 

3ould   no  longer   remain   usurpers    against  the  ''  lawful  chap.  x. 
rights"  of  the  Dutch,  on  account  "  both  of  the  strifes  of 


1  p  1  o 

the   English,  the  danger  consequent  thereon,  and  these 

treacherous  and  villainous  Indians,  of  whom  we  have  seen 
sorrowful  examples  enough."  Patrick,  therefore,  went  tooApru. 
Fort  Amsterdam,  and,  for  himself  and  his  associates  at 
Greenwich,  swore  allegiance  to  the  States  General,  the 
West  India  Company,  and  the  Dutch  colonial  authorities, 
upon  condition  of  being  protected  against  their  enemies 
as  much  as  possible,  and  of  enjoying  the  same  privileges 
"that  all  patroons  of  New  Netherland  have  obtained  agree- 
ably to  the  Freedoms."* 

The  Puritan  colonists,  who,  in  their  new  home  in  Amer-  Religious 
ica,  were  exulting  over  the  fall  of  Laud,  had,  meanwhile,  of  Mast"^ 
been  reading  a  significant  lesson  to  the  world.  In  their 
turn,  the  founders  of  Massachusetts  became  persecutors ; 
and,  so  far  from  recognizing  the  grand  principle  of  the 
freedom  of  every  one's  conscience,  required  the  submission 
of  all  to  their  peculiar  ecclesiastical  system.  "  The  arm 
of  the  civil  government,"  says  Judge  Story,  "was  constant- 
ly employed  in  support  of  the  denunciations  of  the  Church ; 
and,  without  its  forms,  the  Inquisition  existed  in  substance, 
with  a  full  share  of  its  terrors  and  its  violence."! 

A  shining  mark  was  soon  offered.     Among  the  earliest 
who  followed  Winthrop  to  Massachusetts  was  Roger  Will-  Roger 
iams,  "  a  young  minister,  godly,  zealous,  having  many    '  '""*" 
precious  parts."     Revolving  the  nature  of  intolerance,  his 
capacious  mind  found  a  sole  remedy  for  it  in  "  the  sanc- 
tity of  conscience."    "  The  civil  magistrate  should  restrain 
crime,  but  never  control  opinion."     The  mind  of  Williams, 
however,  was  in  advance  of  the  spirit  of  his  neighbors. 
His  ideas  of  "  intellectual  liberty"  shocked  the  religious 
despotism  of  Massachusetts  ;  and  the  General  Court  sen-   1635. 
tenced  him  to  depart  out  of  their  jurisdiction  within  six  Exuer 
weeks,  "all  the  ministers,  save  one,  approving  the  sen- sachu^eus 
tence."1:     Flying  to  the  South,  the  exile  wandered  through 

*  llol.  Doc,  ix.,  204  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  252  ;  Hazard,  ii.,  214  ;  atite,  p.  296.  "  Captain's  Isl- 
and," on  which  stands  the  light-house  off  Greenwich,  no  doubt  derived  its  name  froiu 
Captain  Patrick.  t  Story's  Miscellanies,  66.  X  Winthrop,  i.,  171. 


333  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  X  the  forests,  in  mid-winter,  for  fourteen  weeks,  until  at  last 

he  found  a  refuo^e  in  the  wijrwam  of  the  chief  of  Pokano- 

T..„„o„. '  ket.     The  next  summer,  the  father  of  Rhode  Island  laid 

Founds  ^^6  foundations  of  Providence ;  desiring,  he  said,  "  it  might 

Provi- 
dence. 


be  a  shelter  for  persons  distressed  for  conscience."* 


The  banishment  of  Williams  was  soon  followed  by  oth- 
Ami<!        er  persecutions  in  Massachusetts.     Anne  Hutchinson,  for 
so".'^""     maintaining  "the  paramount  authority  of  private  judg- 
ment," was  denounced   as  "  weakening  the  hands   and 
hearts  of  the  people  toward  the  ministers,"  and  as  being 

1637.  "  like  Roger  Williams,  or  worse."     She  was,  therefore,  ex- 
November.  commuuicated,  and,  with  several  of  her  friends,  banished, 
Banished.   ^^  "unfit  for  the  socicty"  of  their  fellow-citizens.     The  ex- 
iles instinctively  followed  the  footsteps  of  Williams,     His 

1638.  influence  aided  them  in  obtaining  from  the  chief  of  the 
24  March.  jN^aj-j-agausetts  the  cession  of  the  island  of  Adquidnecke, 
Rhode isi-  which,  from  its  "reddish  appearance,"  its  early  Dutch 
ed.  """     discoverers  had  named  the  "Roode,"  or  Red  Island.     A 

1641.  form  of  government,  resting  on  "  the  principle  of  intellect- 
March,       ^g^^  liberty,"  was  soon  established ;  and  the  first  Demo- 
cratic Constitution  of  Rhode  Island  nobly  ordained  that 
"  none  be  accounted  a  delinquent  for  doctrine  ;"  and  de- 
xilared  that  "  liberty  of  conscience  was  perpetuated."! 
Proposed   ,     The  same  spirit  which  had  driven  Williams  and  Hutch- 
fionl7rom  iusou  from  Massachusctts  soon  brought  to  Manhattan  "  a 
setfs^to'"  number  of  Englishmen"  from  Lynn  and  Ipswich,  to  "  so- 
tnZid.^    licit  leave  to  settle"  among  the  Dutch,  and  to  treat  with 
the  director  for  a  patent  for  lands  on  Long  Island.     Kieft 
readily  agreed  to  grant  them  all  the  franchises  which  the 
f,  June.      charter  of  1640  allowed.     Upon  condition  of  their  taking 
nfthe^'^  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  States  General  and  the  West 
vinciai  gov- India  Company,  they  were  to  have  the  free  exercise  of  re- 
ligion, a  magistracy  nominated  by  themselves  and  approved 
by  the  director,  the  right  to  erect  towns,  lands  free  of  rent 
for  ten  years,  and  "  an  unshackled  commerce,  in  conform- 
ity to  the  privileges  of  New  Netherland."1: 

*  Bradford  ;  Winthrop,  i.,  171 ;  Backus,  i.,  94  ;  Bancroft,  i.,  3fi6,  367,  379. 
t  Hutchinson,  ii,,  447  ;  R.  I.  Records  ;  Bancroft,  i.,  368,  392,  393  ;  Chalmers,  271  ;  ante, 
p.  58.  '  i  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  122,  123,  169;  O'Call.,  i..  237 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  333 

These  "  very  fair  terms"  delighted  the  English  appii-  chap.  x. 
cants.     The  G-eneral  Court  of  Massachusetts,  however,  of- 
fended  at  the  thought  of  their  "  strengthening  the  Dutch,  October. 
our  doubtful  neighbors,"  and  at  their  being  willing  to  re- J,^!\'|°g '^^", 
oeive  from  them  a  title  for  lands   which  the  king  had^^ij^ssT 
granted  to  Lord  Stirling;  but,  above  all,  at  their  "binding''''"®"'^ 
themselves  by  an  oath  of  fealty,"  sought  to  dissuade  them 
from  their  purpose.     The  arguments  of  the  court  prevail- 
ed, and  the  discontented  colonists  "  were  convinced,  and 
promised  to  desist."* 

Early   the   next  year,  Francis   Doughty,  a  dissenting   1642. 
clergyman,  while  preaching  at  Cohasset,  was  dragged  outDoughfy 
of  the  assembly  for  venturing  to  assert  that  "  Abraham's  hLtseif  to 
children  should  have  been  baptized."     Accompanied  by"^ 
Richard    Smith,  and  several  other   liberal-minded  men. 
Doughty  came  to  Manhattan,  to  secure  a  happy  home. 
He  betook  himself  to  the  protection  of  the  Dutch,  "  that 
he   might,  in   conformity  with  the   Dutch  Reformation, 
have  freedom  of  conscience,  which,  contrary  to  his  expec- 
tation, he  missed  in  New  England."     Kieft  received  the  28  March, 
strangers   kindly,  and  immediately  granted  to   Doughty  Mespath,«T 
and  his  associates  "  an  absolute  ground-brief"  for  more 
than  thirteen  thousand  acres  of  land  at  Mespath,  or  New- 
town, on  Long  Island.     The  patent  guaranteed  to  them 
the  freedom  of  religion,  and  all  the  political  franchises 
which  had  before  been  offered  to  the  people  of  Lynn  and 
Ipswich,  "  according  to  the  immunities  granted  and  to  be 
granted  to  the  colonists  of  this  province,  without  any  ex- 
ception."! 

In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  John  Throgmorton,  Joim 
whom  Hugh  Peters  had  judged  "worthy  of  the  same  per- ton  and  i.is 
.^secution  that  drove  Williams  to  Providence,"  came  to  Man-  tiTtucm'^'' 
hattan  to  solicit  a  residence  under  the  iurisdiction  of  the  Throg-s 

...  .  Neck 

States  G  eneral.     Kieft  readily  listened  to  Throgmorton's  2  octoi  er 
request ;  and  granted  him  permission  to  settle  himself, 
"  with  thirty-five  English  families,"  within  twelve  miles 

*  Winthrop,  ii.,  34. 

t  Vertoogh  van  N.  N.,  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  301,  333  ;  Lechford,  40,  41  ;  Alb.  Re-. 
G.  G.,  49  ;  O'Call.,  i..  425  ;  Thompson,  L.  I.,  ii.,  70  ;  Riker's  Newtown,  17,413. 


3U4        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  X.  of  Fort  Amsterdam,  "  to  reside  there  in  peace,  and  enjoy 
the  same  privileges  as  our  other  subjects,  and  be  favored 
■  with  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion."*     The  refugees 
selected  for  their  home  the  lands  on  the  East  River,  now 
known  as  West  Chester,  which  the  Dutch  appropriately 
vredeiami.  named  "Vredeland,"  or  the  "Land  of  Peace;"  and  the 
next  summer,  Throgmorton  obtained  a  patent  for  a  por- 
tion of  the  territory  where  he   and  his   companions  had 
found  an  asylum.t 
Anne  Even  Rhode  Island  seemed  hardly  as  desirable  an  abode 

son  re-      as  New  Ncthcrland.     Becoming  dissatisfied  with  her  first 
New  Neiii-  retreat,  and  fearing  that  the  implacable  vengeance  of  Mas- 
sachusetts would  reach  her  even  there,  the  widowed  Anne 
Hutchinson,  in  the  summer  of  1642,  removed,  with  Col- 
lins, her  son-in-law — "  a  young  scholar  full  of  zeal" — and 
all  her  family,  beyond  New  Haven,  into  the  Dutch  terri- 
tory, and  chose  for  her  residence  the  point  now  known  as 
•     Pelham  Neck,  near  New  Rochelle,  a  few  miles  eastward 
seiiiement  of  Throgmortou's  Settlement.     The  spot  was  soon  called 
iioeck."     "  Annie's  Hoeck  ;"  and  a  small  stream,  which  separates  it 
from  the  town  of  East  Chester,  still  preserves  in  its  name, 
"  Hutchinson's   River,"  the   memory  of  the  remarkable 
woman  who  there  found  her  last  home.t 
Motives  to       These  large  emigrations  to  New  Netherland,  where  five 
enaig^a-^    English  colouies  were  soon  established,  did  not  fail  to  at- 
NewEn-    tract  the  notice  of  the  Puritan  authorities.     The  "unset- 
tled frame  of  spirit"  of  many  was  attributed  to  the  sudden 
fall  of  land  and  cattle,  and  the  scarcity  of  foreign  commod- 
ities ;  and  there  was  "much  disputation"  in  Massachusetts 
"  about  liberty  of  removing  for  outward   advantages." ^^ 
There  were  doubtless  some  who  emigrated  merely  to  en- 
large their  estates.     But  there  were  many  others,  whose 
only  motive  for  the  change  was  the  religious  intolerance 

*  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  185. 

t  Alb.  Rec.  G.  G.,  98,  173,  174  ;  Winthrop,  i.,  42  ;  Hutchinson,  i.,  371  ;  Benson's  Mem- 
oir, 121 ;  Bolton's  West  Chester,  ii.,  145,  146,  152.    The  point  now  known  as  "  Throg's 
Neck"  was  comprehended  within  this  grant,  and,  no  doubt,  derives  its  name  from  Tlirog- 
morton. 
«         t  Winthrop,  ii.,  8,  39,  136  ;  Neal,  i.,  178  ;  Hutchinson,  i.,  72,  73  ;  Bolton,      514,  515 

ti  Winthrop,  ii.,  85,  87  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  6. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  335 

of  their  own  countrymen.     They  left  New  England  to  seek,  chap.  x. 
in  New  Netherland,  "  freedom  to  worship  G-od." 

Besides  the  numerous  strangers  whose  "  insupportable  j.^^^  j,^^' 
government"  drove  them  to  seek  permanent  homes  in  the  gf/an^ers 
Dutch  Province,  there  flocked  from  Virginia  and  New  En- f','^'*"^'''' 
gland  many  fugitive  servants,  "who  too  often  carry  their ^J.^JJ^'j^"* 
passports   with   them   under   the    soles   of  their   shoes." 
Their  conduct  at  Manhattan  was  soon  found  to  occasion 
mischief  and  complaint.     Kieft,  therefore,  issued  a  proc- 13  April. 
lamation  forbidding  the  inhabitants  to  harbor  any  stran- reguia- 
gers,  or  give  them  more  than  one  meal  or  a  single  night's 
lodging,  without  notifying  the  director,  and  furnishing  him 
with  the  names  of  the  new-comers.* 

The  constant  intercourse   at   this  time  between  New 
England  and  Virginia  brought  many  transient  visitors  to 
Manhattan.     On  their  way  to  and  from  Long  Island  Sound 
and  Sandy  Hook,  the  coasting  vessels  always  stopped  at 
Fort  Amsterdam ;  and  the  increasing  number  of  his  guests 
occasioned  great  inconvenience  to  the  director,  who  fre- 
quently could  afford  them  but  "  slender  entertainment." 
Kieft,  therefore,  built  "  a  fine  hotel  of  stone"  at  the  com-  Kieft 
pany's    expense,  where  travellers   "might   now   go   and  stone  hotel 
lodge."     This  hotel,  or  "Harberg,"  was  conveniently  sit-iers. 
uated  on  the  river  side,  a  little  east  of  Fort  Amsterdam, 
near  what  is  at  present  known  as  "  Coenties  Slip."t 

The  old  church  had  now  become  dilapidated  ;  and  De  a  new 
Vries,  dining  with  Kieft,  told  him  it  was  a  shame  that  the  posed. 
English,  when  they  visited  Manhattan,  "saw  only  a  mean 
barn  in  which  we  preached."  "  The  first  thing  they  built 
in  New  England,  after  their  dwelling-houses,  was  a  fine 
church ;  we  should  do  the  like,"  urged  De  Vries ;  "  we 
have  fine  oak  wood,  good  mountain  stone,  and  excellent 
lime,  which  we  burn  from  oyster-shells — much  better  than 
our  lime  in  Holland."  "Who  shall  oversee  the  work?" 
asked  Kieft,  whose  anxiety  "  to  leave  a  great  name  after 
him"  was  the  more  earnest,  as  a  church  was  then  in 

*  Journal  van  N.  N.,  in  IIoI.  Doc,  iii.,  98  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  6  ;  Alii  Rec,  il.,  161. 
t  De  Vries,  163     Winthrop,  ii.,  96  ;  Moulton's  New  Orange,  21. 


1642. 


336  HISTOIIY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  X.  Contemplation  at  Rensselaerswyck.  "  There  are  friends 
enough  of  the  Reformed  religion,"  answered  De  Tries, 
who  immediately  subscribed  one  hundred  guilders,  upon 
condition  that  the  director  should  head  the  list.  Jochem 
Pietersen  Kuyter,  "  a  devout  professor  of  the  Reformed  re- 
ligion," and  Jan  Jansen  Dam,  who  lived  "  close  by  the 
Church      fort,"  wcrc   immediately  appointed,  with   De  Vries   and 

masters  ap-  .  iii-ii-  i 

pointed.  Kicft,  church  mastcrs  to  supermtend  the  buildmg ;  toward 
the  cost  of  which  the  director  agreed  to  advance  "  some 
thousand  guilders"  on  the  company's  account.  For  great- 
er security  "  against  all  sudden  attacks  of  the  Indians," 
the  church  was  ordered  to  be  erected  within  the  fort. 
This  decision,  however,  was  not  satisfactory ;  for  as  it 
was  to  be  built  chiefly  by  public  subscription,  the  people 
thought  that  it  should  be  placed  where  it  would  be  gen- 
erally convenient.  Besides,  the  fort  was  small  enough 
already,  and  a  church  within  it  would  be  "a  fifth  wheel 
to  a  wagon."  It  would  intercept,  too,  the  southeast  wind, 
and  prevent  the  working  of  the  grist-mill  hard  by.  But 
Kieft  insisted,  and  all  objections  were  overruled.* 

It  only  remained  to  secure  the  necessary  subscriptions. 
Fortunately,  it  happened  that  the  daughter  of  Domine  Bo- 
gardus  was  married  just  then ;  and  Kieft  thought  the  wed- 
ding-feast a  good  opportunity  to  excite  the  generosity  of 

subscrip-   the  guests.     So,  "  after  the  fourth  or  fifth  round  of  drink- 

tions  Qb-      . 

tained..  lug,"  hc  showcd  a  liberal  example  himself,  and  let  the 
other  wedding  guests  subscribe  what  they  would  toward 
the  church  fund.  All  the  company,  with  light  heads  and 
glad  hearts,  vied  with  each  other  in  "  subscribing  richly." 
Some  of  them,  when  they  went  home,  "  well  repented  it ;" 
but  "nothing  availed  to  excuse."! 

May.  A  contract  was  made  with  John  and  Richard  Ogden,  of 

Stamford,  for  the  mason-work  of  a  stone  church  seventy- 
two  feet  long,  fifty  wide,  and  sixteen  high,  at  a  cost  of 
twenty-five  hundred  guilders,  and  a  gratuity  of  one  hund- 
red more  if  the  work  should  be  satisfactory.     The  walls 

*  De  Vries,  164  ;  Vertoogh  van  N.  N.,  293. 

t  Vertoogh  van  N.  N.,  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  t93. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  337 

'.vere  soon  built ;  and  the  roof  was  raised  and  covered  by  ckap.  x. 
English  carpenters  with  oak  shingles,  which,  by  expoaure  '  ~ 

to  the  weather,  soon  "  looked  like  slate."     The  honor  and  (^jJurchT,, 
the  ownership  of  the  work  were  both  commemorated  by  a  fterd^m 
square  stone  inserted  in  the  front  wall,  bearing  the  am- 
biguous inscription,  "Anno  Domini,  1642,  "William  Kieft, 
Director  General,  hath  the  Commonalty  caused  to  build 
this  Temple."* 

The  Provincial   government  before  long  felt  some  in- 
convenience from  "the  large  number  of  Englishmen"  who 
daily  came  to  reside  in  New  Netherland.     Though  Kieft 
himself  was  "  roughly  acquainted  with  the  English  lan- 
guage," his  subordinate  officers  were  not;  and  the  En- 
glish strangers  knowing  the  language  of  the  province  as 
little  as  the  Dutch  did  of  that  of  the  new-comers,  it  was 
found  necessary  to  have  an  official  interpreter.     One  of  George' 
the  exiles  from  New  England,  George  Baxter,  was   ac- pointed  En- 
cordingly  appointed  "  English  secretary,"  at  an  annual  sal-  tary. 
ary  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  guilders.! 

The   party  which  Lamberton  had   sent,  the   previous  Affairs  on 
summer,  from  New  Haven  to  the  South  River,  having,  in  River. 
violation    of  their    pledge,  established  themselves    upon 
Dutch  territory,  "  without  any  commission  of  a  potentate," 
Kieft,  on  finding  how  he  had  been  cajoled,  determined 
"  to  drive  these  English  thence  in  the  best  manner  possi- 
ble."    The  yachts  Real  and  Saint  Martin  were  therefore  22  i\jay. 
dispatched  to  Jansen,  the   commissary  at  Fort  Nassau,  tion  dis- 
who  was  instructed  to  visit  the  intruders,  and  "  compel  from  Man- 
them  to  depart  directly  in  peace."     Their  personal  prop- 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iii.,  31  ;  Hoi.  Doc,  iv. ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  11.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  382  ;  ii.,  293  ;  O'Call.,  i., 
262  ;  Breeden  Raedt,  22.  It  appears,  from  the  Breeden  Raedt,  that  the  church  was  not 
inclosed  until  1643.  When  the  fort  was  demolished  in  1790,  to  make  way  for  the  Gov- 
jrnment  House,  which  was  built  on  the  site  of  what  is  now  the  "  Bowling  Green,"  the 
stone  with  the  inscription  was  found  among  the  rubbish.  The  following  paragraph  from 
the  "AVtu  York  Magazme''  for  1790,  records  the  circum.stance :  -'June  23.  On  Monday 
last,  in  digging  away  the  foundation  of  the  fort  in  this  city,  a  square  stone  was  found 
among  the  ruins  of  a  chapel  (which  formerly  stood  in  the  fort),  with  the  following  Dutch 
inscription  on  it:  'Ao.  Do.  MDCXLII.  W.  Kieft  Dr.  Gr.  Ileeft  de  Gemeenten  dese  Tern- 
pel  doen  Bouwen.' "  This  stone  was  removed  to  the  belfry  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  church 
in  Garden  Street,  where  it  remained  until  both  were  destroyed  in  the  great  fire  of  Decem- 
ber, 1835.— ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  328    Benson's  Mem.,  103  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  V.,  iii.,  402. 

+  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  202. 


338  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  X.  erty  was  not  to  he  injured  ;  but  the  commissary  was  to 
"  remain  master,"  and,  above  all,  "  maintain  the  reputa- 
tion of  their  High  Mightinesses,  and  the  noble  directors 
of  the  West  India  Company." 

The  En-         Jauscn  cxccutcd  his  orders  promptly.     The  settlement 

glish  settle-  ,         _,    ,  n-ii  ii  i«' 

merits       on  thc  fecliuylkill  was  broken  up  at  once.     That  on  the 
'  Varkens'  Kill,  or  Salem  Creek,  was  next  visited,  and,  with 
the  hearty  co-operation  of  the  Swedes,  who  had  agreed 
with  Kieft  "to  keep  out  the  English,"  the  intruders  were 
expelled.     The  trespassers  were  conveyed  to  Fort  Amster- 
28  August,  dam,  and  from  there  sent  back  to  New  Haven.     Lam- 
compeiied  bcrtou,  howcvcr,  persisting  in  trading  at  the  South  River, 
at  Manhat-  was  soou  afterward  arrested  at  Manhattan,  on  his  return  to 
New  Haven,  and  compelled  to  give  an  account  of  his  pel- 
tries, and  pay  duties  on  his  cargo.     The  New  Haven  peo- 
ple protested,  and  threatened  retaliation.     But  Kieft  fur- 
nished the  Dutch  who  had  occasion  to  visit  the  "  Red 
Hills"  with  passports,  in  which  he  boldly  avowed  his  own 
responsibility  for  all  that  had  happened.     The  damage? 
which  the  English  sustained  at  the  South  River  were  es- 
timated at  one  thousand  pounds ;  but  though  they  com- 
plained bitterly,  they  never  obtained  redress.* 
Difficulties       The  difficulties  between  the  Dutch  garrison  at  the  Hope 
and  the  English  at  Hartford  continued  unabated.     Eve- 
ry vexation  that  ingenuity  could  contrive  was  practiced 
against  the   Hollanders,  who,  on  the    other    hand,  were 
charged  with  enticing  away  and  sheltering  the  servants 
of  the  English  colonists  ;  with  helping  prisoners  in  jail  to 
escape ;  and  with  purchasing  and  retaining  goods  stolen 
s  April,      from  the  English.    Under  these  circumstances,  Kieft,  find- 
bids  inter-  ing  that  his  protcsts  were  of  no  effect,  had  recourse  to  re- 

cflur-sewith  i       n  i  i  •    i    • 

Hartford,  taliatory  measures  ;  and  all  trade  and  commercial  mter- 
course  with  the  Hartford  people,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  Dutch  post,  was  formally  prohibited. t 

*  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  162,  164,  IT",  185 ;  Acrclius  ;  i.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  413  ;  ii.,  281 ; 
O'Call.,  i.,  254;  Hazard,  ii.,  164,  214;  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  61,  62;  Ferris,  59,  60; 
Trumbull,  i.,  122,  123. 

+  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  157,  158;  Hazard,  ii.,  216,  265;  i.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  276  ;  Trumbull. 
i.,  18S. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  339 

It  was  not  long  before  the  Hartford  authorities  felt  the  chap.  x 
inconvenience  of  their  position.    The  Greneral  Court,  there-       ~ 
fore,  ordered  that  the  magistrates  "shall  have  liberty  to^  ^j.^^."' 
agitate  the  business  betwixt  us  and  the  Dutch,  and,  if 
they  think  meet,  to  treat  with  the  governor  concerning 
the  same."*    Under  this  authority,  Whiting,  a  magistrate,  oeiegatio 
and  Hill,  a  deputy  of  Hartford,  came  to  Manhattan,  to  ar-  ford'vis,i,s 
range  with  the  director  for  the  purchase  of  the  West  In-juh'.'^"*" 
dia  Company's  lands  around  the  Hope.     Kieft,  after  ex-gjuiy 
plaining  in  detail  the  antiquity  of  the  Dutch  title,  offered 
to  lease  "the  field  at  Hartford"  to  the  English,  for  an  an- 
nual rent  of  a  tenth  part  of  the  produce,  as  long  as  they 
should  occupy  it.     The   delegates,  on  their  return,  sub- The  Dutch 
mitted  these  conditions  to  the  Greneral  Court.     But  notio^fs!''' 
abatement  of  annoyance  followed.     The  coveted  field  was 
again  despitefully  plowed  up  by  the  Hartford  people,  who 
even  prevented  "  cattle  that  belonged  not  to  them"  from 
being  driven  toward  New  Netherland.t 

There  was  a  strong,  though  not,  perhaps,  an  honorable 
motive  for  this  system  of  petty  annoyance.     Hopkins  had 
now  returned  from  London,  bringing  with  him  Boswell's 
letter  to  Wright.    The  recommendation  of  the  British  min-  PoUcy  ami 
ister  at  the  Hague,  "  Crowd  on — crowd  the  Dutch  out,"  the  iiln- 
was  now  to  be  the  system  by  which  New  Netherland  was,       ^''^'' 
by  degrees,  to  be  dismembered  of  her  territory,  and  grad- 
ually separated  from  Holland.     The  General  Court  direct-  29  sept 
ed  that  "  a  letter  be  returned  to  the  Dutch,  in  answer  to 
their  letter  brought  by  Mr.  Whiting ;"  and  also  that  let- 
ters should  be  written  to  Dudley  and  Bellingham,  the  for- 
mer governors  of  Massachusetts,  "concerning  what  the 
Dutch  governor  reporteth  that  they  have  wrote  to  him 
about  our  differences."     Dudley,  in  1640,  had  written  to 
Kieft  in   conciliatory   terms ;   and  Bellingham,  the   next 
year,  had  advised  moderation  on  both  sides  ;t  but  the  Hart- 
ford authorities  now  seemed  apprehensive  that  Massachu- 

*  Col.  Rec.  Conn.,  72. 

t  Hazard,  ii.,  265 ;  i.,  N.  Y.  11.  S.  Coll.,  2T6  ;  Col.  Rcc.  Conn.,  72  ;  Alb.  Roc,  ii.,  171, 
172;  Smith,  Hist.  N.  Y.,  i  ,  6. 
t  Wimhrop,  ii.,  7,  32  ;  Col.  Rec.  Conn.,  75,  566  ;  ante,  p.  299,  322. 


340        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  X.  sctts  had  Committed  herself  to  more  liberal  views  than 

those  which  suited  the  policy  of  Connecticut. 
Puritan^  The  agcnts  in  England,  in  the  mean  time,  had  not  been 
E^fc^rand"  unsuccessful.  Though  Peters  failed  in  his  undertaking  to 
"  pacify"  the  Dutch  West  India  Company,  the  New  En- 
gland delegates,  acting  on  Boswell's  advice,  succeeded  in 
inducing  "  persons  of  quality"  to  communicate  with  the 
representative  of  the  States  G^eneral  at  London.  Lord 
Say,  as  one  of  Lord  Warwick's  original  grantees,  was 
23  July,  warmly  interested  ;  and,  in  the  course  of  the  summer,  he 
addressed  a  letter  to  Joachimi,  the  Netherlands'  ambassa- 
dor, in  which  he  strenuously  advocated  the  cause  of  the 
Connecticut  colonists,  and  severely  censured  the  Dutch 
Lord  Say's  They,  hc  said,  had  protested  and  threatened,  and  used 
Diucii am-*^ "  haughty  arguments"  against  the  English;  yet,  though 
there  were  only  five  or  six  Netherlanders  residing  on  the 
river,  "  where  there  are  more  than  two  thousand  English," 
no  violent  proceedings  had  been  taken  against  the  Dutch, 
who,  it  was  asserted,  had  been  treated  "with  all  civility." 
The  Pequod  Indians,  of  whom  the  Hollanders  claimed  to 
have  purchased  a  portion  of  the  land,  "had  no  other  than  a 
usurped  title."  The  "  weakness"  of  the  Dutch  title  was 
inferred,  because  "  the  English  having  addressed  sundry 
letters  to  their  governor,  William  Kieft,"  he  had  refused 
to  accept  their  proposal  to  refer  the  settlement  of  the  ques- 
tion to  impartial  arbitrators.  The  Dutch  should  be  or- 
dered to  demean  themselves  peaceably,  and  be  content 
with  their  own  limits,  "  or  to  leave  the  river."  This  last 
suggestion  would  "  tend  most  to  their  master's  profit,"  as 
the  returns  from  their  post  never  had,  and  never  would  re- 
pay expenses.  "Moreover,"  added  Lord  Say,  "they  live 
there  in  an  ungodly  way,  in  no  wise  beseeming  the  Gros- 
pel  of  Christ.  Their  residence  there  will  never  produce 
any  other  effect  than  expense  to  their  masters  and  trouble 
Threats  to  tlic  Euglish."  Otlicr  influential  persons  in  London, 
umch.'  ^  ^  moved  by  the  representations  of  the  New  England  agents, 
openly  threatened  that,  before  the  end  of  the  year,  the 
Hollanders  should  be  utterly  expelled  from  the  valley  of 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  341 

the  Connecticut.    Joachimi  therefore  sent  Lord  Say's  com-  chap.  x 
niunication  to  the   States   G-eneral ;  and,  in   subsequent       ; 
dispatches,  explained  the  irritated  feeling  which  existed  3,  j^,'y  ' 
among  the  friends  of  the  Puritan  colonists,  and  urged  the  n'^sq"*' 
king  should  be  asked  to  command  his  New  England  sub-  ^"  ^.'^^°^''' 
jects  not  to  molest  the  Dutch,  who  had  possession  of  New 
Netherland  before  the  English  ever  came  there.     "  For 
such  commands  must  proceed  from  his  majesty ;  and  it 
might  be  taken  ill  that  redress  should  be  sought  from  the 
House  of  Parliament,  whose  orders  would  probably  not  be 
received  in  those  far-distant  quarters."     The  Dutch  am- 
bassador at  London,  however,  little  knew  the  temper  of 
the  men  of  New  England. 

Charles   set  up  his  standard  at  Nottingham,  and  the  22  August. 
civil  war  began.     Parliament  was   supreme  at  London,  ontie'civfi 
but  the  king  was  still  sovereign  in  the  rural  districts.  ^^'^' 
The  sympathies  of  the  Puritan  colonists  in  America  were 
with  the  Puritan  House  of  Commons.     The  States  Grcn- 
eral  promptly  referred  Joachimi's  dispatches  to  the  West  25  October 
India  Company  ;  but  though  the  ambassador  was  instruct- 
ed to  represent  that  it  need  not  be  apprehended  that  his 
countrymen    in   New  Netherland    could    ever   "  prevail" 
against  their  stronger  neighbors,  the  threats  of  the  Lon- 
don friends  of  New  England  were  entirely  disregarded  at 
the  Hague.*     The  distracted  kingdom  caused  no  present 
anxiety  to  foreign  powers. 

Interesting  events  were  now  occurring  at  Rensselaers-   1641. 
wyck.     Adriaen  van  der  Donck,  of  Breda,  in  North  Bra-  Adriacn 

''  ^  '  '  van  der 

bant,  a  man  of  intelligence  and  learning?,  havino;  taken  a  ^Z""^  „ 

'  "  OT  0  "       schout-fis- 

lease  from  the  patroon  of  the  westerly  half  of  Castle  Isl-  Sf '  °' 

'■  •'  Rensse- 

and,  known  as  "  Welysburg,"  adjoining  the  fertile  farm '='"'*" ^^''^ 
of  Brandt  Peelen,  was  appointed  schout-fiscal  of  the  colo- 
nie,  and  arrived  at  Manhattan  in  the  autumn  of  1641. 
As  the  colonists  had  shown  a  disposition  "  to  pass  by  the 
carpenters  and  other  of  the  patroon's  laborers,"  and  t« 
employ  whom  they  pleased.  Van  der  Donck  was  specially 
instructed  to  repress  this  spirit  of  independence,  and  pros- ,-?  juiy. 

*  llol.  Doc,  ii.,  276-307  ;  O'CaJI.,  i,,  255-257  ;  Aitzema,  ii.,  932  ;  Lingard,  x.,  152. 


342        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  X.  ecute  the  offenders  before  the  colonial  court.  He  waa  also 
charged  to  procure  the  enactment  of  "  stricter  statutes  or 
ordinances,  and  to  punish  the  delinquents  by  penalties  and 
fines,  according  to  law."* 

The  want  of  a  permanent  clergyman,  and  the  need  of 
a  proper  church  edifice,  had  now  for   some   time  been 
felt  in  the  colonic ;  and,  early  the  next  year,  the  patroon 
took  measures  to  place  his  colonists  in  as  good  a  condi- 
tion in  these  respects  as  the  inhabitants  of  Manhattan 
6Marcu.    He   therefore   made    an   agreement  with  the  Reverend 
Megapoien  Doctor  Johauncs  Megapolensis,  a  learned  clergyman  be- 
cierKyman  louging  to  tlic  Classis  of  Alckmacr,  to  send  him  out  to 
me.    *"      Rensselaerswyck,  "  for  the  edifying  improvement  of  the 
inhabitants  and  Indians."     The  patroon  bound  himself  to 
convey  the  Domine  and  his  family  to  New  Netherland  free 
of  expense,  provide  him  with  a  proper  residence,  and  assure 
him  for  three  years  an  annual  salary  of  one  thousand  guild- 
ers, with  a  promise  of  an  addition  of  two  hundred  guilders 
annually  for  the  three  following  years,  "  should  the  patroon 
be  satisfied  with  his  service."    On  the  other  hand,  Megapo- 
lensis agreed  "  to  befriend  and  serve  the  patroon  in  all  things 
wherein  he  could  do  so  without  interfering  with  or  imped- 
ing his  duties."     As  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam  was  the  ec- 
clesiastical superior  of  all  the  Dutch  colonial  clergy,  it  was 
necessary  to  obtain  its  assent  to  the  arrangement ;  and 
18  March    thc  Domine  accordingly  appeared  before  the  committee 
of  that  body,  "  ad  res  exteras,"  and  explained  his  views 
in  wishing  to  settle  himself  in  New  Netherland.     A  few 
22 March,   days  afterward,  the  classis  attested  a  formal  "call"  for 
' '     Megapolensis  to  preach  the  Gospel  and  govern  the  Church 
at  Rensselaerswyck,    "in   conformity  with  the   Govern- 
ment,   Confession,    and    Catechism    of   the    Netherland 
churches,  and  the  Synodal  acts  of  Dordrecht."     The  Am- 
sterdam Chamber,  however,  as  the  political  superior  of 
New  Netherland,  claimed  the  right  of  approving  this  in- 
strument.    The  patroon,  on  the  other  hand,  at  first  de- 
murred to  what  he  thought  a  curtailment  of  his  feudal 

*  Renss.  MSS. ;  O'Call.,  i.,  327,  328. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  343 

rights ;  but,  after  several  months'  delay,  he  agreed  that  chap.  x. 
the  directors  should  affix  their  act  of  approbation,  under 
protest  that  the  rights  of  both  parties  should  remain  un-  j,j^  ^^^^  ^j,. 
prejudiced.      The  Amsterdam  Cliamber  accordingly  ap- f^^rmlter- 
proved   the  call,      Domine  Megapolensis   was    furnished  Jj^^  ^'"""" 
with  a  detailed  memorandum,  respecting  the  settlement  ^  ■''^"®' 
of  the  colonists,  and  the  arrangement  of  the  new  church 
and  parsonage ;  a  plan  for  all  the  buildings  was  provided ; 
and  a  small  theological  library  was  supplied  at  the  pa- 
troon's  expense.      The  transportation  of  the  colonists  to 
Fort  Orange  was  to  be  arranged  under  the  advice  of  Kieft, 
to  whom  the  patroon  sent  a  present  of  a  saddle  and  mili- 
tary equipments,  "  as  the  noble  director  hath  heretofore 
had  much  trouble  with  my  people  and  goods."     A  num- 
ber of  respectable  emigrants  embarked  with  Meo^apolensis  Arrives  at 

1   1  •      ^         •.       •         1  1  •       TT  1-1  r  Manhattaiv. 

and  his  family  in  the  ship  Houttuyn,  which,  after  a  pros- 
perous voyage,  arrived  in  August. 

At  this  period  it  was  not  uncommon  for  ships  to  lie  a  The  new 
fortnight  at  Manhattan  before  intelligence  of  their  arrival  at  Rensse- 
was  received  at  Rensselaerswyck.  Prompt  measures,  how- 
ever, were  taken  to  convey  up  the  river  the  new  emi- 
grants, who,  upon  reaching  their  destination,  were  reg- 11  August 
istered  by  Arendt  van  Curler,  the  commissary.  To  con- 
centrate the  inhabitants  as  much  as  possible,  and  thus 
avoid  danger  of  their  lives  from  the  Indians,  "  as  sorrow- 
ful experience  hath  demonstrated  around  Manhattan,"  the 
patroon  required  that  all  the  colonists,  except  the  farmers 
and  tobacco-planters,  should  live  near  each  other,  so  as  to 
form  a  "  Kerck-buurte,"  or  church  neighborhood.  This 
was  to  be  settled  near  the  Beaver's  Creek  ;  where  a  ferry 
was  at  once  established  for  the  accommodation  of  the  col- 
onists across  the  river  at  Greenbusli.  The  patroon's  di- 
rections were  followed,  and  Van  Curler  notified  all  the  col- 
onists to  "regulate  themselves  accordingly." 

The  church,  however,  was  not  built  until  the  following 
year  ;  but  the  houses  which  were  to  surround  it  were 
planned ;  the  dwelling  of  Maryn  Adriaensen,  one  of  the 
colonists  who  was  about  to  remove  to  Manhattan,  was 


344  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  PvEW  i  ORK. 

Chap.  X.  bouglit  for  a  parsonagc  ;  and  the  first  clergyman  at  Rens- 
]~     selaerswyck  began  to  execute  the  duties  of  his  holy  office. 
Meganoien-  ^^^*^  colonists  revercd  and  esteemed  their  faithful  monitor, 
hit  deri" ai  whosc  influence  was  soon  exerted  in  restraining  immoral- 
labors.       ities,  which  the  license  of  a  frontier  life  had  hitherto  al- 
lowed to  pass  unrebuked.     The  counsels  of  the  Domine 
were  received  with  respect  by  Commissary  Van  Curler, 
who  always  asked  his  opinion  upon  public  affairs  before 
he  "  concluded  to  undertake  any  thing."* 

Soon  after  the  arrival  of  Domine  Megapolensis  at  Rens- 

selaerswyck,  an  occasion  arose  to  test  the  characteristic 

Progress  of  benevolence  of  the  Dutch.     Champlain  had  early  planned 

the  Jesuits  •  r  -r\  tvti 

in  Canada,  the  schcmc  01  extcndmg  the  empire  of  hrance  over  North 
America,  by  means  of  religious  missions  ;  and  his  saga- 
cious conception  was  zealously  seconded  by  the  heroic  and 
self-denying  emissaries  of  the  Church.     Just  before  the 
1635.  Father  of  New  France  was  buried  upon  the  field  of  his 
noble  toils,  and  a  year  before  Massachusetts  made  provi- 
sion for  what  afterward  became  Harvard  University,  a  mis- 
sionary college  was  founded  at  Quebec.     A  few  years  aft- 
1641.  erward,  the  festival  of  the  Assumption  was  solemnly  cel- 
ls August,  ebrated  on  the  island  of  Montreal,  before  vast  crowds  of 
savages  and  Frenchmen.     "  There,"  said  Father  Le  Jeune, 
"  shall  the  Mohawk  and  the  feebler  Algonquin  make  their 
home ;  the  wolf  shall  dwell  with  the  lamb,  and  a  little 
child  shall  lead  them." 

From  the  time  Champlain  first  penetrated  the  valley  of 
Views  of  Onondaga  in  1615,  the  French  had  seen  the  advantage  of 
possessing  a  post  on  the  territory  of  Western  New  York. 
The  settlements  of  the  Dutch  were  as  yet  confined  to  the 
valleys  of  the  Mohawk  and  of  the  North  River.  The 
views  of  the  French  in  Canada  did  not,  however,  conflict 
with  those  of  the  Hollanders  in  New  Netherland.  France 
desired  to  control  the  great  West ;  Holland  looked  more  to 
the  possession  of  the  sea-coast.  "  Could  we  but  gain  the 
mastery,"  argued  the  missionaries  of  Canada  "of  the 
shore  of  Ontario,  on  the  side  nearest  the  abode  of  the  Iro- 

*  Corr.  Classis  Amst. ;  Renss.  MSS.;  O'Call.,  i.,  328-330,  44&-462. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  345 

quois,  we  could  ascend  by  the  Saint  Lawrence  without  chap.  x. 
danger,  and  pass  free  heyond  Niagara," 

But  the  hereditary  enmity  between  the  Iroquois  Con- 
federates   and   the   Hurons    and  Algonquins   of  Canada 
thwarted  the  plans  of  the  French  missionaries.     The  nav- 
igation of  Lake  Ontario  was  closed  against  their  enter- 
prise ;  and  a  French  canoe  had  never  yet  been  launched 
upon  Lake  Erie.     The  Dutch  traders  at  Rensselaerswyck 
had  now  supplied  the  Iroquois  warriors  with  the  fire-arms 
of  Europe  ;  and  the  proud  Konoshioni  burned  to  be  su- 
preme.     In  the   autumn   of  1641,   two   Jesuit   Fathers,  septembei. 
Charles  Raymbault  and  Isaac  Jogues,  pushing  onward 
from  the  Huron  mission  station,  coasted,  in  their  birch- 
bark  canoe,  along  the  Manitoulin  Island ?,  and,  stemming 
the  swift  current  of  the  Saint  Mary's,  reached  the  Sault,  4  October. 
where  they  found  two  thousand  Chippewas  assembled, 
expecting  their   arrival.     Returning  to   Quebec,  Jogues 
prepared,  the  next  year,  to  repeat  his  visit.     But  as  he   1642. 
was  ascending  the  Saint  Lawrence  with  an  escort  of  Hu-  caiiture  of 
rons,  the  party  was  surprised  by  a  band  of  Mohawks  ly-  jo^gue.^ 
ing  in  ambuscade.     A  part  of  the  expedition  was  captur- 
ed ;  and  Jogues  and  his  fellow-prisoners  were  conducted 
through  the  country  of  the  Iroquois  to  the  valley  of  the  is  August 
Mohawk.     Horrible  savage  cruelties  were  inflicted  upon 
the  captives.     From  village  to  village  their  tortures  were 
renewed ;  but  the  faithful  missionaries,  as  they  ran  the 
gauntlet,  consoled  themselves  with  visions   of  heavenly 
glory. 

Intelligence  that  three  Frenchmen  were  prisoners  among  The  duk  h 
the  Iroquois  soon  reached  Fort  Orange  ;  and,  prompted  by  angeat- 
a  noble  humanity.  Commissary  Van  Curler,  in  company  ransorJi" 
with  Labbatie  and  Jansen,  two  of  the  colonists,  went  on  °^^^^' 
horseback  to  the  Mohawk  country  to  attempt  their  rescue. 
The  Dutch  visitors  were  received  with  "  great  joy,"  and 
the  presents  which  they  brought  were  thankfully  accept- 
ed by  the  warriors  at  the  three  castles.     Before  each  cas- 
tle they  were  obliged  to  halt  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  until 
the  Mohawks  had    saluted  them  "  with  divers   musket- 


346        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  X.  sliots."  Iiidians  were  sent  out  to  shoot,  and  brought  them 
in  excellent  turkeys.  On  the  eve  of  the  Nativity  of  the  Yir- 
,  se  t  Si'^j  ^^^  Curler  reached  the  village  where  Jogues  was  de- 
amon*^"thf  taiucd.  luvitiug  the  chiefs  to  assemble  together,  he  press- 
Moua-.vks.  g(j^  them  to  release  the  French  prisoners,  "  one  of  whom 
was  a  Jesuit,  a  very  learned  scholar."  But  the  Mohawk 
sachems  refused.  "We  shall  show  you  every  friendship 
in  our  power,"  said  the  chiefs,  "but  on  this  subject  we 
shall  be  silent."  Days  were  spent  in  vain  attempts  to 
procure  the  release  of  the  captives  :  six  hundred  guilders 
worth  of  goods,  "to  which  all  the  colony  would  contrib- 
ute," were  offered  as  their  ransom,  and  inexorably  re- 
fused. In  the  end.  Van  Curler  "  persuaded  them  so  far, 
that  they  promised  not  to  kill  them,  and  to  convey  them 
back  to  their  country."  As  the  party  set  out  on  their  re- 
turn to  Fort  Orange,  the  French  captives  ran  after  them, 
beseeching  the  Dutch  to  rescue  them  out  of  the  hands  of 
the  barbarians.  An  escort  of  ten  or  twelve  armed  savages 
conducted  the  embassy  home,  through  "  the  most  beauti- 
ful land  on  the  Mohawk  River  that  eye  ever  saw."  But 
the  Hollanders  had  scarcely  left,  before  the  "  clamorous 
braves"  insisted  upon  blood;  and  Rene  G-oupil,  a  "donne," 
19  Sept.  or  novice,  who  had  accompanied  Jogues,  was  struck  dead 
with  a  tomahawk,  invoking  the  name  of  Jesus  as  he  fell 
Jogues-  life  The  life  of  the  Father  was,  however,  spared.  Carving  the 
emblem  of  his  faith  upon  a  majestic  tree,  the  devoted  Jes- 
uit, during  the  following  winter,  held  lonely  communion 
with  his  God.  For  a  time  he  was  unmolested  ;  but  the 
Mohawks  at  length  finding  him  at  prayer,  "  attacked  him 
most  violently,  saying  that  they  hated  the  cross ;  that  it 
was  a  sign  unknown  to  them  and  their  friends,  the  neigh- 
boring Europeans"  at  Fort  Orange.* 
1643.  In  the  annals  of  New  Netherland,  1643  was,  emphat- 
ically, "  the  year  of  blood."  While  New  England  was 
filled  with  alarm  at  the  suspicion  of  a  general  rising  of 

*  Relation,  1640-41,  50,  211  ;  1647,  56,  111 ;  Jogues's  Letters  of  the  Sth  and  30th  of  Au- 
gust, 1643,  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  iii. ;  Tanner's  "  Societas  Jesu,"  &c.,  510-531 ;  Megap., 
in  Hazard,  i.,  522  ;  De  Vries,  157  ;  Creuxius,  338  ;  Charlevoix,  i.,  234-250;  Renss.  MSS., 
O'Call.,  i.,  463, 464  ;  Bancroft,  iii.,  122-134  ;  Warburton's  Conquest  of  Canada,  i.,  101,  306. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  347 

the  Indians,  and  benighted  travellers  could  not  halloo  in  chap.  x 

the  woods  without  causing  fear  that  savages  were  tor- 

•  •  1643 

turing  their  European  captives,  the  neighboring  Dutch  pg^g^,,^.' 

province  partook  of  the  universal  panic.     Miantonomoh,  general'' 
"•  the  great  sachem  of  Sloup's  Bay,"  was  reported  to  have  ^^^''^gy''' 
come  with  one  hundred  men  to  the  neighborhood  of  Green-  jfnuary. 
wich,  and  to  have  passed  through  all  the  villages  of  the 
Indians,  soliciting  them  to  a  general  war  against  the  En- 
glish and  the  Dutch.     The  wildest  stories  were  circulated 
among  the  fireside  gossips  at  Manhattan.     The  outlaying 
Indians  were  accused  of  setting  fire  to  the  powder  of  the 
Dutch,  wherever  they  could  find  it,  and  of  attempting  to 
poison  and  bewitch  the  director.*     Anxiety  and  terror  al- 
ready pervaded  the  defenseless  hamlets  around  Fort  Am- 
sterdam, when  an  event  occurred  which  precipitated  open 
hostilities,  and  nearly  annihilated  the  rising  hopes  of  the 
"West  India  Company. 

De  Vries,  while  rambling,  gun  on  shoulder,  toward  Van 
der  Horst's  new  colony  at  Hackinsack,  which  was  "but 
an  hour's  walk"  from  Yriesendael,  met  an  Indian  "  who 
was  very  drunk."  Coming  up  to  the  patroon,  he  "  stroked 
him  over  the  arms"  in  token  of  friendship.  "  You  are  a 
good  chief,"  said  the  Indian ;  "  when  we  visit  you,  you 
give  us  milk  to  drinlc,  for  nothing.  But  I  have  just  come 
from  Hackinsaclc,  where  they  sold  me  brandy,  half  mixed 
with  water,  and  then  stole  my  beaver-skin  coat."  The  a  Dutch 
savage  vowed  a  bloody  revenge.  He  would  go  home  for  dered'by'^a> 
his  bow  and  arrows,  and  then  shoot  one  of  the  "  roguish  iiackin^ 
Swannekens"  who  had  stolen  his  things.  De  Vries  en- 
deavored to  soothe  him ;  and,  on  reaching  Hackinsack, 
warned  Van  der  Horst's  people  against  the  danger  of  treat- 
ing the  wild  natives  as  they  had  the  one  he  had  just  met. 
Scarcely  had  he  returned  to  his  own  house,  before  some 
of  the  chiefs  of  the  Hackinsacks  and  of  the  Reckawancks, 
in  his  neighborhood,  came  to  Vriesendael.  The  revenge- 
ful savage  had  kept  his  vow.  Watching  his  opportunity, 
he  had  shot  one  of  the  Dutch  colonists,  Garret  Jansen  van 

*  VVinthrop,  ii.,  8-J ;  llol.  Doc,  iii.,  107  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  9. 


348  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1643. 


Chap  X.  Voorst,  as  he  was  quietly  thatching  the  roof  of  one  of  Van 
der  Horst's  houses.  The  chiefs  had  hastened  to  seek  coun- 
sel of  De  Vries,  They  dared  not  go  to  Fort  Amsterdam, 
for  fear  Kieft  would  keep  them  prisoners ;  but  they  were 
willing  to  pay  two  hundred  fathoms  of  wampum  to  the 
widow  of  the  murdered  man,  "  and  that  should  purchase 

Thesav-    their  peace."*     They  offered  the  full  expiation  which  In- 

ajjes  offer  a..  iiij  i^      r  i 

blood        dian  ]ustice  demanded — a  blood-atonement  oi  money ;  and 

atonement.  ''  .  <.    »  • 

the  custom,  so  universal  among  the  red  men  of  America, 
was  in  singular  accordance  with  the  usage  of  classic 
Greece.! 

At  length,  persuaded  by  De  Yries,  who  answered  for 
their  safe  return,  the  chiefs  accompanied  him  to  Fort  Am- 
sterdam. Explaining  to  Kieft  the  unhappy  occurrence  at 
Hackinsack,  they  repeated  their  offer  of  a  "just  atone- 

Kieade-    ment."     The  director  inexorably  demanded  the  murderer. 

murderer^  Imitating  the  example  of  Massachusetts  in  the  case  of 
the  Pequods,  he  would  be  content  with  nothing  but  blood. 
But  the  chiefs  could  not  bind  themselves  to  surrender  the 
criminal.  He  had  gone  "  two  days'  journey  off,  among 
the  Tankitekes  ;"  and,  besides,  he  was  the  son  of  a  chief. 
Again  they  proposed  an  expiatory  offering  of  wampum  to 
appease  the  widow's  grief.  "  Why  do  you  sell  brandy  to 
our  young  men  ?"  said  the  chiefs.  "  They  are  not  used 
to  it — it  makes  them  crazy.  Even  your  own  people,  who 
are  accustomed  to  strong  liquors,  sometimes  become  drunk, 
and  fight  with  knives.  Sell  no  more  strong  drink  to  the 
Indians,  if  you  would  avoid  mischief."  With  this,  they 
took  leave  of  the  director,  and  returned  to  Vriesendael ; 
and  Kieft  soon  afterward  sent  a  peremptory  message  tc 
Pacham,  the  crafty  chief  of  the  Tankitekes,  to  surrender 
the  refugee.^ 

But  before  Pacham  obeyed  the  mandate,  more  serious 

*  De  Vries,  166 ;  IIol.  Doc,  iii.,  107  ;  Breeden  Raedt,  16 ;  Bancroft,  ii.,  289. 

f  "  If  a  brother  bleed, 

On  just  atonement  we  remit  the  deed  ; 
A  sire  the  slaughter  of  his  son  forgives. 
The  price  of  blood  discharged,  the  murderer  lives." 

Popi,  Iliad,  it. 

t  De  Vries,  166  ;  IIol.  Doc,  iii.,  108  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  10 ;  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  219 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  349 

events  occurred.     In  the  dejith  of  winter,  a  party  of  eighty  chap.  x 
or  ninety  Mohawk  warriors,  "  each  with  a  musket  on  his 
shoulder,"  came  down  from  the  neighborhood  of  Fort  Or-  February! 
ange,  to  collect  tribute   from  the  Weckquaesgeeks   and  ha'^vi^'^at- 
Tappans.     The  river  tribes  quailed  before  the  formidable  J^fv^^^i^j. 
Iroquois,     No  resistance  was  offered  by  the  more  numer-  ''"*"^' 
ous  but  subjugated  Algonquins ;  seventy  of  whom  were 
killed,  and  many  women  and  children  made  prisonei's. 
Half-famished  parties  fled  from  West  Chester  to  Manhat-  The  tribu- 
tan,  where  they  were  kindly  entertained.    In  then*  despair,  ages  seek 

r-  1  •  -1  -nil  refuge  at 

four  or  five  hundred  of  the  cowering  tributaries  flocked  to  vriesen- 

5-^  .  dael,  Pavfi- 

Vriesendael,  to  beg  assistance  and  protection.     The  pa-  "'a,  and 

'  °  '  . '         Manhattan. 

troon  told  them,  however,  that  the  Fort  Orange  Indians 
were  "  friends  of  the  Dutch,"  who  could  not  interfere  in 
their  wars.  Finding  his  house  full  of  savages,  and  only 
five  men  besides  himself  to  defend  it,  De  Yries  went,  in  a 
canoe,  through  the  floating  ice,  down  to  Fort  Amster- 
dam, to  ask  Kieft  to  assist  him  with  some  soldiers.  The 
director,  however,  had  none  to  spare.  The  next  day,  21  Feb. 
"  troops  of  savages,"  who  had  come  down  from  Vriesen- 
dael,  encamped  near  the  "oyster  banks"  at  Pavonia, 
among  the  Hackinsacks,  who  were  "full  a  thousand 
strong."  Some  of  them,  crossing  the  river  to  Manhattan, 
took  refuge  at  "  Corlaer's  Bouwery,"  where  a  few  Rocka- 
way  Indians  from  Long  Island,  with  their  chief,  Nainde 
Nummerus,  had  already  built  their  wigwams.* 

In  this  conjuncture,  public  opinion  at  Manhattan  wasPuwicopin- 
divided  in  regard  to  the  policy  to  be  observed  toward  the  hattan 
savages.  Now  that  they  were  fugitives  from  the  dreaded 
Iroquois,  and  felt  grateful  for  the  temporary  protection 
which  they  had  received  from  the  Dutch,  the  river  In- 
dians could  easily  be  won  to  a  sincere  friendship,  thought 
De  Vries  and  a  majority  of  the  community.  But  there 
were  other  spirits — active,  unquiet,  panting  for  war,  who, 
though  few,  were  aided  by  the  influence  of  Van  Tienhoven, 
the  astute  provincial  secretary.  As  Kieft  was  dining,  at 
Shrovetide,  at  the  house  of  Jan  Jansen  Dam,  one  of  the  22  Feb 

*  De  Vries,  177,  178 ;  IIol.  Doc,  ii.,  375 ;  iii.,  109 ;  Dresden  Raedt,  15. 


350'  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  X  "  Twelve  Men,"  the  host,  with  Adriaensen  and  Planck,  two 
of  his  former  colleagues,  assuming  to  speak  in  the  name  of 
Petition  for  ^^^^  coHimonalty,  presented  a  petition  to  the  director,  urg- 
tacrthe  ^'' i^o  iustant  hostilities  against  the  unsuspecting  savages, 
presumed    ^^^  Tienhovcu,  who  had  drafted  the  petition,  well  knew 
rector.*^'"    t^c  temper  of  his  chief.     The  Indians,  it  was  argued,  had 
not  yet  made  any  atonement  for  their  murders,  nor  had 
the  assassins  of  Smits  and  Van  Voorst  been  delivered  up. 
While  innocent  blood  was  unavenged,  the  national  char- 
acter of  the  Dutch  must  suffer.     God  had  now  delivered 
their  enemies  into  their  hands ;  "  "We  pray  you,"  urged 
the  petitioners,  "  let  us  attack  them  ;  to  this  end  we  offer 
our  persons,  and  we  propose  that  a  party  of  freemen  and 
another  of  soldiers  be  dispatched  against  them  at  different 
places."* 
Kien  re-         Thc  sauguiuary  director  was  delighted  with  the  pros- 

solveson  „  ^  ,.  ■        -n  •,-,  ii 

war.  pect  of  war  ;  and,  "in  a  signincant  toast,"  announced  the 
approaching  hostilities.  Just  one  year  before,  Kieft  had 
dissolved  the  board  of  "  Twelve  Men,"  and  had  forbidden 
any  public  meetings  without  his  express  permission.  He 
had,  moreover,  distinctly  denied  that  the  Twelve  Men  had 
any  other  function  than  simply  to  give  their  advice  re- 
specting the  murder  of  Smits.  But  now  that  a  self-con- 
stituted committee,  falsely  claiming  to  represent  the  Twelve 
Men  elected  by  the  commonalty,  counseled  violence,  the 
director  rashly  resolved  to  make  the  savages  "  wipe  their 
chops."  They  had  unanimously  refused  to  pay  the  con- 
tribution he  had  imposed ;  and,  seeing  himself  deprived 
of  this  source  of  revenue,  "of  which  he  was  very  greedy," 
Kieft  was  charged  with  now  devising  other  means  "to 
satisfy  his  insatiable  avaricious  soul."t 

Van  Tienhoven  and  Corporal  Hans  Steen  were,  there- 
fore, promptly  dispatched  to  Pavonia  to  reconnoitre  the 
position  of  the  savages.     But  Domine  Bogardus,  who  was 

S4  Feb.  invited  to  the  council,  warned  Kieft  against  his  rashness. 
La  Montague  begged  him  to  wait  for  the  arrival  of  the 

*  De  Vries,  178  ;  Breeden  Raedt,  15 ;  Hoi.  Doc,  ii.,  374  ;  iii.,  146,  220  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  266, 
419  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  10,  II.  t  De  Vries,  178  ;  Breeden  Raedt,  15  ;  ante,  p  329 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  3,5] 

next  ship  from  the  Fatherland,  and  predicted  that  he  was  chap.  x. 
building  a  bridge  over  which,  before  lonj?,  "war  would 

1  A/I  Q 

stalk  through  the  whole  country."  Be  Vries  protested  jjjgfj^jj/^. 
that  no  warlike  steps  could  be  taken  without  the  assent  ^f//^^'^".^' 
of  the  commonalty;  and  that  the  advice  Kieft  had  re-"''^^" 
ceived  was  not  that  of  the  Twelve  Men,  of  whom  he  was 
the  president.  The  destruction  of  the  colonies  at  Swaan- 
endael  and  at  Staten  Island,  and  the  bootless  expedition 
against  the  Raritans,  were  held  up  as  warning  examples. 
The  Dutch  colonists  in  the  open  country,  it  was  urged, 
were  all  unprepared,  and  the  Indians  would  wreak  their 
vengeance  on  the  unprotected  farmers.  It  was  all  in  vain. 
Taking  De  Vries  with  him  into  the  great  hall  which  he 
had  just  completed  at  the  side  of  his  house,  Kieft  showed 
him  "  all  his  soldiers  ready  reviewed,"  to  pass  over  the 
river  to  Pavonia.  "  Let  this  work  alone,"  again  urged 
De  Vries ;  "  you  want  to  break  the  Indians'  mouths,  but 
you  will  also  murder  our  own  people."* 

All  remonstrance  was  idle.  The  director  doggedly  re-  ah  rcmon- 
plied,  "  The  order  has  gone  forth  ;  it  can  not  be  recalled."  va?n"" 
Van  Tienhoven  had  reconnoitered  the  position  of  the  sav- 
ages at  Pavonia,  and  his  "  false  report"  had  confirmed 
Kieft's  resolution.  Orders  were  issued  to  Sergeant  Rodolf 
to  lead  a  troop  of  soldiers  to  Pavonia,  and  "  drive  away 
and  destroy"  the  savages  who  were  "  skulking"  behind 
the  bouwery  of  Jan  Evertsen  Bout.  A  similar  commission  25  Feb. 
directed  Adriaensen,  with  a  force  of  volunteers,  to  attack 
"  a  party  of  savages  skulking  behind  Corker's  Hoeck," 
and  "act  with  them  in  every  such  manner  as  they  shall 
deem  proper."  "  The  commonalty  solicit,"  was  the  false 
pretense  by  which  Kieft  endeavored  to  screen  himself  from 
any  unhappy  consequences  of  his  bloody  purposes  ;  which 
his  impious  orders  declared  were  undertaken  "  in  the  full 
confidence  that  God  will  crown  our  resolutions  with  suc- 
cess."! 

*  De  Vries,  178;  Hoi.  Doc,  ii.,  101,  1T4 ;  iii.,  110;  v.,  51,  58;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  10. 
t  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  210,  211  ;  IIol.  Doc,  iii.,  146,  201  ;  v.,  333,  334;  O'Call.,  i.,  267,  268; 
ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  278;  ii.,  300. 


352  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  X.  Durinjr  tlic  iiight  between  the  twenty-fifth  and  twenty- 
sixth  of  February,  the  tragedy  which  Kieft  and  his  coad- 
jutors had  been  meditating,  was  terribly  accomplished. 
Crossing  over  to  Pavonia,  Rodolf  cautiously  led  his  force 
of  eighty  soldiers  to  the  encampment  of  the  refugee  Tap- 
pans,  near  the  bouweries  of  Bout  and  "VVouterssen.  About 
midnight,  while  the  savages  were  quietly  sleeping  in  fan- 
cied security  from  their  Mohawk  subjugators,  the  mur- 
derous attack  commenced.  The  noise  of  muskets  min- 
gled with  the  shrieks  of  the  terrified  Indians.  Neither  ag«'^ 
nor  sex  were  spared.  AYarrior  and  squaw,  sachem  and 
child,  mother  and  babe,  were  alike  massacred.  Daybreak 
scarcely  ended  the  furious  slaughter.  Mangled  victims, 
seeking  safety  in  the  thickets,  were  driven  into  the  river; 
and  parents,  rushing  to  save  their  children  whom  the  sol- 
diery had  thrown  into  the  stream,  were  driven  back  into 
the  waters,  and  drowned  before  the  eyes  of  their  unrelent- 

Massacreating  murdercrs.  Eighty  savages  perished  at  Pavonia.  "I 
sat  up  that  night,"  said  De  Vries,  "  by  the  kitchen  fire  at 
the  director's.  About  midnight,  hearing  loud  shrieks,  I 
ran  up  to  the  ramparts  of  the  fort.  Looking  toward  Pa- 
vonia, I  saw  nothing  but  shooting,  and  heard  nothing  but 
the  shrieks  of  Indians  murdered  in  their  sleep."  A  few 
minutes  afterward,  an  Indian  and  a  squaw,  who  lived 
near  Vriesendael,  and  who  had  escaped  from  Pavonia  in  a 
small  skiff^,  came  to  the  kitchen  fire,  whither  De  Vries  had 
returned  with  an  aching  heart.  "  The  Fort  Orange  In- 
dians have  fallen  on  us,"  said  the  terrified  savages,  "  and 
we  have  come  to  hide  ourselves  in  the  fort."  "It  is  no 
time  to  hide  yourselves  in  the  fort — no  Indians  have  done 
this  deed.  It  is  the  work  of  the  Swannekens — the  Dutch," 
answered  the  humane  De  Vries,  as  he  led  the  undeceived 
fugitives   to   the   gate,  "  where    stood   no    sentinel,"  and 

Attack  on    watchcd  them  until  they  were  hidden  in  the  w^oods.     In 

at coriaers  the  mean  time,  Adriaensen  and  his  party  had  surprised 
the  Weckquaesgeek  fugitives  at  Corker's  Hook,  and  mur- 
dered forty  of  them  in  their  sleep.  The  carnage  of  that 
awful  night  equaled  in  remorseless  cruelty  the  atrocities, 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  3.53 

six  years  before,  at  the  fort  on  the  Mistic  ;  in  the  number  chap.  x 
of  victims  alone  were  the  murderous  exploits  of  the  New  ~ 

Netherland  Dutch  against  the  North  River  savages  less 
shocking  to  humanity,  than  the  ruthless  achievements  of 
the  New  England  Puritans  against  the  devoted  tribe  of 
the  Pequods. 

Morning  at  length  came,  and  the  victorious  parties  re-  26  Feb. 
turned  to  Fort  Amsterdam  with  thirty  prisoners  and  the  the  soutier.s 
heads  of  several  of  their  victims.  The  "Roman  achieve- sterdam 
ment"  of  the  conquerors  was  acknowledged  by  largesses 
to  the  soldiery,  who  were  welcomed  back  by  Kieft  per- 
sonally, with  "shaking  of  the  hands  and  congratulations." 
The  example  of  the  exulting  director  was  infectious.  Even 
women  joined  in  the  triumph,  and  insulted  the  bloody  tro- 
phies. Cupidity,  too,  followed  the  track  of  carnage.  A 
small  party  of  Dutch  and  English  colonists  went  over  to 
Pavonia  to  pillage  the  deserted  encampment.  In  vain  the 
soldiers  left  there  on  guard  warned  them  to  return.  They 
persisted ;  and  Dirck  Straatmaker  and  his  wife  were  killed 
by  some  outlaying  Indians,  whose  wigwams  they  attempt- 
ed to  plunder.  The  English,  "  who  had  one  gun  amongst 
them,"  narrowly  escaped  a  similar  fate.* 

The  success  of  the  expeditions  against  the  refugee  sav- 
ages at  Pavonia  and  Corlaer's  Hoeck  provoked  emulation. 
Wolfertsen,  and  some  of  his  neighbors  at  New  Amersfoort, 
signed  a  petition  to  the  director  for  permission  to  attack  2- Feb. 
the    Marechkawiecks,   who   resided    between   them    and  island  in" 
Breuckelen.     But  Kieft,  yielding  to  the  advice  of  Bogar-  tacked. 
dus  and  others  of  his  council,  refused  his  assent.     The 
Marechkawiecks  had  never  done  any  thing  unfriendly  to 
the  Dutch,  and  were  "  hard  to  conquer ;"  to  attack  them 
now  would  only  be  to  add  them  to  the  number  of  already 
exasperated  foes ;  it  would  lead  to  a  destructive  war,  and 
bring  ruin  on  the  aggressors.     Nevertheless,  if  these  In- 
dians showed  signs  of  hostility,  the  director   authorized 
every  colonist  to  defend  himself  as  best  he  might. 

-  De  Vries,  179;  Breeden  Raedt,  16,  17;  Alb.  Rec,  iii.,  117;  IIoI.  Doc  ,  ii.,  375;  iii., 
112;  O'Call..  i.,  £69;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  11. 


354        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1643. 


Chap.  X.  Kieft's  proviso  was  unfortunate.  The  red  man's  corn 
■  was  coveted  ;  and  some  movements  of  the  Marechkawiecks 
were  conveniently  construed  into  those  signs  of  hostility 
for  which  the  ambiguous  decree  had  provided.  A  secret 
foraging  expedition  was  presently  set  on  foot,  and  two 
wagon-loads  of  grain  were  plundered  from  the  unsus- 
pecting savages;  who,  in  vainly  endeavoring  to  protect- 
their  property,  lost  three  lives  in  the  skirmish  which  fol- 
lowed.* 

The  sav-         It  ouly  nccdcd  this  scandalous  outrage  to  fill  the  meas- 

ages  arous-  /-tt  i  tt  !••  it  ti 

edtovenge  ure  of  Indian  endurance.  Up  to  this  time,  the  Long  Isl- 
and savages  had  been  among  the  warmest  friends  of  the 
Dutch.  Now  they  had  been  attacked  and  plundered  by 
the  strangers  whom  they  had  welcomed,  and  to  whom  they 
had  done  no  wrong.  Common  cause  was  at  once  made 
with  the  North  River  Indians,  who  burned  with  frenzied 
hate  and  revenge,  when  they  found  that  the  midnight 
massacres  at  Pavonia  and  Manhattan  were  not  the  work 
of  the  Mohawks,  but  of  the  Dutch.  From  swamps  and 
thickets  the  mysterious  enemy  made  his  sudden  onset. 
The  farmer  was  murdered  in  the  open  field  ;  women  and 
children,  granted  their  lives,  were  swept  off  into  a  long 
captivity ;  houses  and  bouweries,  haystacks  and  grain, 
cattle  and  crops,  were  all  destroyed.  From  the  shores  of 
the  Raritan  to  the  valley  of  the  Housatonic,  not  a  single 
plantation  was  safe.  Eleven  tribes  of  Indians  rose  in  open 
war ;  and  New  Netherland  now  read  the  awful  lesson 
which  Connecticut  had  learned  six  years  before.  Such 
of  the  colonists  as  escaped  with  their  lives,  fled  from  their 
desolated  homes  to  seek  refuge  in  Fort  Amsterdam.     In 

Despair  of  their  dcspair,  they  threatened  to  return  to  the  Fatherland, 

nists?°  or  remove  to  Rensselaerswyck,  "  which  experienced  no 
trouble."      Fearing   a    general    depopulation,   Kieft  was 

I  March,  obliged  to  take  all  the  colonists  into  the  pay  of  the  com- 
pany, to  serve  as  soldiers  for  two  months.  At  this  con- 
juncture, Roger  Williams,  who,  "  not  having  liberty  of 
taking  ship"  in  Massachusetts,  "  was  forced  to  repair  unto 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  110;  v.,  320,  337,  338;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  11. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  355 

the  Dutch,"  arrived  at  Manhattan,  on  his  way  to  Europe,  chap.  x. 
"Before  we  weifrhed  anchor,"  wrote  the  liberal-rninded ~7~~ 
founder  of  Rhode  Island,  eleven  years  afterward,  "  mine 
eyes  saw  the  flames  at  their  towns,  and  the  flights  and 
hurries  of  men,  women,  and  children,  the  present  removal 
of  all  that  could  for  Holland."* 

Even  Vriesendael  did  not  escape  the  general  calamity,  vnesendrtei 
The  outhouses,  and  crops,  and  cattle  on  the  plantation 
were  destroyed.  The  terrified  colonists  escaped  into  the 
manor  house,  in  which  De  Vries  had  prudently  construct- 
ed loop-holes  for  musketry.  While  all  were  standing  on 
their  guard,  the  same  Indian  whom  the  patroon  had  hu- 
manely conducted  out  of  Fort  Amsterdam  on  the  night  of 
the  massacre  at  Pavonia,  coming  up  to  the  besiegers,  re- 
lated the  occurrence,  and  told  them  that  De  Vries  was  "a 
good  chief."  The  grateful  savages  at  once  cried  out  to  De 
Vries's  people  that,  if  they  had  not  already  destroyed  the 
cattle,  they  would  not  do  so  now  ;  they  would  let  the  lit- 
tle brewery  stand,  although  they  "  longed  for  the  copper 
kettle,  to  make  barbs  for  their  arrows."  The  siege  was 
instantly  raised,  and  the  relenting  red  men  departed. 
Hastening  down  to  Manhattan,  De  Vries  indignantly  de- 
manded of  Kieft,  "  Has  it  not  happened  just  as  I  said,  that 
you  were  only  helping  to  shed  Christian  blood?"  "Who 
will  now  compensate  us  for  our  losses  ?"  But  the  humil- 
iated director  "  gave  no  answer."  He  was  surprised  that 
no  Indians  had  come  to  the  fort.  "It  is  no  wonder,"  re- 
torted De  Vries  ;  "  why  should  they,  whom  you  have  ■ 
treated  so,  come  here  ?"t 

Kieft  now  sent  a  friendly  message  to  the  Long  Island  Fruuiess 

T-i  1  1  111  message  (o 

Indians.     But  the   mdignant   savages   would  not  listen,  the  Long 

T     n  -11TT  f  r  Island  sar 

"  Are  you   our   friends  ?"  cried  the   Indians   from   afar  ;  ages. 
"  you  are  only  corn-thieves  ;"  and  the  messengers  return- 
ed to  Fort  Amsterdam,  to  report  the  taunting  words  with 
which  the  red  men  had  rejected  the  advances  of  the  faith- 
less chief  at  Manhattan.! 

*  Dresden  Raedt,  17,  18;  Hoi.  Doe.,  ii.,  375;  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  i213;  Winthrop,  ii.,  97; 
R.  I.  H.  S.  Coll.,  iii.,  155  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  271,  420  ;  Bancroft,  ii.,  291. 

t  De  Vries.  160.  t  Hoi.  Doc,  iii..  Ill  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  11. 


356  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


Chap.  X. 


All  this  time  the  obstinate  director  had  remained  safely 

within  the  walls  of  Fort  Amsterdam,  where  flocked  the 

n  Jr"        victims  of  his  rashness.     It  was  hard  to  bear  the  wrath 

Public 

clamor       q£  ruincd  farmers,  and  childless  men,  and  widowed  wom- 

ajjainst  the  "-^  ■*  ?  ' 

director,  ^y^  'Jq  divcrt  the  public  clamor,  several  other  expeditions 
were  sent  out  against  the  Indians,  under  the  command  of 
Adriaensen.  But  the  marauding  force,  which  was  partly 
composed  of  English  colonists,  returned  without  having 
accomplished  any  thing  ;  while  Adriaensen  himself,  in 
witnessing  the  destruction  of  his  own  bouwery,  was  made 
to  taste  the  bitter  fruits  of  that  war  which  his  own  coun- 
sels had  assisted  to  provoke.  The  proud  heart  of  the  di- 
rector began  to  fail  him  at  last.  In  one  week,  desolation 
and  sorrow  had  taken  the  place  of  gladness  and  prosperity. 
The  colony  intrusted  to  his  charge  was  nearly  ruined.  It 
was  time  to  humble  himself  before  the  Most  High,  and  in- 
voke from  Heaven  the  mercy  which  the  Christian  had  re- 
4. March,  fuscd  to  thc  savEgc.  A  day  of  general  fasting  and  prayer 
tionfora  was  proclaimed.  "We  continue  to  suffer  much  trouble 
iiig-  and  loss  from  the  heathen,  and  many  of  our  inhabitants 

see  their  lives  and  property  in  jeopardy,  which  is  doubt- 
less owing  to  our  sins,"  was  Kieft's  contrite  confession,  as 
he  exhorted  every  one  penitently  to  supplicate  the  mer- 
cy of  G-od,  "  so  that  his  holy  name  may  not,  through  our 
iniquities,  be  blasphemed  by  the  heathen."* 
The  people      But  w^liilc  thc  pcoplc  liumblcd  themselves  before  their 
sendTieft  God,  they  still  held  the  director  personally  responsible  for 
iMiand.     all  tlic  cousequenccs  of  the  massacres  at  Pavonia  and  Cor- 
ker's Hook ;  and  some  of  the  burghers,  and  of  the  for- 
mer board  of  Twelve  Men,  boldly  talked  of  imitating  the 
example  which  Virginia  had  set,  in  the  case  of  Harvey,  by 
Kiefi's       deposing  Kieft,  and  sending  him  back  to  Holland.     The 
director,  in  alarm,  endeavored  to  shift  the  responsibility 
upon  Adriaensen  and  his  coadjutors,  who  had  so  wrong- 
fully used  the  name  of  the  commonalty  in  the  petition 

*  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  214,  215;  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  Ill  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  271,  272.  The  custom  of  set- 
tin?  :.part,  by  the  secular  authority,  days  of  public  humiliation  and  public  thanksgiving, 
obtained  in  Holland,  as  we  have  seen,  before  the  settlement  of  New  Netherland  or  New 
England  ;  ante,  v.  41. 


mean  sih- 
erlii. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  357 

which  urged  the  war.     "  For  what  has  occurred,"  pleaded  chap.  x 
Kieft,  "you  must  blame  the  freemen."     "You  forbade 
those  freemen  to  meet,  on  pain  of  punishment  for  disobe- 
dience," retorted  the  indignant  burghers  ;   "  how  came  it, 
then  ?"     The  convicted  director  was  silenced.* 

Finding  that  Kieft  was  endeavoring  to  divert  from  him- 
self the  odium  of  the  slaughter  of  the  Indians  and  the 
misery  of  the  colonists,  Adriaensen,  now  himself  an  almost 
ruined  man,  had  no  disposition  to  bear  all  the  bitterness 
of  popular  reproach.  Arming  himself  with  a  hanger  and  Adriaensen 
pistol,  he  rushed  into  the  director's  room,  demanding  direnor. 
"What  lies  are  these  you  are  reporting  of  me?"  The 
would-be  assassin  was  promptly  disarmed  and  imprisoned ; 
but  his  servant,  with  another  of  his  men,  armed  with  guns 
and  pistols,  hastened  to  the  fort,  where  one  of  them,  firing 
at  the  director,  was  shot  down  by  the  sentinel,  and  his 
head  set  upon  the  gallows.  The  prisoner's  comrades  now 
crowded  around  the  director's  door,  demanding  their  lead- 
er's release.  Kieft  refused ;  but  agreed  to  submit  the 
question  to  the  commonalty,  with  liberty  to  the  prisoner's 
friends  to  select  some  of  their  number  to  assist  at  the  ex- 
amination. This,  however,  they  declined  to  do,  and  in- 
sisted that  the  prisoner  should  be  discharged  upon  his  pay- 
ing a  fine  of  five  hundred  guilders,  and  absenting  him- 
self for  three  months  from  Manhattan.  The  director,  wish- 
ing to  show  some  deference  to  the  commonalty,  proposed 
to  call  in  some  of  the  most  respectable  citizens,  to  sit  with 
his  council  in  deciding  the  case.  But  the  commonalty, 
unwilling  to  countenance  the  abuse  which  the  director 
had  deceitfully  neglected  to  amend,  refused  ;  and  Kieft,  28  March, 
finding  that  "  no  one  would  or  dared"  assist  him,  determ- 
ined to  send  Adriaensen  to  Holland  for  trial.t 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iii.,  109  ;  IIoI.  Doc,  iii.,  149-154 

t  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  216-219  ;  iii.,  94  ;  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  112;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  12  ;  O'Call., 
i.,  273,  274  ;  Winlhrop,  ii.,  97.  The  New  England  hietori.-ins  wlio  allude  to  this  case,  ac- 
count for  Adriaensen's  attack  on  Kieft  on  the  ground  of  his  jealousy  of  Underhill.  But 
Underbill  was  not  then  in  the  service  of  the  Dutch  ;  nor  did  he  enter  it  until  the  autumn 
Df  1643.  Adriaensen,  returning  to  New  Netherland,  obtained  a  patent  on  the  11th  of  May, 
lfi47,  for  "  Awiehaken,"  on  the  west  side  of  the  North  River,  now  known  as  Weehaken, 
just  north  of  Ilobrken.— Alb.  Rec.  G.  C,  49). 


358 


HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


Chap.  X. 

1643. 

4  March. 
The  Long 
Island  In- 
dians de- 
sire a 
peace. 


5  March. 
De  Vries 
and  Olfert 
sen  at 
Rockaway 


Meanwhile,  the  Long  Island  Indians  had  begun  to  re- 
lent. Spring  was  at  hand,  and  they  desired  to  plant  their 
corn.  Three  delegates  from  the  wigwams  of  Penhawitz, 
their  "  great  chief,"  approached  Fort  Amsterdam,  bearing 
a  white  flag.  "  Who  will  go  to  meet  them  ?"  demanded 
Kieft.  None  were  willing  but  De  Vries  and  Jacob  Olfert- 
sen.  "  Our  chief  has  sent  us,"  said  the  savages,  "  to  know 
why  you  have  killed  his  people,  who  have  never  laid  a 
straw  in  your  way,  nor  done  you  aught  but  good  ?" 
"  Come  and  speak  to  our  chief  on  the  sea-coast."  Set- 
ting out  with  the  Indian  messengers,  De  Vries  and  Olfert- 
sen,  in  the  evening,  came  to  "  Rechqua-akie,"  or  Rocka- 
way, where  they  found  nearly  three  hundred  savages,  and 
about  thirty  wigwams.  The  chief,  "  who  had  but  one 
eye,"  invited  them  to  pass  the  night  in  his  cabin,  and  re- 
galed them  with  oysters  and  fish. 

At  break  of  day,  the  envoys  from  Manhattan  were  con- 
ducted into  the  woods  about  four  hundred  yards  off,  where 
they  found  sixteen  chiefs  of  Long  Island  waiting  for  their 
coming.  Placing  the  two  Europeans  in  the  centre,  the 
chiefs  seated  themselves  around  in  a  ring,  and  their  "best 
speaker"  arose,  holding  in  his  hand  a  bundle  of  small  sticks. 
"  When  you  first  came  to  our  coasts,"  slowly  began  the 
orator,  "  you  sometimes  had  no  food ;  we  gave  you  our 
beans  and  corn,  and  relieved  you  with  our  oysters  and 
fish ;  and  now,  for  recompense,  you  murder  our  people ;" 
and  he  laid  down  a  little  stick.  "  In  the  beginning  of 
your  voyages,  you  left  your  people  here  with  their  goods ; 
we  traded  with  them  while  your  ships  were  away,  and 
cherished  them  as  the  apple  of  our  eye ;  we  gave  them 
our  daughters  for  companions,  who  have  borne  children, 
and  many  Indians  have  sprung  from  the  Swannekens ; 
and  now  you  villainously  massacre  your  own  blood." 
The  chief  laid  down  another  stick  ;  many  more  remained 
in  his  hand ;  but  De  Vries,  cutting  short  the  reproachful 
catalogue,  invited  the  chiefs  to  accompany  him  to  Fort 
Amsterdam,  where  the  director  "  would  give  them  pres- 
ents to  make  a  peace." 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  359 

The  chiefs,  assenting,  ended  their  oration ;  and,  pre-  chap.  x. 
senting  De  Vries  and  his  colleague  each  with  ten  fathoms 
of  wampum,  the  party  set  out  for  their  canoes,  to  shorten  ^he  sa- 
the  return  of  the  Dutch  envoys.     "While  waiting  for  the  FoTIm-''' 
tide  to  rise,  an  armed  Indian,  who  had  been  dispatched  by  ''^e'^'^*'"- 
a  sachem  twenty  miles  off,  came  running  to  warn  the 
chiefs  against  going  to  Manhattan.     "Are  you  all  crazy,  to 
go  to  the  fort,"  said  he,  "where  that  scoundrel  lives,  who 
has  so  often  murdered  your  friends  ?"     But  De  Vries  as- 
sured them  that  "they  would  find  it  otherwise,  and  come 
home  again  with  large  presents."     One  of  the  chiefs  re- 
plied at  once,  "Upon  your  words  we  will  go ;  for  the  In- 
dians have  never  heard  lies  from  you,  as  they  have  from 
other  Swannekens." 

Embarking  in  a  large  canoe,  the  Dutch  envoys,  accom- 
panied by  eighteen  Indian  delegates,  set  out  from  Rock- 
away,  and  reached  Fort  Amsterdam  about  three  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon.     A  treaty  was  presently  made  with  the  25  Maroi. 

.     .  Treaty  of 

Long  Island  savas^es  ;  and  Kieft,  giving  them  some  pres-  peace  con- 

^  '   o  o        ^  1     ^        eluded. 

ents,  asked  them  to  bring  to  the  fort  the  chiefs  of  the  Riv- 
er tribes,  "  who  had  lost  so  many  Indians,"  that  he  might 
make  peace  with  them  also.* 

Some  of  the  Long  Island  sachems  accordingly  went  to 
Hackinsack  and  Tappan.  But  it  was  several  weeks  be- 
fore the  enraged  savages  would  listen  to  the  counsels  of 
the  mediators,  or  put  any  faith  in  the  director.  At  last, 
Oritany,  the  sachem  of  the  Hackinsacks,  invested  with  a  Peace  cov 
plenipotentiary  commission  from  the  neighboring  tribes,  wuh  the 
appeared  at  Fort  Amsterdam      Kieft  "  endowed  him  withdians. 

22  April. 

presents;"  and  peace  was  cosrenanted  between  the  River 
Indians  and  the  Dutch  Mutual  injuries  were  to  be  "for- 
given and  forgotten  foiever;"  future  provocations  were  re- 

*  De  Vries,  182;  Alb.  Rec.,  ii.,  214,  215;  Doc.  Tlist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  12;  O'Call.,  i.,  2T6. 
Winthrop,  ii.,  97,  says  that  the  Indians,  "  by  the  mediation  of  Mr.  Williams,  who  was 
then  there  to  go  in  a  Dutch  ship  for  England,  were  pacified,  and  peace  re-established  be- 
tween the  Dutch  and  them."  But  Winthrop  errs  in  this  statement.  Williams,  in  his  let- 
ter of  the  5th  of  October,  1654,  to  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts,  in  which  he  speaks 
of  the  war  (R.  I.  II.  S.  Coll.,  iii.,  155),  says  nothing  whatever  in  respect  to  his  own  agency 
with  the  Indians  in  bringing  about  the  peace.  Indeed,  he  seems  to  have  sailed  for  Eu- 
rope while  the  war  was  yet  raging.  On  the  other  hand,  De  Vries's  own  minute  and  faitU- 
ful  journal  seems  to  be  conclusive.     See  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  CoU.,  ii;.,  p.  119. 


360        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1643. 


Chap.  X.  ciprocally  to  be  avoided ;  hostile  movements  of  other  tribes, 
not  included  in  the  treaty,  were  to  be  prevented  within 
the  territories  of  the  Hackinsacks,  Tappans,  and  West 
Chester  Indians  ;  while  timely  warning  was  to  be  given 
to  "  the  Christians"  of  any  brewing  mischief. 

The  In-  But  the  savages  went  away  "  grumbling  at  their  pres- 

liians  still  ,,        r  i      ■  i  i      i  •     ,       i  i  • 

discontent-  ents  — for  their  young  men  would  thmk  them  only  a  tri- 
fling atonement.  Nor  was  confidence  fully  restored.  The 
trembling  farmers  planted  their  corn,  in  peace  indeed,  but 
in  constant  dread  of  the  murmuring  Indians'  sudden  war- 
whoop.     The  director  himself  distrusted  the  ominous  re- 

18  June,  pose  ;  and  a  new  proclamation  from  Fort  Amsterdam  pro- 
hibited all  tavern-keepers,  and  other  inhabitants  of  New 
Netherland  from  selling  any  liquors  to  the  savages. 

20  July.  At  midsummer  a  neighboring  chief  visited  Vriesendael 

in  deep  despondency.  The  young  Indians  were  urging 
war ;  for  some  had  lost  fathers  or  mothers,  and  all  were 
mourning  over  the  memory  of  friends.  "  The  presents 
you  have  given  to  atone  for  their  losses  are  not  worth  the 
touch ;"  "  we  can  pacify  our  young  men  no  longer,"  said 
the  well-meaning  sachem,  as  he  warned  De  Yries  against 
venturing  alone  into  the  woods,  for  fear  that  some  of  the 
Indians,  who  did  not  know  him,  might  kill  their  constant 
friend.     At  the  patroon's  entreaty,  the  chief  accompanied 

Kiea's  vain  him  dowu  to  Fort  Amsterdam.     "You  are  a  chief — you 

bribe  a  should  causc  the  crazy  young  Indians  who  want  war  again 
with  the  Swannekens  to  be  killed,"  said  Kieft,  as  he  treach- 
erously offered  the  sachem  a  bounty  of  two  hundred  fath- 
oms of  wampum.  But  the  indignant  red  man  spurned 
the  proffered  bribe.  "  This  can  not  be  done  by  me,"  he 
replied ;  "  had  you,  at  first,  fully  atoned  for  your  mur- 
ders, they  would  all  have  been  forgotten ;  I  shall  always 
do  my  best  to  pacify  our  people  ;  but  I  fear  I  can  not,  for 
they  are  continually  crying  for  vengeance."*  And  so  the 
boding  sachem  went  his  way. 

*  A!b.  Rec,  ii.,  220,  224  ;  De  Vries,  162  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  277  ;  Bancroft,  ii.,  292. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT.  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  3(3j[ 


CHAPTER  XL 
1643-1644. 

The  "Old  Colony"  of  Plymouth  was  founded  by  emi-  chap.  xi. 
grants  who,  as  we  have  seen,  had  learned  valuable  les- 
sons   in  popular   constitutional  liberty,  during   a  twelve  ^i^^  yj^j^j 
years'  sojourn  in  Holland.     The  example  which  the  union  n"'^"^,*.'''^ 
of  the  Northern  Provinces  of  the  Netherlands  had  given  to  ^'''"'^■ 
Europe  in  1579,  was  now,  after  more  than  sixty  years' 
experience,  to   be   followed  in  America.     Troubles  were 
prevailing  in  England ;  the  Puritan  colonies  were  threat- 
ened with  danger ;  the  savages  and  the  French  were  both 
to  be  feared ;  and  Connecticut  alone  could  not  overawe 
and  "  crowd  out"  her  Dutch  neighbors  in  New  Netherland. 
New  Plymouth,   Massachusetts,   Connecticut,   and   New 
Haven,  therefore,  determined  to  form  a  political  league 
for  offense  and  defense.     Commissioners  from  these  sev- 
eral colonies  assembled  at  Boston  in  the  spring  of  1643  ; 
and,  on  the  nineteenth  day  of  May,  agreed  upon  Articles  i9  May. 
of  Confederation,  by  which  the  "  United  Colonies  of  New 
England"  became  "  all  as  one." 

The  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the  confederacy  was 
intrusted  to  a  board,  consisting  of  two  commissioners  from 
each  colony.  They  were  to  assemble  annually,  or  oftener, 
if  necessary.  The  commissioners  were  always  to  be  "in 
church  fellowship."  They  were  invested  with  extraordi- 
nary powers  for  making  war  and  peace  ;  they  had  the  ex- 
clusive management  of  Indian  affairs  ;  and  they  were  to 
see  that  the  common  expenses  of  the  confederacy  were 
justly  assessed.  The  spoils  of  war,  "  whether  it  be  in 
lands,  goods,  or  persons,"  were  to  be  proportionably  di- 


362  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap  XI.  vided  among  the  confederates.  Specific  provision  was 
made  for  the  surrender  of  runaway  servants,  and  of  fugi- 
■  tives  from  justice ;  who,  upon  proper  proof,  were  to  be  sent 
hack  to  their  masters,  or  to  the  authorities  of  the  colony 
from  which  they  might  have  escaped.  Neither  of  the  col- 
onies was  to  engage  in  a  war  without  the  consent  of  at 
least  six  of  the  commissioners.  Local  "peculiar  jurisdic- 
tion and  government"  was  carefully  reserved  to  each  sep- 
arate colony  in  the  New  England  confederation,  as  it  had 
been  carefully  reserved,  sixty  years  before,  to  each  sepa- 
rate province  of  the  United  Netherlands.  The  doctrine 
of  "  State  Rights"  is  nearly  tluree  centuries  old.  The 
Union  of  Utrecht — the  first  Constitutional  Union  of  Sov- 
ereign and  Independent  States — was  essentially  the  model 
for  the  first  Union  of  American  colonies.* 
Kieft  ad-  As  soon  as  intelligence  of  the  New  England  confedera- 
commia-  tlou  reached  Manhattan,  Kieft,  wishing  to  open  a  commu- 
20  July.'  nication  with  the  commissioners,  dispatched  a  sloop  to 
Boston,  with  letters  in  Latin,  addressed  to  "the  Governor 
and  Senate  of  the  United  Provinces  of  New  England." 
Congratulating  them  on  their  recent  league,  the  director 
complained  of  the  "  insufferable  wrongs"  which  the  En- 
glish had  done  to  the  Dutch  on  the  Connecticut,  and  of 
the  misrepresentations  of  Lord  Say,  Peters,  and  others  to 
the  States'  ambassador  at  London;  and  desired  "a  cate- 
gorical answer,"  whether  the  commissioners  would  aid  or 
desert  the  Hartford  people,  that  so  the  New  Netherland 
government  "may  know  their  friends  from  their  enemies." 
The  commissioners  were  not  in  session  when  the  Dutch 
winthrop  sloop  arrived  at  Boston.  But  Grovernor  Winthrop,  the  pre- 
siding commissioner,  after  "  advising  with  some  of  the 
j^j  August,  elders  who  were  at  hand,  and  some  of  the  deputies,"  re- 
plied in  his  own  name.  Referring  Kieft  to  their  "  chiefest 
authority,"  from  which  he  "  should  receive  further  answer 
in  time  convenient,"  Winthrop  expressed  his  grief  at  the 
differences  with  his  brethren  of  Hartford,  which,  he  suggest- 

*  See  Articles  at  length,  in  Hazard,  ii.,  1-6  ;  and  in  Winthrop,  ii.,  101  ;  Morton's  Memo 
rial,  229  ;  Hutch.,  i.,  119,  120  ;  Bancrcft,  i.,  420^22  ;  Ilildreth,  i.,  285,  286  ;  post,  p.  445 


The  com- 
missioners 
answer  to 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENER  VL.  262 

ed,  "might  be  composed  by  arbiters,  either  in  England  or  chap,  xi 
Holland,  or  here."  The  confederates  were  bound  "  to  seek 
the  good  and  safety  of  each  other  ;"  but  the  difficulty  "  be- 
ing only  for  a  small  parcel  of  land,  was  a  matter  of  so  little 
value  in  this  vast  continent,  as  was  not  worthy  to  cause  a 
breach  between  two  people  so  nearly  related  both  in  pro- 
fession of  the  same  Protestant  religion  and  otherwise." 

"When   the    commissioners   met,   a   month   afterward,  September. 
Connecticut  made  complaints  on  her  side,  and  New  Ha 
ven  handed  in  statements  of  the  grievances  which  their  Kiefi.' 
people  had  suffered  from  the  Dutch  and  Swedes  on  the 
South  River.     Winthrop  was  now  instructed  to  communi- 
cate their  complaints  to  Kieft,  "  requiring  answer  to  the 
particulars,  that  as  we  will  not  wrong  others,  so  we  may 
not  desert  our  confederates  in  any  just  cause."    The  pres- 1|  sept 
ident  accordingly  wrote  to  Kieft,  recapitulating  the  in- 
juries which  New  Haven  had  suffered  on  the  South  Riv- 
er, the  charges  against  Provoost,  the  Dutch  commissary 
at  Fort  Good  Hope,  "for  sundry  unworthy  passages,"  and 
expressing  the  opinion  of  the  commissioners  in  favor  of 
the  "justice  of  the  cause  of  Hartford  in  respect  of  title  of 
the  land."     This   opinion  the  commissioners  "could  not 
change,"  unless  they  could  see  more  light  than  had  yet 
appeared  to  them  "  by  the  title  the  Dutch  insisted  upon." 
But  Kieft,  dissatisfied  with  this  reply,  again  asserted  the   1644. 
right  of  the  Dutch  to  their  lands  at  Hartford,  and  renew-  ^"■''^ 
ed  his  complaints  of  injuries.* 

In  the  mean  time,  the  red  men  were  thirsting  for  blood ; 
and  a  general  war  between  the  Indian  and  the  European 
appeared  to  be  at  hand.     The  valley  of  the  Connecticut  1643. 
again  became  the  scene  of  strife ;  and  Miantonomoh,  burn-  Ttle  con- 
ing to  avenge  upon  Uncas  the  indignities  which  he  hadSfans"n'"'' 
suffered  at  Boston,  invaded  the  Mahican  country,  at  the  Aug"u^'.*''" 
head  of  a  thousand  warriors.     But  the  fate  of  war  threw 
the  Narragansett  chief  into  the  hands  of  his  rival,  who 
transferred  his  prisoner  to  the  custody  of  the  English  at 
Hartford.     The  commissioners,  meeting  at  Boston,  agreed  September. 

*  Winthrop,  ii,,  129,  130,  140,  157  ;  Hazard,  ii.,  11,  215,  216. 


364  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

tKAP.  XI.  that  he  ought  to  be  put  to  death ;  and  Uncas,  receiving 

back  Miantonomoh  from  his  English  iailer,  conducted  him 
1643  .  . 

Murder  of  ^^  ^^^®  bordcrs  of  the  Mahican  territory,  and  executed  their 

moh""""*    judgment  upon  a  former  ally.* 

The  spirit  of  war,  at  the  same  time,  broke  out  among 
the  upper  tribes  on  the  North  River ;  and  Pacham,  the 
subtile  chief  of  the  Tankitekes  near  Haverstraw,  visiting 
the  Wappingers  above  the  Highlands,  urged  them  to  a 
7  Auirust.    general  massacre  of  the  Dutch.     A  shallop  coming  down 
iiiansat-     from  Fort  Orange  with  a   cargo  of  four  hundred  beaver 
trading      skius,  was  attacked  and  plundered,  and  one  of  the  crew 
the  North   w^as  killed.     Two  other  open  boats  were  presently  seized; 
but,  in  attacking  a  fourth,  the  savages  were  repulsed,  and 
lost  six  of  their  warriors.     Nine  of  the  Dutch  colonists 
were  killed,  and  a  woman  and  two  children  taken  pris- 
oners.    Others  were  slain  by  the  savages,  who  approached 
their  scattered  dwellings  under  the  guise  of  friendship 
Intelligence  of  the  outbreak  was  quickly  borne  to  Fort 
Amsterdam  ;  and  the  news  of  "fifteen  Dutch  slain  by  the 
Indians,  and  much  beaver  taken,"  soon  reached  Boston.! 
September.      Tlic  appalling  crisis  compelled  Kieft  to  summon  the  peo- 
moiisthe    plc  again  into  council.     The  commonalty  were  convoked 
ly again,    at  Fort  Amsterdam,  and  asked  to  elect  "five  or  six  per- 
sons from  among  themselves,"  to  consider  the  propositions 
which  the  director  might  submit.     The  people  met ;  but 
remembering  Kieft's  cavalier  treatment  of  the  "  Twelve 
Men"  in  the  previous  year,  they  "  considered  it  wise"  to 
leave  the   responsibility  of  selection  to  the  director  and 
council,  provided  the  right  should  be  reserved  to  them- 
selves to  reject  the  persons  "  against  whom  there  might 
be   any   thing  to   object,   and   who   are   not  pleasing  to 
us."     The   scruples   of  the   commonalty,  however,  were 
overcome ;  and  again  imitating  the  example  of  the  Fa- 
"Eight      therland,  the   people   elected  "  Eight  Men"  from   among 
ihosen.      tliemselvcs,  "  maturely  to   consider"  the   propositions   of 

*  Winthrop,  ii.,  130,  and  Savage's  note,  on  page  132;  Hazard,  ii.,  T-13  ;  Col.  Rcc. 
Conn.,  94  ;  Trumbull,  i.,  129-134  ;  Bancroft,  i.,  424  ;  Hildreth,  i.,  292,  293. 
t  Alb.  Rec,  iii.,  143;  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  114  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y,  iv.,  12;  Winthrop,  ii.,  130. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  365 

the  director.     This  second  board  of  popular  representatives  chap.  xi. 
in  New  Netherland  consisted  of  Jochem  Pietersen  Knyter, 
Jan  Jansen  Dam,  Barent  Dircksen,  Abraham  Pietersen, 
Isaac  Allerton,  Thomas  Hall,  G-errit  Wolfertsen,  and  Cor- 
nells Melyn.* 

Two  days  after  their  election,  the  Eisfht  Men  met,  at  i5  Sept. 
Kieft's  summons,  "to  consider  the  critical  circumstances ortiieEigtu 

IT-  Men. 

of  the  country."  Before  attending  to  any  other  business, 
they  resolved  to  exclude  from  their  board  Jan  Jansen  Dam, 
one  of  the  signers  of  the  letter  to  Kieft,  which  was  the  im- 
mediate cause  of  the  massacres  at  Pavonia  and  Corlaer's 
Hook.  In  vain  Dam  protested,  and  charged  the  director 
with  deceit  in  procuring  his  signature.  The  obnoxious 
representative  was  inexorably  expelled ;  and  Jan  Evert- 
sen  Bout,  of  Pavonia,  was  selected  by  the  remaining  sev- 
en to  fill  his  vacant  seat.  The  Eight  Men,  having  thus 
purged  their  board,  resolved  that  hostilities  should  be  im-  wariiuo 
mediately  renewed  against  the  river  Indians  ;  but  that  authoriz'e'i 
peace  should  be  preserved  with  the  Long  Island  tribes, 
who  were  to  be  encouraged  to  bring  in  "  some  heads  of 
the  murderers."  As  large  a  military  force  as  the  freemen 
could  afford  to  pay,  was  to  be  promptly  enlisted  and 
equipped.  Several  "  good  and  fitting  articles"  were  also 
ordained  by  the  Eight  Men,  "  forbidding  all  taverning,  and 
all  other  irregularities."  A  week's  preaching  was  pre- 
scribed instead;  but  the  praiseworthy  order  "was  not 
carried  into  execution  by  the  officer. "t 

Kieft  did  not  delay  the  warlike  preparations  which  the 
Eight  Men  had  authorized.     The  colonists  and  the  serv- 
ants of  the  company  were  armed  and  drilled  ;  and  as  the  English 
English  inhabitants  were  now  threatening  to  leave  Newenrou")'' 
Netherland,  they  were  taken  into  the  public  service;  the 
commonalty  agreeing  to  provide  for  one  third  of  their  pay. 

*  IIol.  Doc,  iii.,  141,  144  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  284.  Kuyter  and  Dam  had  been  members  of  the 
previous  board  of  Twelve  Men  ;  ante,  p.  31".  Cornelis  Melyn  was  the  patroon  of  Staten 
Island.  Thomas  Hall  was  the  deserter  from  Holmes's  party  on  the  South  River  in  1635. 
Isaac  Allerton  came  to  New  Plymouth  in  the  Mayflower,  and,  about  the  year  1638,  removed 
to  Manhattan,  where  he  continued  to  have  large  transactions  as  a  merchant. — Alb.  Rec, 
i.,  TO,  71  ;  ii.,  42,  54,  131  ;  Savage's  note  to  Winthrop,  i.,  25 ;  ii.,  96,  210. 

+  Alb,  Rec,  ii.,  231  ;  IIol.  Doc,  iii.,  145,  215  ;  v.,  323  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  283,  288. 


306  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XI.  Fifty  Englishmen  were  promptly  enrolled ;  all  of  whom 

swore  to  be  faithful  to  the  States  Greneral,  the  Prince  of 

29  s^  t      Or^i^g^,  the  West  India  Company,  and  the  director  and 
council  of  New  Netherland,  and  to  "  sacrifice  their  lives 
Captain     in  their  and  the  country's  service."     The  command  of  this 
taken  into  forcc  was  intrustcd  to  Captain  John  Underhill,  one  of  the 
service,     hcroes  in  the  Pequod  war ;  who,  having  undergone  the 
severe  discipline  of  the  Boston  Church,  had  established 
himself  at  Stamford,  a  little  east  of  Captain  Patrick's  set- 
tlement at  Greenwich,  and  now  offered  to  the  Dutch  the 
benefit  of  his  veteran  skill.* 
The  Week-      But  bcforc  Kicft  could  complete  his  military  arrange- 
riestToy^^  ^  ments,  the  Weckquaesgeeks  dug  up  the  hatchet  which 
iiu"chin-    they  had  buried,  eighteen  months  before,  on  the  shores  of 
fiemem.     Bronx  Rlvcr.    Approaching  "  in  way  of  friendly  neighbor- 
eptem  er.  j^^^^^  ^^  ^j^^y  j^^^j^  bceu  accustomcd,"  the  widowed  Anne 

Hutchinson's  blameless  retreat  at  "Annie's  Hoeck,"  they 
watched  their  opportunity,  and  murdered  that  extraordin- 
ary woman,  her  daughter,  and  Collins,  her  son-in-law, 
and  all  her  family,  save  one  grand-daughter,  eight  years 
old,  whom  they  carried  off  into  captivity.  The  houses  and 
Throgmor-  Cattle  Were  ruthlessly  destroyed.!  From  Annie's  Hoeck, 
meiTtTt"'*^'  the  devastating  party  proceeded  downward  to  "  Vrede- 
land,"  and  attacked  Throgmorton's  peaceful  settlement. 
Such  of  Throgmorton's  and  Cornell's  families  as  were  at 
home  were  killed,  and  the  cattle,  and  barns,  and  houses 
were  all  burned  up.  A  happy  accident  bringing  a  boat 
there  at  the  very  moment  of  the  tragedy,  some  women 

*  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  233 ;  Hoi.  Doc,  ii.,  377 ;  iii.,  121  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  Iv.,  13 ;  O'Call., 
i.,  286,  420 ;  Winthrop,  ii.,  14,  63,  97.  Winthrop,  however,  erroneously  represents — and 
Trumb\ill  (i.,  139)  copies  the  error— that  the  Dutch  people  were  so  offended  with  Kieft, 
that  he  "  durst  not  trust  himself  among  them,  but  entertained  a  guard  of  fifty  English 
about  his  person."  The  people  were,  no  doubt,  offended  enough;  and,  for  that  reason, 
it  is  not  probable  that  they  would  have  agreed  to  pay  part  of  the  expense  of  an  English 
body-guard  for  the  director. 

t  Winthrop,  ii.,  136;  Gorton's  Defense,  in  ii.,  R.  I.  H.  S.  Coll.,  58,  59;  Alb.  Rec,  ii., 
315  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  276 ;  Bolton's  West  Chester,  i.,  515.  Welde,  in  his  "  Rise, 
Reign,  and  Ruin  of  the  Antinomians,"  thus  records  the  destruction  of  their  leader.  "  TTie 
Indians  set  upon  them,  and  slew  her  and  all  her  family,  her  daughter  and  her  daughter's 
husband,  and  all  their  children,  save  one  that  escaped  (her  own  husband  being  dead  be- 
fore). *  *  *  God's  hand  is  the  more  apparently  seen  herein,  to  pick  out  this  woeful 
woman,  to  make  her,  and  those  belonging  to  her,  an  unheard-of  heavy  example  of  their 
cruelty  above  others."    See  post,  p.  419. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  3(J7 

and  children  fled  on  board  ;   and  ihvis  the  settlement  was  chap.  xi. 
saved  from  utter  extermination.      Nevertheless,  eighteen 
victims  of  the  red  man's  indiscriminating  fury  lost  their 
lives  in  West  Chester.* 

The  vengeance  which  desolated  West  Chester  did  not 
spare  Long  Island.     Ladv  Deborah  Moody,  who  had  been  Lady 

"  Mooilv's 

"dealt  with"  by  the  Church  at  Salem  for  "the  error  of  brave  de- 
denying  baptism  to  infants,"  having  fled  for  refuge,  with  June.' 
many  others  "infected  with  Anabaptism,"  into  New  Neth- 
erland,  had  established  herself,  by  Kieft's  special  permis- 
sion, at  's  Gravensande,  or  Gravesend,  on  Long  Island. 
But  she  had  scarcely  become  settled  in  her  retreat  before 
her  plantation  was  attacked  by  the  savages.     A  brave  de-  September. 
fense  was,  nevertheless,  made  by  forty  resolute  colonists ; 
the  fierce  besiegers  were  repulsed ;  and  Gravesend  escaped 
the  fate  which  overwhelmed  all  the  neighboring  settle- 
ments on  Long  Island.! 

Doughty's  settlement  at  Mespath,  or  Newtown,  did  notDoughty's 

.  ir-  111  r  1  settlement 

fare  so  well.  Durmg  the  first  year,  he  had  re-eniorced  at  Mespath 
himself  with  several  new  families  of  colonists.  More  than 
eighty  persons  were  soon  settled  in  Mespath,  and  an  air 
of  prosperity  prevailed.  Doughty  himself,  who  had 
"  scarcely  means  enough  of  his  own  to  build  even  a  hovel, 
let  alone  to  people  a  colony  at  his  own  expense,"  was  em- 
ployed as  minister  ;  and  his  associates  prepared  for  him  a 
farm,  upon  the  profits  of  which  he  lived,  while  he  dis- 
charged, in  return,  the  clerical  duties  of  his  station.  But 
the  savages  attacking  the  settlement,  the  colonists  were 
driven  from  their  lands,  "  with  the  loss  of  some  men  and 
many  cattle,  besides  almost  all  their  houses,  and  what 
other  property  they  had."  They  afterward  returned,  and 
remained  awhile  ;  but  finding  that  they  consumed  more  ni.st.s  seek 
than  they  could  raise,  they  fled  for  refuge  to  Manhattan.  Manuattaa. 

•  Winthrop,  ii.,  136 ;  Bolton's  West  Chester,  i.,  514. 

t  IIol.  Doc.,  iii.,  135  ;  Alb.  Rec,  xx.,  7  ;  Winthrop,  ii.,  124,  136  ;  Thompson's  L.  I.,  ii., 
169-173.  Gravesend  was  not  named,  as  many  suppose,  after  the  well-known  English 
port  on  the  Thames  ;  but  Kieft  himself  gave  it  the  name  of  the  ancient  city,  's  Graven- 
sande— "  the  Count's  Sand" — on  the  northern  banks  of  the  Maas,  opposite  the  Brielle, 
where  the  Counts  of  Holland  resided  before  they  established  themselves  at  the  Hague 
it,  thj  year  1250. 


368        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1643. 


Chap.  XI.  Here  Doughty  officiated  as  minister  for  the  English  resi- 
dents ;  but  they  not  supporting  him,  two  collections  were 
taken  up  for  his  benefit,  to  which  both  Dutch  and  English 
residents  contributed.* 

The  war-whoop,  which  rang  through  West  Chester  and 
Long  Island,  was  re-echoed  through  New  Jersey.     The 
grumbling  Hackinsacks,  unappeased  by  a  sufficient  atone- 
ment, soon  fulfilled  their  sachem's  foreboding  words.     A 
Hackin-     sudden  night  attack  was  made  on  Yan  der  Horst's  colony 

sack  at-  "  •' 

tacked.  at  " Achtcr  Cul."  The  house  was  set  on  fire;  and  the 
small  garrison,  "five  soldiers,  five  boys,  and  one  man," 
after  a  determined  resistance,  barely  escaped  in  a  canoe, 
with  nothing  but  their  arms.     The  plantation  was  utterly 

The  Neve-  ruincd.     The  Nevesincks  below  the  Raritan  were  aroused. 

aroused.  Acrt  Theuuiscn,  of  Hoboken,  while  trading  at  the  Beere- 
gat — now  known  as  Shrewsbury  Inlet,  just  south  of 
Sandy  Hook — was  attacked  and  killed  by  the  savages. 
The  yacht  had  scarcely  returned  to  Manhattan  with  the 
tidings,  before   a  nearer   calamity   appalled  the   Dutch. 

1  October.  Niuc  Indians,  coming  to  Pavonia  with  friendly  demon- 
strations, approached  the  house  of  Jacob  Stoffelsen,  which 
was  guarded  by  a  detachment  of  three  or  four  soldiers. 
Stoffelsen,  who  had  married  the  widow  of  Van  Voorst, 
Pauw's  former  superintendent,  was  a  favorite  with  the 
savages,  who,  making  up  a  "  false  errand,"  succeeded  in 
sending  him  across  the  river  to  Fort  Amsterdam.    As  soon 

Pavonia     as  Stoffelscu  was  safely  out  of  the  way,  they  approached 

surprise  .  ^j^^  goldiers  under  a  show  of  friendsliip.  These,  incautious- 
ly laying  aside  their  arms,  were  all  murdered.  Not  a  soul 
escaped  alive,  except  the  little  son  of  Van  Voorst,  whom  the 
savages  carried  off"  a  prisoner  to  Tappan,  after  burning  all 
the  bouweries,  and  houses,  and  cattle,  and  corn  at  Pavo- 
nia. At  Kieft's  earnest  entreaty,  De  Vries,  the  only  per- 
son who  "durst  go  among  the  Indians,"  went  up  the  river, 
and  procured  the  release  of  the  captive.! 

*  Breeder!  Raedt,  25  ;  Hoi.  Doc,  iv.,  71  ;  v.,  360  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  301,  333. 
t  Alb.  Rec,  iii.,  153  ;  Hoi.  Doc,  Iv.,  247  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  302  ;  Benson's  Mem- 
oir, 92;  De  Vries,  183;  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  iii.,  121. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  369 

Thus  the  war  began  anew.  West  Chester  was  already  cha.'.  xi 
laid  waste,  and  Lonsf  Island  almost  "destitute  of  inhabit- 
ants  and  stock."  From  the  Highlands  of  Nevesinck  to^y^^^^^' 
the  valley  of  Tappan,  the  whole  of  New  Jersey  was  once  ^°'",^^g^ 
more  in  possession  of  its  aboriginal  lords.  Staten  Island, 
where  Melyn  had  established  himself,  was  hourly  expect- 
ing an  assault.  The  devastating  tide  rolled  over  the  isl- 
and of  Manhattan  itself.  From  its  northern  extremity  to 
the  Kolck,  there  were  now  no  more  than  five  or  six  bouw- 
eries  left;  and  these  "  were  threatened  by  the  Indians  ev- 
ery night  with  fire,  and  by  day  with  the  slaughter  of  both 
people  and  cattle."  No  other  place  remained,  where  the 
trembling  population  could  find  protection,  than  "  around 
and  adjoining  Fort  Amsterdam."  There  women  and  chil- 
dren lay  "  concealed  in  straw  huts,"  while  their  husbands 
and  fathers  mounted  guard  on  the  crumbling  ramparts 
above.  For  the  fort  itself  was  almost  defenseless ;  it  re- 
sembled "  rather  a  mole-hill  than  a  fortress  against  an 
enemy."  The  cattle  which  had  escaped  destruction  were 
huddled  within  the  walls,  and  were  already  beginning  to 
starve  for  want  of  forage.  It  was  indispensable  to  main- 
tain a  constant  guard  at  all  hours  ;  for  seven  allied  tribes, 
"  well  supplied  with  muskets,  powder,  and  ball,"  which 
they  had  procured  from  private  traders,  boldly  threatened 
to  attack  the  dilapidated  citadel,  "  with  all  their  strength, 
now  amounting  to  fifteen  hundred  men."  So  confident 
had  the  enemy  become,  that  their  scouting  parties  con- 
stantly threatened  the  advanced  sentinels  of  the  garrison ; 
and  Ensign  Van  Dyck,  while  relieving  guard  at  one  of  5  onu^w 
the  outposts,  was  wounded  by  a  musket-ball  in  his  arm. 
All  the  forces  that  the  Dutch  could  now  muster,  besides 
the  fifty  or  sixty  soldiers  in  garrison,  and  the  enrolled  En- 
glish, were  "  about  two  hundred  freemen."  "With  this 
handful  of  men  was  New  Netherland  to  be  defended 
against  the  "  implacable  fury"  of  her  savage  foe.* 

"Fear  coming  more   over  the  land,"  the  Eight  MenxheEiKh: 

■  1  mi  r     1  '^^'^  again 

were  agam  convoked.     There  were  two  of  the  company  s  convoked 

*  IIol.  Doc,  iii.,  134-140;  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  S.^S ;  Winthrop,  ii.,  136. 
A  A 


370  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  x..  ships  at  anclior  before  the  fort,  which  had  just  been  load- 
ed  with  provisions  for  Cura^oa.     The  Eight  Men  proposed 
■  that  the  cargoes  of  these  ships  should  be  relanded,  and  a 
part  of  their  crews  drafted  into  the  service  of  the  province. 
6  October.  They  also  recommended  an  application  to  their  English 
mendationa  neighbors  at  the  north,  for  the  assistance  of  one  hundred 
Men.         and  fifty  men.     For  the  payment  of  these  auxiliaries,  the 
director  was  advised  to  draw  a  bill  of  exchange  on  the 
West  India  Company  for  twenty-five  thousand  guilders, 
and,  as  a  security  for  its  payment,  to  mortgage  New  Neth- 
erland  to  the  English.*' 
Kieftrc-         But  Kicft  did  not  "  consider  expedient"  the  suggestion 
stop^the     to  divert  supplies  from  the  West  Indies ;  and  while  fam- 
shlps!"'*     ine  and  an  overwhelming  enemy  were  desolating  the  pre- 
cincts of  Fort  Amsterdam,  the  starving  population  watched 
the  departing  vessels,  as  they  bore  to  Cura^oa  the  wheat 
which  they  had  raised,  and  for  which  they  were  now  pin- 
sendsto    ing.     The  recommendation  to  apply  to  New  England  for 
voTfor  as-  assistaucc,  was,  however,  promptly  adopted ;  and  Under- 
81S  ance.    ^.^^  ^^^  AUertou  Were  dispatched  to  negotiate  with  New 
Haven.     But  their  mission  utterly  failed.     Eaton  and  the 
Greneral  Court,  after  maturely  considering  Kieft's  letter, 
Refusal  of  rejected  the  proposal  to  assist  New  Netherland  with  an 
ven.  auxiliary  force.     They  were  prohibited,  by  their  Articles 

of  Confederation,  from  engaging  separately  in  war ;  and 
they  were  not  satisfied  "  that  the  Dutch  war  with  the  In- 
dians was  just."  Nevertheless,  if  the  Dutch  needed  corn 
and  provisions,  the  court  resolved  to  give  them  all  the  as- 
sistance in  its  power.t 
DeVries  At  tliis  coujuucture,  the  suffering  province  lost  one  of 
Nether-  its  bcst  citizcus.  The  bouweries  where  De  Vries  had  at- 
tempted to  establish  colonies  all  lay  in  ashes,  and  the  In- 
dians, whose  confidence  he  had  never  lost,  Avere  "  restless, 
and  bent  on  war,  or  a  full  satisfaction."  The  ruined  pa- 
troon  determined  to  return  to  the  Fatherland.  A  Rotter- 
dam Herring-buss,  whose  master,  disappointed  in  selling 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  116,  117 ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  13,  14,  22- 

t  Alb.  Rec,  iii.,  159 ,  Trumbull,  i.,  139  ;  iii.,  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  vii.,  244. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  372 

his  cargo  of  Madeira  wine  in  New  England,  "because  the  chap.  xi. 

English  there  lived  soberly,"  coming  through  Hell-gate  to 

seek  a  market  in  Virginia,  anchored  before  Fort  Amster- gg  sem!^ 

dam.     De  Vries,  accepting  the  schipper's  invitation  to  pilot 

his  vessel  to  Virginia,  called  on  Kieft  to  take  his  leave.    For 

the  last  time  the  director  listened  to  the  voice  which  had 

so  often  warned  him  in  vain.     "  The  murders  in  which  you  8  October. 

have  shed  so  much  innocent  blood  will  yet  be  avenged 

upon  your  own  head,"  was  De  Vries's  awful  prophecy,  as 

he  parted  from  Kieft,  and  left  Manhattan  forever.* 

The  Eight  Men  soon  met  again,  Cornelis  Melyn,  the  Meeting  of 
patroon  of  Staten  Island,  was  their  president.  The  utter  Men. '^ 
ruin  which  now  menaced  the  province,  and  the  cold  re- 
pulse which  his  application  for  aid  had  met  at  New  Ha- 
ven, if  they  did  not  entirely  overcome  Kieft's  jealousy  of 
the  popular  representatives,  at  least  prevented  him  from 
interfering  with  their  purpose  of  communicating  directly 
with  their  common  superiors  in  Holland.  The  people  of 
New  Netherland  had  never  yet  spoken  to  the  authorities 
of  the  Fatherland.  The  time  had  now  come  when  their 
voice  was,  for  the  first,  to  be  heard  at  Amsterdam  and  at 
the  Hague.  A  letter  signed  by  all  the  Eight  Men,  was  24  October 
addressed  to  the  College  of  the  XIX.  In  simple  and  pa-  letter  to  I'lie 
thetic  words  the  representatives  of  the  commonalty  told  company 
their  tale  of  woe.  How  "  the  fire  of  war"  had  been  kin- 
dled around  them,  their  wives  and  children  slaughtered 
or  swept  away  captives,  their  cattle  destroyed,  their  es- 
tates wasted.  How  famine  stared  them  in  the  face  ;  for, 
"  while  the  people  are  ruined,  the  corn  and  all  other  prod- 
uce burnt,  and  little  or  nothing  saved,  not  a  plough  can 
be  put,  this  autumn,  into  the  ground."  *'  If  any  provi- 
sions should  be  obtained  from  the  English  at  the  East,  we 
know  not  wherewith  we  poor  men  shall  pay  for  them." 
"  This  is  but  the  beginning  of  our  troubles,  especially  as 
these  Indians  kill  off  our  people  one  after  another,  which 
they  will  continue  to  do,  while  we  are  burthened  with  our 
muskets,  our  wives,  and  our  little  ones."t 

*  De  Vries,  163.  t  llol.  Doc,  iii.,  134-140 ;  Breeden  Racdt,  18. 


1643. 

3  Nov. 
Letter  to 
the  States 
fietipral. 


372        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

oiiAP.  XI.  To  the  States  General  the  Eight  Men  addressed  a  stili 
"  more  bold  remonstrance  ;  for  they  we^e  speaking  to  the 
statesmen  of  their  Fatherland.  "  "We  are  all  here,  from 
the  smallest  to  the  greatest,  without  counsel  or  means  ; 
wholly  powerless.  The  enemy  meets  with  no  resistance. 
The  garrison  consists  of  but  fifty  or  sixty  soldiers,  without 
ammunition.  Fort  Amsterdam,  utterly  defenseless,  stands 
open  to  the  enemy  day  and  night.  The  company  has  few 
or  no  effects  here,  as  the  director  informs  us.  Were  it  not 
for  this,  there  might  still  have  been  time  to  receive  some 
assistance  from  the  English  at  the  East,  ere  all  were  lost ; 
but  we,  helpless  inhabitants,  while  we  must  abandon  all 
our  property,  are  exceedingly  poor.  The  heathens  are 
strong  in  might.  They  have  formed  an  alliance  with  sev- 
en  other  nations ;  and  are  well  provided  with  guns,  pow- 
der, and  ball,  in  exchange  for  beaver,  by  the  private  trad- 
ers, who  for  a  long  time  have  had  free  course  here.  The 
rest  they  take  from  our  brethren  whom  they  murder.  In 
short,  we  suffer  the  greatest  misery,  which  must  astonish 
a  Chi-istian  heart  to  see  or  hear." 

"  We  turn  then,  in  a  body,  to  you.  High  and  Mighty 
Lords,  acknowledging  your  High  Mightinesses  as  our  sov- 
ereigns, and  as  the  Fathers  of  Fatherland.  We  suppli- 
cate, for  God's  sake,  and  for  the  love  which  their  High 
Mightinesses  bear  toward  then-  poor  and  desolate  subjects 
here  in  New  Netherland,  that  their  High  Mightinesses 
would  take  pity  on  us,  their  poor  people,  and  urge  upon, 
and  command  the  Company — to  whom  we  also  make 
known  our  necessities — to  forward  to  us,  by  the  earliest 
opportunity,  such  assistance  as  their  High  Mightinesses 
may  deem  most  proper,  in  order  that  we,  poor  and  forlorn 
beings,  may  not  be  left  all  at  once  a  prey,  with  women 
and  children,  to  these  cruel  heathen.  For,  should  suita 
ble  assistance  not  very  quickly  arrive,  according  to  our 
expectations,  we  shall  be  forced,  in  order  to  preserve  the 
lives  of  those  who  remain,  to  remove  ourselves  to  the  East; 
among  the  English,  who  would  like  nothing  better  than 
to  have  possession  of  this  place;  especially  on  account  of 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  373 

die  superior  convenience  of  the  sea-coast,  bays,  and  large  chap.  xi. 
rivers,  besides  the  great  fertility  of  this   soil — yea,  this 
alone  could,  yearly,  provision  and  supply  wiih.  all  neces- 
saries twenty,  twenty-five,  or  thirty  ships  from  Brazil  or 
the  West  Indies."* 

The   same   vessel  that  bore  these   dispatches   convey- 
ed a  distinguished  passenger.     Van  Curler's  benevolent 
visit   to  the  Mohawk   castles   in  the    previous    autumn, 
though  it   failed   to   procure   the   release   of  the  French 
captives,  at   least  prolonged   the   life   of  Father  Jogues. 
Through  the  dreary  winter,  the  solitary  Jesuit  endured  Father 
hunger  and  cold,  and  the  bitter  contempt  of  the  savages,  among  the 
who  reviled  his  holy  zeal.     Grradually  they  began  to  listen 
to  his  words,  and  receive  instruction  and  baptism.     His 
liberty  was  enlarged  ;  and  twice  he  was  taken,  with  the 
trading  parties  of  the  Iroquois,  to  the  neighboring  settle- 
ments of  the  Dutch,  who  welcomed  him  kindly,  and  "left 
no  stone  unturned"  to  effect  his  deliverance.     While  at 
Fort  Orange  on  one  occasion,  news  came  that  the  French 
had  repulsed  the  Mohawks  at  Fort  Richelieu  ;    and  the  31  juiy. 
Dutch  commander,  fearing  that  the  Jesuit  Father  would 
be  burned  in  revenge,  counseled  him  to  escape.     Jogues 
at  length  consented ;  and,  evading  the  vigilance  of  the 
savages,  remained  in  close   concealment  for  six  weeks.  Escapes  ai 
during  which  Domine  Megapolensis,  who  had  become  his  ange. 
attached   friend,    showed  him    constant  kindness.      The 
wrath  of  the  Mohawks   at  the  escape  of  their  prisoner 
was  at  length  appeased  by  presents,  to  the  value  of  three 
hundred  livres,  made  up  by  the  colonial  authorities  ;  and  is  sept. 
Jogues  was  sent  down  the  river  to  Manhattan,  where  hehattan. 
was  hospitably  received  by  the  director. 

Here  he  remained  for  a  month,  observing  the  capital  of  October. 
the  Dutch  province,  now  desolated  by  war.     Fort  Amster- 
dam was  without  ditches,  and  its  ramparts  of  earth  had  comhuou 
crumbled  away ;  but  they  "  wei*e  beginning  to  face  the  uutch  rai>- 
gates  and  bastions  with  stone."     On  the  island  of  Man- 
hattan, and  in  its  environs,  were  some  four  or  five  hund- 

*  IIoI,  Doe  ,  ii.,  323-328 ;  O'Call.,  i.,  269-294. 


374  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XI.  red  men  "of  different  sects  and  nations,"  speaking  "eight- 
een  different  languages."     The  mechanics  who  plied  their 
Languages  trades  werc  ranged  under  the  walls  of  the  fort ;  all  others 
fons.^'^''^    were  exposed  to  the  incursions  of  the  savages.     No  re- 
ligion, except  the  Calvinistic,  was  puhlicly  exercised,  and 
the  orders  were  to  admit  none  but  Calvinists ;   "but  this 
is  not  observed  ;  for  there  are  in  the  colony,  besides  the 
Calvinists,  Catholics,  English  Puritans,  Lutherans,  Ana- 
baptists, here  called  Mennonists,"  &;c.     The  heart  of  the 
missionary  was  grieved  at  the  sufferings  of  the  Dutch, 
whose  losses  by  the  Indians  were  already  estimated  at  two 
hundred  thousand  livres.     At  length  the  bark,  in  which 
Jogues       Kieft  gave  him  a  free  passage  to  Europe,  was  ready  to 
Europe.      Sail,"  and  the  Jesuit  Father,  supplied  with  "black  clothes, 
5  Nov.       and  all  things  necessary,"  gratefully  took  leave  of  the  Hol- 
landers, who  had  shown  him  so  much  kindness.* 
Fort  Or-         At  this  time,  the  "West  India  Company's  reserved  Fort 
*"s®-         Orange  was  "  a  wretched  little  fort,  built  of  logs,  with 
four  or  five  pieces  of  cannon  of  Breteuil,  and  as  many 
Bcve<-s-      swivels."      Around   it  was   the   hamlet  of  Beverswyck, 
"  composed  of  about  one  hundred  persons,  who  resided  in 
some  twenty-five  or  thirty  houses  built  along  the  river,  as 
each  one  found  it  most  convenient."     These  houses  were 
built  of  boards,  and  thatched  ;  there  was  no  mason- work, 
except  in  the  chimneys.     In  the  principal  house  lived  the 
patroon's  chief  officer;   "the  minister  had  his  apart,  in 
First         which  service  was  performed."     A  church,  however,  was 

church  at  .  .    .  r  -r»        •         tit 

Severs-  now  commcnccd,  under  the  supervision  oi  JJomme  Mega- 
polensis,  in  "  the  pine  grove,"  a  little  to  the  west  of  the 
patroon's  trading  house,  and  within  range  of  the  guns  of 
Fort  Orange.  A  burial-ground  was  also  laid  out  in  the 
rear,  on  what  is  now  known  as  "  Church  Street."  This 
first  church  in  Albany — the  humble  dimensions  of  which 
were  only  thirty-four  feet  long  and  nineteen  feet  wide — 
was  thought  sufficient  to  accommodate  the  people  for  sev- 

*  Relation,  1640-1,  50,  211 ;  1642-3,  284  ;  1647,  56,  111-117  ;  Jogues's  letters  of  the  5li 
and  30th  of  August,  1643,  6th  of  January,  1644,  3d  of  August  1646  ;  Tanner,  510-531  :  ii. 
N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ill. ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  21-24  ;  CharlevoLx,  i.,  250  ;  anle,  p.  346. 


wyck. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  375 

erax  years  ;  it  could  afterward  "  serve  for  the  residence  of  chap.  xi 
the  sexton,  or  for  a  school."     A  canopied  pulpit,  pews  for 
the  magistracy  and  the  deacons,  and  nine  benches  for  the 
people,  after  the  fashion  of  the  Fatherland,  were  soon  aft- 
erward furnished,  at  an  expense  of  eighty  guilders.* 

The  pious  services  of  Domine  Megapolensis  were  not.  Missionary 
however,  confined  to  his  own  countrymen.  Like  his  gapoiensis. 
friend,  Father  Jogues,  he  applied  himself  to  the  difficult 
task  of  learning  the  "heavy  language"  of  the  Mohawks, 
"  so  as  to  speak  and  preach  to  them  fluently."  The  Dutch 
traders  did  not  themselves  understand  the  idiom  of  the 
savages ;  and  even  the  commissary  of  the  company,  who 
had  been  "  connected  with  them  these  twenty  years," 
could  afford  Megapolensis  no  assistance  in  becoming  "  an 
Indian  grammarian."  The  red  men  about  Fort  Orange 
were  soon  attracted  to  hear  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel. 
And  it  should  be  remembered  that  these  earnest  and  vol- 
untary labors  of  the  first  Dutch  clergyman  on  the  northern 
frontier  of  New  Netherland,  preceded,  by  several  years,  the 
earliest  attempt  of  John  Eliot,  the  "  morning  star  of  mis- 
sionary enterprise"  in  New  England,  to  preach  to  the  sav- 
ages in  the  neighborhood  of  Boston.t  "  When  we  have  a 
sermon,"  wrote  Megapolensis,  "  sometimes  ten  or  twelve  of 
them,  more  or  less,  will  attend,  each  having  in  his  mouth  a 
long  tobacco-pipe  made  by  himself,  and  will  stand  awhile 
and  look,  and  afterward  ask  me  what  I  was  doing,  and 
what  I  wanted,  that  I  stood  there  alone,  and  made  so  many 
words,  and  none  of  the  rest  might  speak  ?  I  tell  them 
that  I  admonished  the  Christians  that  they  must  not  steal, 
nor  drink,  nor  commit  lewdness  and  murder ;  and  that  they 
too  ought  not  to  do  these  things  ;  and  that  I  intend  after 
awhile  to  come  and  preach  to  them,  in  their  country  and 
castles,  when  I  am  acquainted  with  their  language.  They 
say,  I  do  well  in  teaching  the  Christians  ;  but  immediate- 

*  Jogues's  letter  of  the  3d  of  August,  1646 ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  23  ;  Renss.  MSS. ; 
O'Call.,  i.,  331,  459.  This  humble  building  in  "the  pine  grove,"  near  Church  Street,  ac- 
commodated the  congregation  until  the  year  1656,  when  a  new  church  was  erected  at  the 
intersection  of  State  and  North  Market  Streets ;  post,  p.  624. 

t  Winthrop,  ii.,  297,  303-305  ;  Bancroft,  ii.,  72,  94  ;  Young's  Ch.  Mass.,  258,  note. 


370        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XI.  ly  aJ(J,  Why  do   so  many   Christians  do  these  things  ? 
'J-'hey  call  us  Assyreoni,  that  is,  cloth-makers  ;  or  Ckaris- 
'  tooni,  that  is,  iron-workers,  because  our  people  first  brought 
cloth  and  iron  among  them."*' 

The  effects  of  the  war,  which  was  desolatinof  the  neisrh- 
borhood  of  Fort  Amsterdam,  soon  began  to  be  felt  at  Fort 
Orange.  The  West  India  Company's  magazine  was  no 
longer  supplied  with  merchandise ;  and  the  warehouse  of 
the  colonic  of  Rensselaerswyck  was  now  the  only  resource 
of  the  fur-traders  who  might  obtain  licenses  from  the  pa- 
■Thepa-  troon.  In  this  respect,  his  mercantile  policy  was  exclu- 
close  mer-  sivc,  and  was  rigidly  enforced  within  the  colonic.     Mo.<  t 

cantile  pol-  i        •  i  -tit 

icy.  of  the  colonists,  however,  were  m  the  habit  of  procuriDg 

the  patroon's  licenses;  and,  as  early  as  1640,  De  Vrie.s  ob- 
served that  "each  farmer  was  a  trader."  Throughout  the 
war  which  was  desolating  southern  New  Netherland,  the 
colonists  at  Rensselaerswyck  felt  little  trouble,  and  enjoy- 
ed peace,  "because  they  continued  to  sell  fire-arms  and 
powder  to  the  Indians."  This  conduct  was  openly  re- 
buked by  the  directors  of  the  West  India  Company ;  and 
it  was  afterward  the  subject  of  complaint  on  the  part  of 
the  authorities  of  New  England.! 

The  colonists  readily  obtained  goods  on  credit  from  the 
warehouse,  to  which  they  were  obliged  to  bring  their  j)ur- 
chases  of  furs.  These  were  shipped  to  Holland,  and  sold 
at  Amsterdam,  under  the  patroon's  supervision.  His  share, 
at  first  one  half,  was  before  long  reduced  to  a  sixth,  to- 
gether with  the  recognition  of  one  guilder  on  each  skin  of 
the  remainder.  Under  this  system,  the  price  of  a  beaver 
skin,  which,  before  1642,  was  six  fathoms  of  wampum, 
soon  rose  to  ten  fathoms.  It  was  now  thought  necessary 
that  the  colonial  authorities  should  make  some  regulations 

*  "A  Short  Account  of  the  Maq-iaas  Indians,  &c.,  written  in  the  year  16-14.  By  John 
Megapolensis,  junior,  minister  there."  This  tract  was  first  published  in  Dutch,  at  Am- 
sterdam, by  Joost  Ilartgers,  in  1651  ;  see  ante,  p.  306,  note.  It  is  said  to  have  been  a 
familiar  letter  to  his  friends  in  Holland,  and  which  Megapolensis  himself  told  Van  der 
Donck  was  "printed  witliout  his  consent."  A  translation,  revised  from  that  in  Hazard, 
i.,  517-526,  has  just  been  published  in  ii.,  N.  V.  H.  S.  Coll.,  iii.,  149-160. 

t  De  Vries,  152,  158  ;  IIol.  Doc,  ii.  373  ;  Report  and  Advice,  in  O'Call.,  i.,  420,  App. ; 
Winthrop,  ii.,  84,  157  ;  Hazard,  ii.,  10,  103,  217, 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  377 

respecting  this  trade.     The  company's  commissary  at  Fort  chap.  xi. 
Orange,  in  conjunction  with  Van  Curler,  the  commissary 
of  the  patroon,  accordingly  issued  a  joint  proclamation, 
fixing  the  price  of  a  beaver  skin  at  nine  fathoms  of  white 
wampum,  and  forbidding  all  persons,  "  on  pain  of  confis- 
cation," to  "  go  into  the  bush  to  trade."     It  was  also  di-  iiiiat  tiau- 
rected  that  "  no  residents  should  presume  to  come  with  ued. 
their  boats  within  the  limits  of  the  colonic  ;"  and  a  further 
proclamation  declared  that  "  no  inhabitants  of  the  colonic 
should  presume  to  buy  any  goods  from  the  residents." 
Van  der  Donok,  "the  officer"  of  Rensselaerswyck,  was  at 
the  same  time  required  to  see  these  regulations  strictly 
enforced. 

But  the  schout-fiscal,  afraid  of  risking  his  popularity, 
would  not  enforce  the  new  ordinances.  A  sloop  arriving 
a  few  days  afterward  with  some  goods,  the  colonists,  in 
spite  of  the  proclamations,  purchased  what  they  pleased  ; 
and  Commissary  Van  Curler  and  Domine  Megapolensis, 
sending  for  Van  der  Donck,  directed  him  to  search  the  van  der 
houses  of  the  colonists  for  secreted  goods.  But  the  schout  faithless 
"  gossipped,  without  once  making  a  search."  He  was  not 
disposed  to  "  make  himself  suspected  by  the  colonists,  as 
his  years  as  officer  were  few."  Van  Curler  soon  became 
unpopular.  Van  der  Donck  fomented  the  discontent;  and 
a  protest  against  the  obnoxious  commissary  was  subscribed 
in  a  circle,  "  so  that  it  should  not  be  known  who  had  first 
signed  it."  Some  of  the  colonists  were  for  drivins:  him 
out  of  the  colony  as  a  rogue ;  others  wished  to  take  his  life.* 

By  degrees,  however,  Van  Curler's  popularity  returned ; 
and  Van  der  Donck,  finding  his  residence  becoming  dis-  van  der 
agreeable,   determined    to    leave   Rensselaerswyck,      HesoWesto 

.  "^  form  a  ne^« 

therefore  went  down  the  river  to  look  at  Katskill ;  and  coionie. 
made  arrangements  to  return  to  Holland,  and  seek  for 
partners  "to  plant  a  coionie  there."  But  the  patroon, 
learning  Van  der  Donck's  intention,  resolved  to  forestall 
"his  sworn  officer,"  who  had  "dishonestly  designed"  to 
purchase  the  lands  "  lying  under  the  shadow  of  his  colo- 

*  Renss.  MSS. ;  Van  Curler's  letter,  in  O'Call.,  i.,  461,  463. 


378        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XI.  nie  ;"  and  determined  to  enlarge  his  own  domain,  so  as  to 
include  all  the  territory  "  from  Rensselaer's  Stein  down  to 
10  Sept.  '  Katskill."  Instructions  were,  therefore,  sent  to  Van  Curler 
to  stop  the  sellout's  proceedings,  and,  in  case  he  had  al- 
ready acquired  a  title  from  the  Indians,  to  constrain  him 
to  surrender  it  to  the  patroon.  If  he  should  prove  obsti- 
nate, he  was  to  he  deprived  of  his  office,  which  was  to  be 
conferred,  provisionally,  upon  Nicholas  Koorn.  The  strin- 
gent orders  of  his  feudal  chief  arrested  Van  der  Donck'a 
design,  and  his  proposed  settlement  at  Katskill  was  aban- 
doned.''^ 

The  Swedish  government,  in  the  mean  time,  had  taken 
measures  to  place  their  colony  at  the  South  River  on  a 
1642.  permanent  footing.     In  the  summer  of  1642,  the  queen 
16  August,  appointed  John   Printz,   a   lieutenant   of  cavalry,  to  be 
"  Grovernor  of  New  Sweden,"  which  was  declared  to  be 
under  the  royal  protection.     The  territory  was  defined  as 
extending  "  from  the  borders  of  the  sea  to  Cape  Hinlopen, 
in  returning  southwest  toward  Godyn's  Bay,  and  thence 
toward  the  great   South  River  as  far  as  Minqua's  Kill, 
where   is   constructed  Fort  Christina,   and   from   thence 
again  toward  South  River,  and  the  whole  to  a  place  which 
the  savages  call  Sankikan,t  which  is  at  the  same  time  the 
place  where  are  the  limits  of  New  Sweden."     Of  these 
John         frontiers,  Printz  was  instructed  "  to  take  care ;"  yet,  if 
pointed      possible,  to  maintain  amity  and  good  neighborhood  with 
governor,   the  Dutcli  at  Fort  Nassau,  "now  occupied  by  about  twen- 
ty men,"  as  well  as  with  "  those  established  higher  up  the 
North  River  at  Manhattan,  or  New  Amsterdam,  and  like- 
wise with  the  English,  who  inhabit  Virginia,  especially 
because  the  latter  have  already  begun  to  procure  for  the 
Swedes  all  sorts  of  necessary  provisions,  and  at  reasonable 
prices,  both  for  cattle  and  grain."     Toward  the  colonists 
under  Joost  de   Bogaerdt   good-will  was    to    be    shown. 
Printz  might  choose  his  o^^^l  residence  where  he  should 

*  Renss.  MSS. ;  O'Call.,  i  ,  332,  338,  339,  462. 

t  The  falls  at  Trenton,  in  New  Jersey,  somelimes  written  Santickan  ;  ante,  p.  282  ;  ii., 
N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  409 ;  ii.,  283. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  379 

find  it  most  convenient ;  but  he  was  to  pay  particular  at-  chap.  xi 
tention  that  the  South  River  "may  be  shut,"  or  com- 
manded  by  any  fortress  which  he  might  erect.     The  trade 
in  peltries  with  the  Indians  was  not  to  be  permitted  to  any 
persons  whomsoever,  except  to  the  agents  of  the  Swedish 
Company.     Detailed  instructions  were  also  given  for  the 
internal  government  of  the  colony ;  and  Divine  service  was 
enjoined,  "according  to  the  true  Confession  of  Augsburg, 
the  Council  of  Upsal,  and  the  ceremonies  of  the  Swedish 
Church."     The  Dutch  settlers,  however,  were  not  to  be 
disturbed  "  with  regard  to  the  exercise  of  the  Reformed 
religion."      The   governor's   appointment  was    for   three 
years,  at  an  annual  salary  of  twelve  hundred  silver  dol- 
lars, commencing  on  the  first  of  January,  1643.     The 
Swedish  government  furnished  officers  and  soldiers,  and  30  August 
passed  an  ordinance  assigning  upward  of  two  millions  of 
rix  dollars,  to  be  collected  annually  from  the  excises  on 
tobacco,  for  the  support  of  the  government  of  New  Sweden.* 
Under  such  auspices,  Printz  sailed  from  Gottenburg  late 
in  the  autumn  of  1642,  with  the   ships   "  Fame"  and  1  Nov. 
"Stork,"  and  accompanied  by  the  Reverend  John  Cam- 
panius  as  chaplain.     Early  the  next  year,  the  expedition   1643. 
reached  Fort  Christina.!     Desiring  to  control  the  trade  of  pHnu  ar- 
the  river,  and  be  as  near  as  possible  to  the  Dutch  at  Fort  Fon  chns 
Nassau,  Printz  chose  for  his  own  residence  an  island  on'""' 
the  west  shore,  then  called  by  the  Indians  "  Tenacong," 
now  known  as  Tinicum,  near  Chester,  about  twelve  miles 
below  Philadelphia.     Upon  this  island  a  "pretty  strong" 
fort,  named  "  New  G-ottenburg,"  was  promptly  construct- Bunding  o- 
ed  of  heavy  hemlock  logs.     A  mansion  called  "  Printz  Gotten"" 
Hall"  was  built  for  the  governor ;  orchards  were  planted ;  ""^^ 
and  the  principal  colonists  took  up  their  abode  at  Tini- 
cum.    Toward  Fort  Christina  there  were  a  few  scattered 
farms ;  but  between  Tinicum  and  the  Schuylkill  there 
were  no  plantations. t 

*  Hazard's  Reg.  Penn.,  iv. ;  Ibid.,  Ann.  Penn.,  63-69.  t  Campanius,  70. 

t  Acrelius  ;  lludde's  Report ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  411,  429  ;  Ferris,  62,  63  ;  Haz- 
ard's Ann.  Penn.,  70.  Reorus  Torkillus,  the  clergyman  who  had  accompanied  Minuit  to 
New  Sweden  in  1638,  died  at  Fort  Christina  on  the  "tti  of  September,  1043,  soon  after  the 
arrival  of  Printz. — Campanius,  107j  lO'J. 


SSO  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

f'HAr.  XI.       Printz  now  hoped  to  secure  to  himself  all  the  Indian 
trade  against  the  competition  of  the  Dutch.     Still  more 
Printz's     effectually  to  "shut  up"  the  river,  in  the  course  of  the  fol- 
'noys"thc'"  lowiug  summcr  he  erected  another  fort  "  with  three  an  • 
Duteh.       gles,"  called  "  Elsingburg,"  upon  the  east  shore  of  the 
hay  near  Salem  Creek,  from  which  the  New  Haven  in- 
truders had  just  before  been  expelled.     The  new  fort  was 
garrisoned  by  twelve  men  commanded  by  a  lieutenant, 
and  was  armed  with  eight  iron  and  brass  twelve-pound 
guns.     At  this  place  all  vessels  coming  up  the  river  were 
compelled  to  lower  their  colors,  and  stop,  until  permission 
to  proceed  had  been  obtained  from  the  governor  at  Tini- 
cum.* 
Dcvriesat      Tlic  Swcdish  garrisou  had  an  early  opportunity  of  dis- 

llie  South  .  ,      .         .    T,  TN     -tT   ■  1   •  r  nr 

River.       playmg  then-  vigilance.     De  Vries,  on  his  way  from  Man- 

n  October.  I       "^       °       ^-..       .  °.  .  it.  i 

hattan  to  Virginia,  put  into  the  South  River  ;  and,  as  the 
Rotterdam  vessel  passed  by  Fort  Elsingburg,  a  gun  was 
fired  for  her  to  strike  her  flag.  Blanck,  her  schipper,  ask- 
ed De  Vries  his  advice.  "  If  it  were  my  ship,  I  should 
not  strike,"  was  the  reply ;  "  for  I  am  a  patroon  of  New 
Netherland,  and  the  Swedes  are  mere  intruders  within 
our  river."  But  the  schipper,  wishing  to  trade,  lowered 
his  colors.  A  boat  from  the  fort  immediately  visited  the 
vessel,  which  sailed  up  to  Tinicum  the  same  afternoon. 
At  Fort  New  Gottenburg,  the  Dutch  were  welcomed  by 
the  governor,  who  "  was  named  Captain  Printz,  a  man  of 
brave  size,  who  weighed  over  four  hundred  pounds." 
Learning  that  De  Vries  \vas  the  patroon  of  the  first  Dutch 
colonic  at  Swaanendael,  Printz  pledged  him  in  "  a  great 
romer  of  Rhine  wine ;"  and  the  Dutch  vessel  continued 
five  days  at  the  fort,  trading  confectionary  and  Madeira 
wine  for  beaver  skins.  After  a  short  visit  to  Fort  Nassau, 
where  he  found  the  West  India  Company's  people  in  gar- 

19  October,  risou,  Dc  Vries  accompanied  the  Swedish  governor  down 

the  river  to  Fort  Christina,  where  there  were  now  several 
houses.     Having  spent  the  night  with  Printz,  who  "treat- 

20  October,  ed  him  well,"  De  Vries  bade  farewell  to  his  Swedish  host, 

*  De  Vries,  184,  185;  Iludde's  Report,  482;  Hoi.  Doc,  viii.,  32,50. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  yyl 

for  whom  he  fired  a  parting  salute,  as  the  Dutch  vessel  chap.  xi 
sailed  onward  to  Virginia.* 

-1  p  /f  o 

Kieft's  attention  was  soon  afterward  drawn  to  a  new  p,^^^jg^,'^ 
and  unexpected  claim  to  the  ownership  of  a  part  of  New  Jijew  ai- 
Netherland.     An  English  knight,  Sir  Edmund  Plowden, ''"'"• 
calling  himself  Earl  Palatine  of  New  Albion,  arrived  at 
Manhattan  from  the  South  River,  and  boldly  affirmed  that 
all  the  land  from  the  west  side  of  the  North  River  to 
Virginia  was  his,  by  gift  of  the  King  of  England.     Plow- 
den's  claim  rested  upon  a  patent  issued  at  Dublin  by  the   1634. 
Viceroy  of  Ireland,  to  whom  the  knight  addressed  him-  ^^  •'""" 
self  after  Charles  I.  had  refused  him  a  charter  under  the 
Grreat  Seal  of  England.     By  his  Irish  patent,  Plowden 
was  invested  with  the  title  and  dignity  of  "  Earl  Palatine" 
of  the  Province  of  New  Albion,  which,  under  a  vague  and 
imperfect  description,  seems  to  have  been  meant  to  include 
most  of  the  territory  between  Cape  May,  Sandy  Hook,  and 
the  Delaware  River,  now  forming  the  State  of  New  Jer- 
sey.    Under  this  worthless  charter,  issued  by  a  Viceroy 
of  Ireland,  who  had  no  authority  to  grant  territorial  rights 
in  America,  Plowden   set  sail  for   Delaware   Bay ;  but, 
"  wanting  a  pilot  for  that  place,"  he  went  to  Virginia. 
From  there  he  visited  the  South  River.     But  becoming 
"  very  much  piqued"  with  the   Swedish  governor,  John 
Printz,  "on  account  of  some  affront  given  him,  too  long 
to  relate,"  he  proceeded  northward  to  Manhattan.     The   1643. 
oretensions  of  the  titular  Earl  Palatine  of  New  Albion 
were,  however,  entirely  disregarded  by  Kieft.     Plowden, 
nevertheless,  warned  the  director  that,  "  when  an  oppor- 
tunity should  offer,"  he  would  go  to  the  South  River  and 
take  possession  ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  he  assured  Kieft 
that  he  "did  not  wish  to  have  any  strife  with  the  Dutch." 

*  De  Vries,  Voyages,  184,  185.  Wc  must  here  take  leave  of  the  blunt  mariner,  whose 
I  figinal  journal  has  been  so  pleasant  a  guide.  De  Vries  was  emphatically  a  man  of  the 
people;  ever  opposing  arbitrary  power;  biased,  perhaps,  in  some  of  his  opinions  and 
statements  ;  hut  frank,  honest,  religious,  and  a  sincere  advocate  of  the  true  interests  of 
New  Nethcrland.  After  spending  the  winter  in  Virginia,  De  Vries  sailed  for  Holland, 
where  he  arrived  in  June,  IfiM.  He  seems  never  to  have  revisited  America.  His  un- 
pretending and  simply-written  work  was  published  at  Alckniaer,  in  1655,  illustrated  by 
a  well-engraved  portrait  of  the  author,  taken  in  1653,  when  he  was  sixty  years  of  age. 
See  ante,  p.  150,  note,  and  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  lii.>  lSt-l£9. 


B§2' 


HISTORY  07  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1643. 


George 
Lamterton 
arrested  by 
Printz. 
July. 


21  Sept. 
Action  of 
the  New 
England 
commis- 
Bioners. 


The  disappointed  Earl  Palatine  presently  returned  to  Vir- 
ginia ;  and  though  lie  came  to  Manhattan  several  years 
afterward,  and  reasserted  his  claim  to  New  Albion,  no 
actual  settlement  under  his  insufficient  title  appears  ever 
to  have  been  made  within  New  Netherland.* 

If  the  proceedings  of  Printz  excited  the  animosity  of  the 
Dutch  at  Manhattan,  his  arbitrary  conduct  was  not  less 
annoying  to  the  New  England  Puritans.  Lamberton,  not- 
withstanding the  warning  he  had  received  the  previous 
year,  persisting  in  revisiting  the  Delaware  in  a  New  Ha- 
ven pinnace,  was  induced,  by  the  Swedish  governor,  to 
land  at  Fort  New  Grottenburg,  where  he  was  instantly  im- 
prisoned, with  two  of  his  men.  Printz  began  to  ply  one 
of  these  men  with  strong  drink  and  liberal  promises,  to 
influence  him  "  to  say,  that  George  Lamberton  had  hired 
the  Indians  to  cut  off  the  Swedes."  But  the  governor 
could  not  persuade  his  prisoner  to  perjure  himself;  and 
in  his  vexation,  "  he  put  irons  upon  him  with  his  own 
hands."  According  to  Winthrop's  account,  Printz  was  "  a 
man  very  furious  and  passionate,  cursing  and  swearing, 
and  also  reviling  the  English  of  New  Haven  as  runa- 
gates,"! &c. 

When  Eaton's  statement  of  this  transaction  reached 
Boston,  the  commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies  instruct- 
ed their  president  to  write  to  Printz,  "expressing  the  par- 
ticulars, and  requiring  satisfaction"  for  the  "foul  injuries" 
offered  to  Lamberton  and  the  New  Haven  people  on  the 
Delaware.  A  commission  was  also  given  to  Lamberton, 
"to  go  treat  with  the  Swedish  governor  about  satisfac- 
tion for  those  injuries  and  damages,  and  to  agree  with 
him   about  settling  their  trade   and   nlantation."t     But 


*  Col.  Doc  ,  i.,  2S0 ;  ii.,  S2, 02;  i.  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  iii.,  37!) ;  ii.  (ii.),  270,  323-326;  1SG9, 
213-222 ;  Alb.  Rec,  iii.,  224 ;  xviii.,  349  ;  Hazard's  State  Paper.«,  i.,  100-1T4 ;  S.  Hazard's 
Ann.  Pcnn.,  36-3S.  10S-U2,  291 ;  Winthrop.  ii.,  52!) ;  .-tnififorJ's  Letters,  i.,  72,  73  ;  Sains- 
bui-y's  Calendar,  i.,  154;  Bancroft,  ii.,  290;  j)o.s7,  p.  4S4;  "Notes  and  Queries,"  iv.,  319- 
322;  C  King's  Addres?,  in  Proc.  N.J.  H.  S.,  i.,  39-42;  Pennington's  "Examination  of 
Beaucliamp  I'lantagenet's  De.seription  of  New  Albion;"  Mulford's  New  Jersey,  60-74; 
Murphy's  note  to  the  "  Vertoogh  van  N.  N." 

t  Winthrop,  ii.,  130, 140, 141 ;  John  Thickpenny's  Deposition,  in  New  Haven  CoL  Rec., 
L,  97-99  ;  S.  Hazard's  Ann.  Penn.,  74-70.  i  Hazard,  ii.,  11;  Winthrop,  ii.,  140. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  3g3 

Printz,  on  his  part,  met  the  charges  of  the  New  Haven  chap.  xi. 
people  with  a  positive  denial.    At  the  meeting  of  the  Gen-  ~~~ 
eral  Court  of  Massachusetts  in  the  following  spring,  the  7  f^„^^  ' 
Swedish  governor,  to  rebut  the  English  version  of  the  case, 
"  sent  copies  of  divers  examinations  upon  oath  taken  in 
the  cause,  with  a  copy  of  all  the  proceeding  between  them 
and  our  friends  of  New  Haven  from  the  first ;"  and  in  his 
letters  "used  large  expressions  of  respect"  for  the  English, 
(xovernor  Eaton,  on  behalf  of  New  Haven,  desiring  a  new 
commission  "to  go  on  with  their  plantation  and  trade  in 
Delaware  River  and  Bay,"  the  court  granted  it,  but  "with 
a  salvo  jure.''''* 

The  Boston  merchants  now  began  to  covet  a  participa-  Exploring 
tion  in  the  fur  trade  on  the  Delaware.     It  was  imagined  sent  from 
in  Massachusetts,  that  the  chief  supply  of  beavers  came  the  south 
from  a  "  great  lake,  supposing  it  to  lie  in  the  northwest 
part"  of  their  patent ;  and  this  lake,  which  they  named 
"  Lake  Lyconnia,"  it  was  now  thought  should  be  "  dis- 
covered."    A  well-manned  pinnace,  laden  with  provisions  March. 
and  merchandise,  was  therefore  dispatched  from  Boston, 
with  a  commission  under  the  public  seal,  and  letters  from 
Winthrop  to  the  Dutch  and  Swedish  governors.     The  ex- 
ploring party  were  instructed  "  to  sail  up  the  Delaware 
River  so  high  as  they  could  go ;  and  then  some  of  the 
company,  under  the  conduct  of  Mr.  William  Aspenwall,  a 
good  artist,  and  one  who  had  been  in  those  parts,  to  pass, 
by  small  skiffs   or  canoes,  up  the  river  so  far   as  they 
could."! 

*  Winthrop,  ii.,  157.  The  commissioners,  in  a  letter  to  Stuyvesant,  of  the  16th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1G50,  and  again,  in  their  Declaration  of  Grievances  of  April,  1C53,  charge  Jansen, 
the  Dutch  commissary  at  Fort  Nassau,  with  combining  with  Printz  in  his  proceedings 
against  Lamberton,  in  1643,  and  with  sitting  "  as  one  of  the  judges  in  court  with  the 
Swedish  governor."— Hazard,  ii.,  164,  214.  Trumbull  repeats  the  story  with  some  em- 
bellishments, and  erroneously  refers  it  to  the  year  1642. — Trumbull,  i.,  122.  But  the  de- 
position of  Thickpenny,  quoted  above,  says  not  a  word  about  Jansen's  complicity  ;  and 
Winthrop's  contemporary  account  (ii.,  140, 141),  while  it  alludes  to  the  Dutch  agent's  pro- 
ceedings at  the  Varkens'  Kill,  in  1642,  refers  all  the  "  foul  injuries"  offered  to  Lamberton 
(o  "  the  Swedish  governor"  alone. 

t  Winthrop,  ii.,  160,  161.  This  exploring  expedition  shows  the  ignorance  of  the  geog- 
raphy of  the  interior  of  New  Netherland,  which  so  long  prevailed  among  the  Dutch  and 
the  English.  On  Van  der  Donck's  map,  which  was  published  in  1656,  a  lake  is  laid 
down,  somewhere  about  what  is  now  known  as  the  Delaware  Water-gap,  through  which 
the  river  is  represented  as  flowing.  The  French,  in  Canada,  knew  more  about  the  beau- 
tiful lakes  of  New  Netherland  than  did  either  the  Dutch  or  the  English. 


384  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XI.  But  the  expedition  failed.  Kieft  protested  agamst  their 
proceeding,  and  sent  orders  to  Jansen,  at  Fort  Nassau, 
Failure  of  "  not  to  let  them  pass."  The  pinnace  arrived  at  Fort  El- 
the^expedi-  ging^urg  u  q^  ^j^g  Lord's  day,"  and  the  Swedes,  firing  a 
shot,  forced  her  to  anchor  lower  down.  Eventually,  the 
English  vessel  was  suffered  to  pass  ;  but  both  Printz  and 
Jansen  forbade  the  adventurers  to  trade  with  the  Indians, 
"  and  for  that  end  each  of  them  had  appointed  a  pinnace 
to  wait  upon"  the  Boston  craft.  Her  master,  however, 
"  proved  such  a  drunken  sot,  and  so  complied  with  the 
Dutch  and  Swedes,"  that  the  adventurers,  fearing  that  if 
they  should  leave  their  vessel  to  go  up  to  the  lake  in  a 
small  boat,  "  he  would,  in  his  drunkenness,  have  betrayed 
their  goods  to  the  Dutch,"  gave  up  their  expedition,  and 
20  July,  returned  to  Boston.  The  owners  of  the  pinnace,  on  their 
arrival  home,  recovered  two  hundred  pounds  damages  from 
the  master,  "  which  was  too  much,  though  he  did  deal 
badly  with  them,  for  it  is  very  probable  they  could  not 
have  proceeded."  Yet  this  verdict  did  not  prevent  the 
commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies,  several  years  after- 
ward, from  disingenuously  alleging  the  conduct  of  the 
Dutch  authorities  as  the  cause  of  the  failure  of  the  expe- 
dition.* 
October.  The  following  autumn  another  bark  '-was  set  out  from 
Boston,  to  trade  at  Delaware."  After  wintering  in  the 
bay,  she  went  over  to  the  "Maryland  side"  in  the  spring, 
where  in  three  weeks  "  a  good  parcel"  of  five  hundred 
Another  bcaver  skins  was  procured.  As  the  bark  was  about  leav- 
pedit.on  ing,  fifteen  Indians  came  aboard,  "as  if  they  would  trade 
the  sav-  again,"  and  suddenly  drawing  forth  "  hatchets  from  un- 
der their  coats,"  killed  the  master  and  tliree  others,  and 
rifled  the  vessel  of  all  her  goods  and  sails,  taking  pris- 
oners a  boy  and  "  one  Redman,"  the  interpreter,  who  was 
suspected  of  having  betrayed  his  countrymen.  Printz, 
hearing  of  the  outrage,  which  seems  to  have  been  perpe- 
trated in  the  neighborhood  of  De  Yries's  unfortunate  col- 
ony at  Swaanendael,  procured  the  delivery  of  the  prison- 

♦  Wiiitbre^,  ii.,  161,  179,  1S7 ;  Hazard,  ii.,  214. 


a^cs. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  38/, 


*  1644. 


ors  to  him  at  Fort  New  G-ottenburg.     From  there  they  chap.  xi 
were  sent  by  way  of  New  Haven  to  Boston,  where  Red- 
man wa.s  tried  for  his  life,  and  found  guilty 

The  pertinacious  interference  of  the  New  England  col-  The  Dutih 
onists  with  the  trade  on  the  Delaware  was  as  grievous  an  swcie^  op- 
annoyance  to  Printz  as  to  Kieft.     The  Dutch,  as  the  first  giisu  inter 

TGrcncG  on 

explorers  and  possessors  of  the  South  River,  unwillingly  the  south 
saw  their  monopoly  invaded  by  the  Swedes ;  but  when 
the  English  attempted  to  divide  with  them  the  prize,  the 
Swedes  were  found  acting  in  concert  with  the  Dutch  to 
repel  the  new  intrusion.     In  Holland,  the  question  of  sov- 
ereignty was  suddenly  raised  by  the  arrival  of  two  Swed-  October. 
ish  ships,  "  The  Key  of  Calmar"  and  the  "  Fame,"  which 
Printz  had  dispatched  home  with  large  cargoes  of  beaver 
and  tobacco.     Stress  of  weather,  and  perhaps  apprehen-  Question 
sion,  owing  to  the  war  which  had  just  broken  out  between  eigmy  rais 
Sweden  and  Denmark,  induced  the  masters  of  these  ves-  land, 
sels  to  run  into  the  port  of  Harlingen,  in  Friesland.    Here 
the  ships  were  seized  by  order  of  the  West  India  Compa-  e  octoher 
ny,  who,  claiming  sovereignty  over  all  the  regions  around 
the  South  River  of  New  Netherland,  exacted  the  impost 
duties  and  additional  recognitions,  to  which  their  charter 
entitled  them.     Against  these  exactions   Speringh,  the  s  October 
Swedish  minister  at  the  Hague,  instantly  protested  to  the 
States  Greneral.     A  long  correspondence  ensued,  which 
resulted  in  the  discharge  of  the  ships,  the  next  summer, 
upon  payment  of  the  impost  duties  alone.     The  compa- 
ny's additional  recognition  of  eight  per  cent,  was  waived ; 
and  the  question  of  the  right  of  sovereignty  was  left  un- 
settled.! 

In  the  mean  time,  Kieft,  disappointed  in  obtaining  as-   1(343 
sistance  from  his  English  neighbors,  had  been  forced  to||^ftTg 
draw  a  bill  of  exchange  on  the  directors  of  the  West  India  JTrepara- 
Company,  in   favor  of  some   merchants   of  Amsterdam.  l'2'Nov 
Strict  discipline   was   enjoined  upon   the    heterogeneous 
forces  which  were  now  mustered  at  Manhattan  ;  and  Van 

*  Winthrop,  ii.,  203,  201,  23ti,  237. 

t  IIol.  Doc,  ii.,  340,  342,  350  ;  iii.,  1,  3,  13  ;  Alb.  Rec,  xvii.,  321 

Bb 


386        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ijhap.  XI.  der  Huygens,  the  schout-fiscal,  was  commanded  to  exe 
cute  his  duties  without  fear  or  favor,  and  to  repress,  with 
all  the  force  of  the  province,  the  irregularities  which  a 
state  of  war  necessarily  produced.  The  refusal  of  New 
Haven  left  New  Netherland  to  her  own  resources,  and  the 
spirit  of  the  people  rose  with  the  occasion.  It  was  now 
determined  that  offensive  measures  should  be  taken  against 
December,  the  savagcs.  Couusclor  La  Montague  was  accordingly  dis- 
Expedition  patclicd  to  Statcu  Island  with  a  force  of  three  companies, 
s^atenisi-  forty  Dutch  burghers  under  Captain  Kuyter,  thirty-five 
English  colonists  under  Lieutenant  Baxter,  and  several 
regular  soldiers  under  Sergeant  Cock.  Crossing  over  from 
Manhattan  in  the  evening,  the  expedition  spent  the  whole 
night  in  scouring  the  island.  The  Indians  kept  out  of  the 
way ;  but  five  or  six  hundred  scheples  of  corn  were  se- 
cured, and  brought  back  to  Fort  Amsterdam.* 

The  Connecticut  Indians  in  the  vicinity  of  Stamford 
had  now  become  still  more  hostile,  and  Mayano,  a  fierce 
Indian  hos-  chlcf,  who  lived  a  little  to  the  east  of  Grreenwich,  boldly 
(irelmwich.  attacked  a  party  of  "  three  Christians,"  whom  he  acci- 
dentally met  returning  home.      One  of  the   party  was 
killed  ;   but  the  other  two  overpowered  the  savage  and 
cut  off  his  head,  which  Captain  Patrick  immediately  sent 
to  Fort  Amsterdam,  with  an  account  of  what  the  colo- 
nists at  Greenwich  had  already  suffered  from  the  chief 
and  his  tribe.     When  Patrick  and  his  fi-iends  submitted 
themselves  to  the  jurisdiction   of  New  Netherland,  the 
year  before,  it  was  upon  condition   of  being  "  protected 
against  their  enemies  as  much  as  possible,"     Good  faith 
now  required  that  this  condition  should  be  fulfilled ;  and 
Expedition  Kicft  instantly  sent  the  forces  which  had  just  returned 
Manhattan  from  Statcu  Island,  to  the  assistance  of  the  loyal  English. 
English     Leaving  Manhattan  in  the  morning,  in  three  yachts,  the 

settlers.  <=>'  ^  ' 

expedition  reached  Greenwich  in  the  evening.  All  the 
next  night  was  spent  in  marching  through  the  country  in 
search  of  the  enemy.  But  none  was  found  ;  and  the 
wearied  detachment  reached  Stamford  in  no  good  humor. 

♦  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  212,  236,  250 ;  iii.,  169  ;  IIol.  Doc,  iii.,  117 ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  14. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  3^7 

One  of  the  Dutch  soldiers  meeting  Patrick  at  Captain  Un-  chap.  a. 
derhill's  house  on  Sunday,  "in  the  time  of  afternoon  ex- 
ercise — for  he  seldom  went  to  the  public  assemblies" — 2  January. 
charged  him  with  treachery,  in  causing  one  hundred  and  pafr^k 
twenty  men  to  come  from  Fort  Amsterdam  on  a  fool's  er-  "^^^'^"'"' 
rand.     Patrick  resented  the  nettled  soldier's  charge  with 
'"  ill  language,"  and  spit  in  his  face.     As  he  was  turning 
to  go  out,  the  Dutchman  "shot  him  behind  in  the  head, 
eo  he  fell  down  dead,  and  never  spake."     The  murderer 
was  seized,  but  he  escaped  from  custody.* 

The  expedition,  however,  was  not  entirely  unsuccessful. 
Four  of  the  Stamford  people  volunteered  to  find  out  the 
retreat  of  the  savages  ;  and,  upon  their  intelligence,  some 
twenty-five  picked  men  of  the  detachment  surprised  a 
small  Indian  village,  where  they  killed  eighteen  or  twenty 
warriors,  and  took  an  old  man,  two  women,  and  several 
children  prisoners.  To  win  favor,  the  captured  old  man 
offered  to  lead  the  Dutch  against  the  Weckquaesgeeks,  E.xpetution 
who  were  reported  to  be  intrenched  in  three  castles  ;  and  weck- 
Baxter  and  Cock,  with  a  detachment  of  sixty-five  men,  geeks. 
were  sent  to  West  Chester.  The  expedition  found  the 
castles  strongly  constructed  and  well  adapted  for  defense, 
built  of  thick  timbers  nine  feet  high,  bound  with  heavy 
beams,  and  pierced  with  loop-holes.  In  one  of  these  cas- 
tles, thirty  Indians  might  defend  themselves  against  two 
hundred  Europeans.  But  all  the  savages  were  gone,  and 
their  fortresses  deserted.  Two  of  these  were  burned  by 
the  Dutch,  who  reserved  the  third  as  a  retreat  in  case  of 
emergency  ;  and  the  expedition,  after  marching  some  for- 
ty miles  further,  killing  one  or  two  Indians,  and  destroy- 
ing all  the  corn  and  wigwams  they  found,  returned  to  Fort 
Amsterdam  with  a  few  women  and  children  as  prisoners.! 

The  accounts  which  Underbill  had  communicated  top^''^^ 

from  Stani- 

his  townsmen  at  Stamford  of  the  local  advantages  of  New  ^"^'^  '"o'"- 

~  nize  Ileetn- 

Netherland,  and  the  personal  knowledge  which  John  Og-  Lon^'i"" 
den  had  gained  at  Manhattan,  had  meanwhile  induced*"*^- 

*  Winthrop,  ii.,  151  ;  IIoI.  Doc,  iii.,  118;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  14  ;  ante,  p.  331. 
)■  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  119,  120 ;  Doc  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  15. 


.388  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

r,nAP  xi.  several  of  them  to  visit  Long  Island ;  and  arrangements 
were  made,  in  the  autumn  of  1643,  to  secure  from  the 
Dutch  provincial  government  a  grant  of  lands  at  Heem- 
stede.  This  portion  of  Long  Island  had  been  so  named 
by  the  Dutch  after  the  "neatest  and  most  important  vil- 
lage" on  the  island  of  Schouwen,  in  Zealand.  Early  in 
1644,  Robert  Fordham  and  several  others  came  over  with, 
their  families  from  Stamford,  and  established  themselves 
at  Heemstede,  which  soon  became  known  as  "  Mr.  Ford- 
is  Nov.  ham's  plains."  The  next  autumn,  Kieft  granted  to  Ford- 
ham,  Ogden,  Lawrence,  and  their  associates,  a  liberal  pat- 
ent for  "the  great  plains  on  Long  Island,  from  the  East 
River  to  the  South  Sea,  and  from  a  certain  harbor,  now 
commonly  called  and  known  by  the  name  of  Heemstede 
Bay,  and  westward  as  far  as  Martin  Grerritsen's  Bay." 
The  patentees  were  authorized  "  to  use  and  exercise  the 
Reformed  religion  which  they  profess,"  to  nominate  their 
own  magistrates  for  the  approval  of  the  director  of  New 
Netherland,  and  generally  to  manage  their  own  civil  af- 
fairs. A  quit-rent  of  a  tithe  of  the  produce,  to  begin  ten 
years  "  from  the  day  the  first  general  peace  with  the  In- 
dians shall  be  concluded,"  was  reserved  to  the  West  India 
Company.* 
Hostility  of  Scarcely  had  the  Stamford  emigrants  settled  themselves 
dians.  at  Heemstcdc,  before  Penhawitz,  the  great  sachem  of  the 
Canarsees  in  that  neighborhood,  who  had  hitherto  been  es- 
teemed friendly  to  the  Dutch,  was  suspected  of  treachery ; 
and  several  of  his  tribe  were  charged  with  secret  hostili- 
ties against  "the  Christians."  Seven  savages  were  ar- 
rested by  Fordham,  on  a  charge  of  killing  two  or  three 
pigs,  "  though  it  was  afterward  discovered  that  his  own 
Englishmen  had  done  it  themselves."  Fordham,  however, 
informed  Kieft  that  he  had  arrested  the  savages,  and  con- 
fined them  in  a  cellar  ;  but  that  he  "dared  not  treat  them 
inhumanly,  as  he  could  not  answer  for  the  consequences 

*  Thompson's  Long  Island,  ii.,  4,  5;  Denton's  N.  Y.,  p.  6,  and  Furman's  notes; 
O'Call.,  i.,  317  ;  Martinet's  Beschryvinge,  iii.,  318.  John  Ogden,  one  of  the  Heemstede 
patentees,  was  a  contractor  for  building  the  church  in  Fort  Amsterdam,  in  1642  ;  ante,  p 
336. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  339 

to  his   own  people."     La  Montague   was  therefore   sent  chap.  xi 

ao^ainst  the  Canarsees,  with  a  force  of  one  hundred  and 

1  r*  /I  /I 
twenty  men;    Dutch  hurghers   under   Kuyter,   English g^p^^^^^",, 

auxiliaries  under  Underhill,  and  regular  soldiers  under  ^"g 
Cock  and  Van  Dyck.  The  expedition  sailed  in  three 
yachts  to  Sellout's  or  Cow  Bay,  where  the  forces  were 
landed  without  molestation.  Marching  at  once  to  Heem- 
stede,  Underhill  killed  three  of  the  seven  savages  whom 
Fordham  had  confined  in  the  cellar,  and  took  the  other 
four  prisoners.  The  forces  were  then  divided  into  two 
parties.  With  some  fourteen  Englishmen,  Underhill  at- 
tacked the  smaller  Indian  village ;  while  La  Montague, 
with  the  main  body  of  eighty  men,  advanced  against  the 
larger  settlement  at  Mespath.  Both  parties  were  entirely 
successful.  The  villages  were  surprised ;  one  hundred 
and  twenty  savages  were  killed ;  while  the  assailants  lost 
only  one  man,  and  had  three  wounded.  On  the  return  of 
the  expedition,  two  of  the  savages  whom  Underhill  had 
taken  at  Heemstede,  were  conveyed  to  Fort  Amsterdam, 
where  the  triumph  of  the  victors  was  disgraced  by  atro- 
cious cruelties.  One  of  the  prisoners,  frightfully  wounded  Atrocities 
by  the  "long  knives"  with  which  the  director  had  armed  tan  on  the 
the  soldiers  in  place  of  swords,  at  last  dropped  down  dead  the  forces 
as  he  was  dancing  the  "  Kinte-Kaeye,"  or  death-dance  of 
his  race.  The  other,  after  undergoing  even  more  shocking 
mutilation,  was  taken  out  of  the  fort  by  Kieft's  orders,  and 
mercifully  beheaded  on  a  mill -stone  in  "the  Beavers' 
Path,"  now  Beaver  Lane,  near  the  Battery.  These  bar- 
barities are  said  to  have  been  witnessed  by  the  director, 
and  Counselor  La  Montague.  Some  of  the  female  sav- 
ages who  had  been  taken  prisoners  in  West  Chester,  stand- 
ing at  the  northwest  angle  of  the  fort,  saw  the  bloody  spec- 
tacle, and,  throwing  up  their  arms,  and  striking  their 
mouths,  called  out,  in  their  own  language,  "  Shame  I 
shame !  What  disgraceful  and  unspeakable  cruelty  is  this  I 
Such  things  were  never  yet  seen  or  heard  of  among  us."* 
The  Dutch  forces  were  now  in  great  distress  for  want 

'  IIol.  Doc,  iii.,  121,  122;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  15,  16  ;  Breeden  Raedt,  19,  20.    This 


390  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XI.  of  clothing.     At  this  conjuncture,  a  ship,  which  the  pa- 
troon  of  Rensselaerswyck  had  dispatched  from  Holland 
The  Dutch  ^^^  prcvious  autumu,  with  a  cargo  of  goods  for  his  colony, 
wam^f'"  arrived  at  Manhattan.     Necessity  pressed  ;  and  Kieft  im- 
"'""""=•     mediately  called  upon  Peter  "VVynkoop,  the  supercargo,  to 
furnish  fifty  pairs  of  shoes  for  the  soldiers,  offering  full 
payment  "  in  silver,  beavers,  or  wampum,"     But  the  su- 
percargo, with  more  regard  for  his  patroon's  mercantile  in- 
terests than  for  the  necessities  of  a  suffering  soldiery,  re- 
suppiy  Ob-  fused  to   comply  with  the   director's  requisition.     Kieft 

tamed  from  ,i  iirji  i  ii 

a  private    promptly  Ordered  a  forced  levy ;  and  enough  shoes  were 
Manhattan,  taken  ffom  the  patroon's  ship  to  supply  as  many  soldiers 
as  afterward  "  killed  five  hundred  of  the  enemy."     The 
provoked  director  then  commanded  the  ship  to  be  thorough- 
ly searched,  and  a  large  supply  of  ammunition  and  guns, 
8  March,    not  included  in  the  manifest,  being  found  on  board,  they 
were  declared  contraband,  and  the  ship  and  cargo  were 
confiscated.* 
February.        Underbill  had,  meanwhile,  been  sent  to  Stamford  to  re- 
connoitre the  position  of  the  savages.     On  his  return  to 
March.       Manhattan,  he  was  dispatched,  with  Ensign  Van  Dyck 
expedition"  and  onc  hundred  and  fifty  men,  in  three  yachts,  on  a  new 
lord.  '       expedition  against  the  Connecticut  Indians.     Landing  at 
Greenwich,  the  forces  marched  all  the  next  day  through 
the  snow,  crossing,  on  their  way,  steep  rocky  hills,  over 
which  the  men  crawled  with  difficulty.    About  midnight, 
the  expedition  approached  the  Indian  village.     The  night 
was  clear,  and  the  full  moon  threw  a  strong  light  against 
the  mountain,   "  so  that   many  winters'  days  were   not 

latter  authority,  however,  states  the  date  of  these  transactions  as  April,  1644.  In  the  in- 
terrogatories proposed  to  Van  Tienhoven,  on  the  21st  of  July,  1650,  by  the  committee  of  ths 
States  General,  the  atrocities  perpetrated  upon  the  two  Ileemstede  prisoners,  and  the 
presence  and  conduct  of  Kieft  and  La  Montagne  on  the  occasion,  were  specially  inquired 
into.— Hoi.  Doc,  v.,  312,  320,  321  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  300.  Winthrop,  ii.,  157,  speaks  of  th? 
news  of  Underhill's  Long  Island  expedition  reaching  Boston  in  March,  1644. 

*  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  244,  277  ;  Renss.  MSS. ;  O'Call.,  i.,  342.  Winthrop,  ii.,  157,  says  thn 
this  ship  was  sent  "  to  the  free  boors  at  Fort  Orange,"  and  had  on  board  "  four  ihousaml 
weight  of  powder,  and  seven  hundred  pieces  to  trade  with  the  natives,  which  the  Dutc!) 
governor  havmg  notice  of,  did  seize  and  confiscate  to  the  use  of  the  company."  Savage, 
in  his  note,  seems  to  have  misapprehended  the  character  of  the  ship.  The  vessel  was 
actually  "  not  sent  by  the  company,  but  by  some  private  men,"  as  Winthrop  had  originall) 
written  it  in  his  journal. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  39] 

brighter."  The  village  contained  three  rows,  or  streets  chap.  xi 
of  wigwams,  and  was  sheltered,  in  a  nook  of  the  mount- ~~~ 
ain,  from  the  northwest  winds.  The  Dutch  troops,  find-  pestruc- 
ing  the  Indians  on  their  guard,  charged,  sword  in  hand,  J'°j"a°nl^f. 
upon  the  fortress.  But  the  savages,  emboldened  by  their  ''^^^• 
superior  numbers — for  the  village  was  crowded  with  In- 
dians, who  had  assembled  "  to  celebrate  one  of  their  fes- 
tivals"— made  a  desperate  resistance.  "  Some  said  that 
there  were  full  seven  hundred,  among  whom  were  twen- 
ty-five Wappingers."  Several  bold  sallies  were  attempted, 
but  every  effort  to  break  the  Dutch  line  failed.  Not  a 
savage  could  show  himself  outside  the  palisades  without 
being  shot  down.  In  an  hour,  one  hundred  and  eighty 
Indians  lay  dead  on  the  snow.  The  arrows  of  the  be- 
sieged now  beginning  to  annoy  the  Dutch,  Underbill, 
remembering  Mason's  experiment  at  the  Mistic,  resolved 
to  set  the  village  on  fire.  The  horrors  of  the  Pequod 
massacre  were  renewed.  As  the  MTetched  victims  en- 
deavored to  escape,  they  were  shot  down  or  driven  back 
into  their  burning  huts.  The  carnage  was  almost  com- 
plete. Upward  of  five  hundred  Indians  perished  by  sword 
or  by  flame  :  of  all  who  had  crowded  that  devoted  village 
at  nightfall,  but  eight  escaped.  Fifteen  of  the  Dutch  sol- 
diers were  wounded.  The  victors  kindled  large  fires,  and 
bivouacked  on  the  crimsoned  snow.  In  the  morning,  the 
expedition  set  out  on  its  return,  marching  "over  that  weari- 
some mountain,  God  affording  extraordinary  strength  to 
the  wounded,"  and  the  next  afternoon  it  reached  Stam- 
ford, where  the  soldiers  were  hospitably  entertained  by  the 
English.  Two  days  afterward,  the  triumphant  forces 
reached  Fort  Amsterdam  ;  and  Kieft  proclaimed  a  public  Thankssiv. 
thanksgiving  for  the  brilliant  victory  which  his  troops  had  daime*d  at 

■,  .  1  J.  Manhattan 

achieved.* 

*  llol.  Doc,  iii.,  121-126  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  16,  17  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  302 ;  ii.,  571 ;  Ban- 
croft, ii.,  293.  "  The  traditionary  account  of  the  battle  on  Strickland's  Plain,  preserved  by 
Trumbull,  i.,  161,  and  repeated,  but  not  confirmed,  by  Wood,  can  not  be  quite  accurate ; 
at  least,  as  to  time."  The  battle  happened  in  1644,  not  in  1646,  as  Trumbull  erroneously 
supposes.  Winthrop  (ii.,  157)  alleges,  that  the  employment  of  Underbill  by  Kieft  was  "  a 
plot  of  the  Dutch  governor  to  engage  the  English  in  that  quarrel  with  the  Indians,  which 
we  had  wholly  declined,  as  doubting  the  justice  of  the  cause." 


392        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XI.      Spring  had  now  begun ;  and  some  of  the  hostile  tribes 
~     which  had  felt  the  power  of  the  Dutch,  wishing  peace,  ap- 
peace  wiih  P^i^d  to  Underbill  to  interfere  in  their  behalf.     In  a  few 
chesteT'    days,  Mamaranack,  the  chief  of  the  Croton  Indians,  and 
L"ianV"^   other  chiefs  from  the  "VVeckquaesgeeks,  and  from  the  tribes 
G^Aprii      north  of  Grreenwich  and  Stamford,  came  to  Fort  Amster- 
dam, and  concluded  a  peace  with  the  Dutch.    They  pledged 
themselves  not  to  do  any  further  damage  to  the  colonists 
of  New  Netherland  or  their  property  ;  to  visit  Manhattan 
only  in  canoes  as  long  as  the  savages  on  the  island  should 
continue  hostile ;  and  to  deliver  up  Pacham,  the  faithless 
chief  of  the  Tankitekes,     On  the  other  hand,  Kieft  prom- 
ised them  his  friendship ;  and,  in  token  of  his  sincerity, 
\b  April,    released  several  of  the  captured  prisoners.    The  next  week, 
Gonwarrowe,  the  sachem  of  the  Mattinnecocks  of  Flush- 
ing, Cow  Bay,  and  the  neighborhood,  warned  by  the  les- 
son which  the  Long  Island  Indians  had  received  at  Heem- 
stede  and  Mespath,  came  to  Manhattan  and  solicited  a 
peace.     The  sachem  assented  to  the  conditions  which  Kieft 
imposed ;  and  upon  his  promise  that  none  of  the  neighbor- 
ing tribes  should  do  any  harm  to  the  Dutch,  or  assist  their 
enemies,  he  was  dismissed  with  some  presents,  and  en- 
joined to  communicate  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  to  the 
sachem  on  "  Mr.  Fordham's  plains."* 

Though  the  Dutch  arms  had  now  humbled  a  distant 
enemy,  and  the  semblance  of  a  peace  had  been  arranged 
with  the  West  Chester  and  Long  Island  savages,  the  prin- 
cipal enemies  of  the  Dutch,  nearer  to  Manhattan  Island, 
remained  hostile.     The  scouting  parties  of  the  red  men 
prowled  unopposed  about  the  very  precincts  of  Fort  Am- 
Fence  or-    sterdam.     For  the  protection  of  the  few  cattle  which  re- 
built at      mained  to  the  decimated  population,  "a  good  solid  fence" 
si'^Marcii. '  was  ordcrcd  to  be  erected,  "  from  the  great  bouwery  across 
to  the  plantation  of  Emanuel,"  nearly  on  the  site  of  the 
present  Wall  Street.     All  persons  who  wished  their  cattle 
to  be  pastured  in  security,  were  warned  to  appear  with 
proper  tools  and  assist  in  erecting  the  fence ;  those  who 

*  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  247, 248  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  303. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  393 

failed  to  give  their  aid  were  to  be  excluded  from  the  priv-  chap.  xi. 
ileges  of  the  inclosed  meadow.* 

The  precaution  was  necessary.     If  Kieft  had  earned  nostug   ' 
the  detestation  of  the  Dutch  colonists,  he  was  even  more  [h^Rjver 
hated  by  the  savages,  who  remembered  Van  Twiller's  pa-  ''"^""i^- 
cific  rule,  and  called  for  the  removal  of  his  violent  suc- 
cessor.     "Their   daily   cry   every  where   was   'Wouter, 
Wouter' — meaning  Wouter  van  Twiller."t     Throughout 
the  whole  summer,  the  settlements  at  Manhattan  and  its 
neighborhood  were  constantly  in  danger  of  utter  destruc- 
tion.    The  savages  were  unopposed ;  and,  as  soon  as  they 
had  "  stowed  their  maize  into  holes,"  they  began  again  to 
murder  the  Dutch.     The  ruined  commonalty  was  unable 
to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  soldiery  ;  and  the  West  India 
Company,  made   bankrupt  by  its   military  operations   in  The  west 

T->         -iiir  -1  •  -11  1  India  Corn- 

Brazil,  could  lurnish  no  assistance  to  its  desolated  prov-  pany  bank- 

ince.  The  bill  of  exchange,  which  Kieft  had  drawn  upon 
the  Amsterdam  Chamber  the  previous  autumn,  came  back 
protested.  Soon  afterward,  the  privateer  La  Grarce,  with 
which  the  director  had  commissioned  Captain  Blauvelt  to 
cruise  in  the  West  Indies,  returned  to  Manhattan  with  two  29  May. 
valuable  Spanish  prizes.  But  ready  money  was  wanted 
at  once ;  and  pressing  necessity  could  not  brook  the  slow 
proceedings  of  the  Admiralty  Court.1: 

Kieft  was,  therefore,  obliged  to  convene  the  Eight  Men  is  June. 
once  more.     He  laid  before  them  a  statement  of  the  des-  Men  a/ain 
titution  of  the  provincial  treasury ;  and  to  raise  a  revenue 
for  the  payment  of  the  English  soldiers,  he  proposed  to 
levy  an  excise  on  wine,  beer,  brandy,  and  beaver.     The 
Eight   Men,   however,   opposed    the    proposition,   on   theoppos 
double  grounds  that  an  excise,  in  the  ruined  condition  of  Hqt 
the  people,  would  be  oppressive,  and  that  the  right  of  tax- 
ation was  an  attribute  of  sovereignty  which  the  West  In- 
dia Company  might  indeed  exercise,  but  which  their  sub- 
ordinate officer  in  New  Netherland  had  no  authority  to 
assume.^ 

*  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  246  ;  Hildreth,  i.,  425.  t  IIoI.  Doc,  ii.,  378. 

t  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  250,  251,  257  ;  iii.,  212  ;  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  210  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  296,  306. 
4  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  215,  216. 


ose  an 
excise  on 
uors 


394        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap. XI.  The  director  was  "very  much  offended"  at  the  honest 
opinion  of  the  Eight  Men;  and,  "in  an  altered  mood," 

Kieft's  su-  sharply  reprimanded  the  representatives  of  the  people.    "  I 

conduct  ^^^6  ^^0^®  power  here  than  the  company  itself,"  said  Kieft 
to  the  contumacious  burghers,  in  the  presence  of  La  Mon- 
tague and  the  fiscal  Van  der  Huygens;  "  therefore  I  may 
do  and  suffer  in  this  country  what  I  please ;  I  am  my  own 
master,  for  I  have  my  commission,  not  from  the  company, 
but  from  the  States  G-eneral."  The  Eight  Men  still  en- 
deavored to  avert  the  obnoxious  excise  from  pressing  on 
the  commonalty  at  large ;  and  proposed,  instead,  that  the 
private  traders,  who  were  amassing  fortunes  while  the 
colonists  were  ruined,  should  be  taxed.  But  Kieft  was 
immovable.* 

2i.iune.  Three  days  afterward,  he  issued  a  proclamation,  "with- 

Kieft  arbi-  •'  ^     i         xr    i        ■»«■ 

traniyim-  out  the  kuowledgc  of  the  Eight  Men,"  recitinsr  that  all 

poses  an  i         •  c   •  i     i  i 

excise  on  other  mcaus  havmg  failed  to  provide  for  the  expenses  of 
the  war,  it  had,  "  by  the  advice  of  the  Eight  Men  chosen 
by  the  commonalty,"  been  determined  "  to  impose  some 
duties  on  those  wares  from  which  the  good  inhabitants  will 
suffer  the  least  inconvenience,  as  the  scarcity  of  money  is 
very  general."  It  was  therefore  ordained,  "provisionally, 
until  the  good  G-od  shall  grant  us  peace,  or  we  shall  be 
sufficiently  aided  from  Holland,"  that  on  each  barrel  of 
beer  tapped  an  excise  duty  of  two  guilders  should  be 
paid,  one  half  by  the  brewer,  and  one  half  by  the  public- 
an— burghers  not  retailing  it,  however,  to  pay  only  one 
half  as  much ;  on  every  quart  of  brandy  and  wine,  four 
stivers,  and  on  every  beaver  skin  one  guilder.! 

Discontent      The    commoualty   openly    expressed  their    discontent. 

monaity.  Kicft,  attributing  much  of  the  ill  feeling  to  the  popular 
representatives,  who  had  opposed  the  tax,  sent  for  Kuyter, 
Melyn,  and  Hall,  to  confer  with  them  respecting  the  ob- 

ao.iune.  noxious  exactions.  But  the  Eight  Men  found  that  they 
were  in  "  little  repute"  with  the  director,  who  left  the 
three  representatives  of  the  people  to  sit  in  his  hall,  from 

*  IIol.  Doc,  iii.,  217. 

t  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  130-132,  217,  218.     The  original  of  this  order  was  in  Kiefl's  hand 

writing. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  395 

eigiit  o'clock  until  past  noon,  without  a  word  being  said  chap.  xi. 
to  thax:,  and,  finally,  to  return  in  disappointment  "  as  wise      , 
as  they  came."* 

Whilo  New  Netherland  was  despairing  of  relief  from 
Holland,  unexpected  aid  came  from  the  West  Indies.     One  Arrvai  of 
hundred  and  thirty  Dutch  soldiers,  who  had  been  driven  curacoa. 
by  the  Portuguese  out  of  Brazil,  coming  to  Curacoa,  where 
the   inhabitants   did   not  need,  and   could  not  maintain 
them,  were  promptly  sent  to  Manhattan,  in  the  ship  "  Blue 
Cock,"  by  order  of  Peter  Sfcuyvesant,  the  company's  direct- 
or.    Kieft  immediately  called  a  meeting  of  the  council,  at  juiy 
wjiich  were  also  present  Oudemarkt,  the  captain  of  the 
Blue  Cock,  and  Jan  de  Fries,  the  commander  of  the  new- 
ly-arrived troops.     It  was  determined  to  retain  De  Fries  21  jwy 
and  his  command  at  Manhattan,  and  to  dismiss  the  En- 
glish auxiliaries  "in  the  most  civil  manner."     The  soldiers 
were  to  be  billeted  on  the  commonalty,  according  to  the 
circumstances  of  each  one ;  and  the  company  was  to  make 
recompense  whenever  it  could.     Ai  there  was  no  clothing  4  August 
in  the  Company's  warehouse  for  thcje  troops,  the  council 
was  again  convened,  and  it  was  resolved  that  the  excise  The  beer 
duties,  which  had  been  "provisionally''  imposed,  should  forced, 
be  continued.     Besides  paying  an  excise  of  three  guilders 
on  every  tun  of  beer,  the  brewers  were  now  required  to 
make  a  return  of  the  exact  quantity  they  might  brew.t 

But  the  brewers  sturdily  refused  to  pay  this  unjust  The  brew 
tribute.  The  first  excise  had  been  imposed  "  provision- to  pay. 
ally,"  until  relief  should  arrive  ;  relief  had  arrived,  and 
the  excise,  instead  of  being  discontinued,  was  made  more 
onerous  ;  the  company  was  bound  to  furnish  clothing  to 
its  troops,  as  much  as  it  was  bound  to  furnish  ammuni- 
tion and  guns  ;  and,  above  all,  the  exaction  was  an  arbi- 
trary act  of  the  dependents  of  the  West  India  Company, 
and  against  the  consent  of  the  representatives  of  the  com- 
monalty, who,  in  the  present  instance,  had  alone  the  right 
to   impose   the  tax.     The  refractory  brewers  were  sum- 

*  Hoi.  Doe.,  iii.,  192  ;  Vortoo;;;h  van  N.  N.,  ut  sup.,  295 ;  O'Call.,  i.,  307,  308. 

t  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  260,  261,  265  ;  xii.,  4'J-55  ;  IIol.  Doc,  iii.,  187  ;  Winthroji,  ii,,  179. 


396  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW   YORK. 

Chap.  XI.  inoned  before  the  council.     "Were  we  to  yield,  and  pay 

~     the  three  florins,"  said  they,  "  we  should  offend  the  Eight 

igAu.'ust  ^'^^^  ai^tl  the  whole  commonalty."     But  judgment  was 

25  August,  recorded  against  them;  and  their  beer  was  "given  a  prize 

to  the  soldiers."* 

The  people      Tlic  pcoplc  had  HOW  Icamcd  another  lesson  in  political 

the  brew-   rights — tlic  Icssou  of  rcsistancc.     From  this  time  forward 

party  spirit  divided  the  commonalty.     The   Eight  Men 

represented  the  Democratic  sentiment  of  the  majority  of 

the  people ;  the  parasites  of  arbitrary  power  took  part  with 

the  director.     "  Those  who  were  on  his  side  could  do  noth- 

Party  spirit  insf  amiss,  howcvei  bad  it  might  be  ;  those  who  were  op- 

dtManhat-  ,  ,  .  ,  °  .  ,  i  ,:, 

tan.  posed  to  him  were  always  WTong  in  whatever  they  did 

well."  Kieft's  jealousy  even  made  him  suspicious  of  his 
own  partisans,  who  held  communication  with  "  impartial 
persons."  Throughout  nearly  the  whole  summer,  private 
quarrels  and  prosecutions  occupied  the  mind  of  the  director, 
to  the  exclusion  of  more  important  subjects ;  and  six  weeks 
were  frittered  away  in  trying  an  unfortunate  smuggler  of 
pearls,  who  was  eventually  banished.! 

The  Eight  Men  counseled  active  measures  against  the 
savages ;  for  they  had  been  "  greatly  gladdened  by  the 
miraculous  arrival  of  the  Blue  Cock,"  and  "  expected  that 
the  field  would  be  taken  with  between  three  and  four  hund- 
Kieft's  red  men."1:  But  "  nothing  in  the  least"  was  done.  Dur- 
inactivity.  ing  tlic  wliolc  summcr,  "scarce  a  foot  was  moved  on  land, 
or  an  oar  laid  in  the  water."  Some  of  the  Indian  prison- 
ers, who  might  have  done  good  service  as  guides,  were 
sent  to  the  Bermudas,  "  as  a  present  to  the  English  gov- 
ernor." Others  were  given  to  the  "  oldest  and  most  ex- 
perienced soldiers,"  who  were  improvidently  allowed  to 
return  to  Holland.  In  the  mean  time,  the  savages  were 
quietly  left  to  fish  and  secure  their  crops,  and  no  opposi- 

*  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  265-267  ;  Vertoogh  van  N.  N.,  295  ;  Bancroft,  ii.,  304  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  311. 

t  Alb.  Rec,  ii., 261, 262;  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  210  ;  Vertoogh  van  N.  N.,  295  ;  Breeden  Raedt,  24. 

t  According  to  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  167,  there  was  now  at  Manhattan  an  available  force  of 
four  hundred  and  eighty  men,  of  whom  one  hundred  and  thirty  had  arrived  in  the  "  Blue 
Cock  ;"  forty-five  were  old  soldiers,  fifty  were  English  au.xiliaries,  fifty-five  were  sailors, 
and  two  hundred  were  burghers,  or  freemen. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  397 

tion  being  offered,  they  soon  showed  themselves  more  chap.  xi. 
"  bold  and  insolent"  than  ever  before.  The  "  semblance  ~~~ 
of  peace,"  which  Underbill  had  "  patched  up"  in  the 
spring,  bore  but  little  fruit.  Parties  of  Indians  roved 
about,  day  and  night,  over  Manhattan  Island,  killing  the 
Dutch  not  a  thousand  paces  from  Fort  Amsterdam ;  and 
no  one  dared  "  move  a  foot  to  fetch  a  stick  of  fire- wood 
without  a  strong  escort."* 

Finding  Kieft's  censurable  inactivity  still  continuing, 
Cornelis  Melyn,  the  president  of  the  Eight  Men,  address- 6  August 
ed  an  earnest  letter  to  the  States  Greneral,  urging  them  to 
interfere  in  behalf  of  the  province ;  and,  at  the  same  time, 
wrote  to  his  friend  Van  der  Horst,  to  exert,  in  favor  of  the 
people  of  New  Netherland,  all  the  influence  which  he  pos- 
sessed with  the  company.  Two  others  of  the  Eight  Men, 
Hall  and  Dircksen,  in  person  protested  strongly  to  Kieft 
against  his  neglect  of  duty.     The  director,  at  last  aroused  The  direci 

•  T  1    T       ^    /~i        1     ■      Ts      -r\    •  •  n  c  i^t       or  sends  an 

to  action,  dispatched  Laptam  Ue  lories  with  a  party  01  the  expedition 
Curacoa  soldiers  toward  the  north.     Eio^ht  sava^res  were  north. 

1     ■  T  -11  r  1  -11    22  October 

slain  ;  but,  said  the  men,  "  lor  every  new  enemy  we  kill, 
another  stands  next  morning  in  his  place."  And  the  col- 
onists, finding  the  summer  and  autumn  nearly  gone,  now 
began  to  anticipate  the  severities  of  a  winter's  campaign, 
and  being  forced  to  wade  "through  rivers  and  creeks,  in 
frost  and  snow,  with  their  new  and  naked  soldiers,  who 
had  resided  in  warm  climates  for  so  many  years."! 

The  condition  of  public  affairs  had  now  come  to  such 
pass,  that  the  Eight  Men  determined  boldly  to  demand 
the  recall  of  Kieft,  and  to  insist  upon  the  introduction  into 
New  Netherland  of  the  municipal  system  of  the  Father- 
land. It  was  ascertained  at  the  same  time,  that  Kieft,  in 
his  letters  to  the  College  of  the  XIX.,  "  was  endeavoring 
to  shift  upon  the  commonalty  the  origin  and  cause  of  the 
war."t  The  eight  popular  representatives,  therefore,  ad-  28  ootohe* 
dressed  a  second  memorial  to  the  West  India  Company, 
drawn  up,  in  simple  but  expressive  language,  by  Andries 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  206-210.  t  Ibid.,  ii.,  346 ;  iii.,  2!2. 

t  Breeden  Raedt,  21. 


398  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XI.  Hudde,  the  town  surveyor  of  Manhattan.*     "  Our  fields 

"7^        lie  fallow  and  waste,"  said  the  Eieht  Men ;  "  our  dwell- 
1644    •  •    •  s  ' 

Memorial    ^"o^  ^^^  othcr  buildmgs  are  burnt ;  not  a  handful  can  be 

Mcn^to  the'  either  planted  or  sown  this  autumn  on  the  deserted  places ; 
Company.'*  the  crops  which  God  permitted  to  come  forth  during  the 
past  summer  remain  on  the  fields  standing  and  rotting ; 
we  are  burthened  with  heavy  families ;  we  have  no  means 
to  provide  necessaries  for  wives  or  children ;  and  we  sit 
here  amidst  thousands  of  Indians  and  barbarians,  from 
whom  we  find  neither  peace  nor  mercy."  "  There  are 
among  us  those  who,  by  the  sweat  and  labor  of  their 
hands,  for  many  long  years  have  endeavored,  at  great  ex- 
pense, to  improve  their  lands  and  villages ;  others,  with 
their  private  capital,  have  equipped  with  all  necessaries 
their  own  ships,  which  have  been  captured  by  the  enemy, 
though  they  have  continued  the  voyage  with  equal  zeal, 
and  at  considerable  cost.  Some,  again,  have  come  hither 
with  ships  independent  of  the  company,  freighted  with  a 
large  quantity  of  cattle,  and  with  a  number  of  families ; 
who  have  erected  handsome  buildings  on  the  spots  se- 
lected for  their  people  ;  cleared  awny  the  trees  and  the 
forest ;  inclosed  their  plantations,  and  brought  them  un- 
der the  plough,  so  as  to  be  an  ornament  to  the  country, 
and  a  profit  to  the  proprietors,  after  their  long,  laborious 
Idea's  con-  toil.  The  whole  of  these  now  lie  in  ashes  through  a  fool- 
viewed  ish  hankering  after  war.  For  all  right-thinking  men  here 
know  that  these  Indians  have  lived  as  lambs  among  us, 
until  a  few  years  ago  ;  injuring  no  man  ;  affording  every 
assistance  to  our  nation ;  and,  in  Director  Yan  Twiller's 
time  (when  no  supplies  were  sent  for  several  months), 
furnishing  provisions  to  several  of  the  company's  servants, 
until,  as  they  state,  they  received  supplies.  These  hath 
the  director,  by  various  uncalled-for  proceedings,  from  time 
to  time  so  estranged  from  us,  and  so  embittered  against 
the  Netherlands  nation,  that  we  do  not  believe  that  any 
thing  will  bring  them  and  peace  back,  unless  the  Lord, 
who  bends  all  men's  hearts  to  his  will,  propitiate  their 

*  IIol.  Doc,  lii.,  204. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  399 

people."  "  Little  or  nothing  of  any  account  has  been  done  chap.  xi. 
here  for  the  country.  Every  place  is  going  to  ruin.  Nei-  "T~ 
ther  counsel  nor  advice  is  taken.  Men  talk  of  nothing  else 
but  of  princely  power  and  sovereignty,  about  which  La 
Montague  argued  a  few  days  ago  in  a  tavern,  maintain- 
ing that  the  power  of  the  director  here  was  greater,  so  far 
as  his  office  and  commission  were  concerned,  than  that  of 
his  highness  of  Orange,  in  the  Netherlands."  After  giv- 
ing many  details  of  the  origin  and  progress  of  the  war;  of 
the  proceedings  of  the  Twelve  Men  ;  of  the  election  of  the 
Eight  Men  ;  of  their  treatment  by  Kieft ;  and  of  their  ef- 
forts to  prevent  the  imposition  of  the  obnoxious  excise  du- 
ties ;  they  warned  the  directors  against  relying  upon  the  Kiea-s  mis- 
statements about  the  war,  contained  in  a  "book"  orna-tions 
mented  with  water-color  drawings,  which  Kieft  had  sent 
over.  "  It  contains,"  said  the  Eight  Men,  "  as  many  lies 
as  lines,  as  we  are  informed  by  the  minister,  and  by  those 
who  have  read  it."  And,  with  respect  to  the  statements 
in  that  "book,"  about  the  animals  and  the  geography  of 
New  Netherland,  "it  would  be  well  to  inquire  how  the 
director  general  can  so  aptly  write  about  those  distances 
and  habits,  since  his  honor,  during  the  six  or  seven  years 
he  has  been  here,  has  constantly  resided  on  the  Manhat- 
tans, and  has  never  been  further  from  his  kitchen  and  bed- 
room than  the  middle  of  the  aforesaid  island." 

"  Honored  Lords" — so  the  Eight  Men  boldly  concluded 
their  memorial — "  this  is  what  we  have,  in  the  sorrow  of 
our  hearts,  to  complain  of;  that  one  man  who  has  been 
sent  out,  sworn  and  instructed  by  his  Lords  and  Masters, 
to  whom  he  is  responsible,  should  dispose  here  of  our  lives 
and  property  according  to  his  will  and  pleasure,  in  a  man- 
ner so  arbitrary,  that  a  King  would  not  be  suffered  legally 
to  do.  We  shall  end  here,  and  commit  the  matter  wholly 
to  our  God,  who,  we  pray  and  heartily  trust,  will  move 
your  Lordships'  minds  and  bless  your  Lordships'  deliber- 
ations, so  that  one  of  these  two  things  may  happen — either 
that  a  Governor  may  be  speedily  sent  with  a  beloved  peace 
to  us,  or  that  their  Honors  will  be  pleased  to  permit  us  to 


400        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XI.  return,  with  wives  and  children,  to  our  dear  Fatherland. 
For  it  is  impossible  ever  to  settle  this  country  until  a  dif- 
The  direct-  fsreut  systciTi  be  introduced  here,  and  a  new  Governor  be 
demanded,  '^©nt  out  witli  morc  pcoplc,  wlio  shall  settle  themselves  in 
suitable  places,  one  near  the  other,  in  form  of  villages  and 
hamlets,  and  elect,  from  among  themselves,  a  bailiff,  or 
schout,  and  schepens,  who   shall  be  empowered  to  send 
deputies  to  vote  on  public  affairs  with  the  Director  and 
Council ;  so  that  hereafter  the  Country  may  not  be  again 
brought  into  similar  danger."* 
Free  trad-        In  the  mean  time,  notwithstanding  all  the  attempts  to 
seiaers-      restrain  it,  an  illicit  traffic  continued  to  be  carried  on  at 
Rensselaerswyck.    During  the  last  year,  neither  the  com- 
pany nor  the  patroon  had  "scarcely  any  trade,"  while  fully 
three  or  four  thousand  furs  had  been  conveyed  away  by 
unlicensed  traders.     "  It  would  be  very  profitable,"  wrote 
Yan  Curler,  "  if  your  Honor  could  bring  about,  with  a 
higher  hand,  that  the  residents  should  not  come  to  the 
colonic  to  trade."     The  patroon,  following  Van  Curler's 
suggestion,   determined  to   act  "  with  a  higher    hand." 
He  therefore  drew  up,  in  the  form  of  a  protest,  a  state- 
ment of  the  grievances  he  had  suffered  from  the  free  trad- 
ers, who  trafficked  against  his  will  with  the  savages,  and 
even  "  sought  to  debauch  and  pervert"  his  own  colonists. 
Feeling  that  he  was  the  "  first  and  oldest"  patroon  on  the 
North  River,  he  resolved  that  no  one  should  "presume  to 
abuse"  it,  to  the  injury  of  his  acquired  rights;  and  accord- 
Fort  at      ingly  caused  a  small  fort  to  be  erected  on  Beeren  Island, 
an"''"  *    at  the  southern  frontier  of  the  colonic.     This  post,  which 
commanded  both  channels  of  the  river,  was  named  "  Rens- 
The  pa-      sclacr's  Stcin."     A  claim  of  "  Staple  right"  was  set  up ; 
claims  a     and  Nicliolas   Koorn  was   appointed   "  Wacht-meester," 
right."       with  directions  to  levy  a  toll  of  five  guilders  upon  all  ves- 
sels, except  those  of  the  West  India  Company,  passing  up 
or  down  the  river,  and  to  cause  them  to  strike  their  colors 
in  homage  to  the  feudal  merchant-patroon.t 

*  Breeden  Raedt,  21 ;  Hoi.  Doc.  iii.,  206-222  ;  and  in  O'Call.,  i.,  312-317. 

t  Alb.  Rec  ,  ir.,  26,  46  ;  Renss  MSS.,  in  O'Call.,  i.,  465-467.     Koorn  had  formerly  been 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  40] 

The  arrogant  pretension  was  soon  asserted .     The  sum-  chap.  xi. 
mer  that  the  post  was   established,  as  Govert  Loocker- 
mans,  in  his  yacht,  the  Good  Hope,  was  passing  down  the  j^, 
river   from  Fort  Orange   to  Manhattan,  "a  gun  without J^""'^''^^; 
ball"  was  fired  from  Rensselaer's  Stein  ;  and  Koorn  cried  ["^opW" 
out  to  the  schipper,  "  Strike  thy  colors !"    "  For  whom  shall  i^er'sste):.. 
I  strike  ?"  replied  Loockermans.     "  For  the  staple  right 
of  Rensselaer's  Stein,"  answered  Koorn  from  the  shore. 
"  J  strike  for  nobody  but  the  Prince  of  Orange,  or  those 
by   whom   I    am   employed,"   retorted    the    independent 
Loockermans,  as  his  yacht  slowly  kept  her  course.    Koorn 
immediately  fired  several  shots  :  "  the  first,"  says  the  rec- 
ord, "  went  through  the  sail,  and  broke  the  ropes  and  the 
ladder  ;  a  second  shot  passed  over  us  ;  and  the  third,  fired 
by  a  savage,  perforated  our  princely  colors,  about  a  foot 
above  the  head  of  Loockermans,  who  kept  the  colors  con- 
stantly in  his  hand."* 

The  commander  of  Rensselaer's  Stein  was  immediately  2  Auzust 
summoned  before  the  council  at  Fort  Amsterdam,  to  an- trooii-s  om- 
swer  for  this  bold  proceeding.     Though  he  pleaded  his  pa-  moneTio 
troon's  authority,  damages  were  adjudged  against  him, 
and  he  was  forbidden  to  repeat  his  offense.    Van  der  Huy- 
gens,  the  schout-fiscal  of  New  Netherland,  at  the  same 
time  formally  protested  against  the  "lawless  transactions"  October. 
of  the  patroon's  Wacht-meester.     The  establishment  on 
Beeren  Island,  it  was  alleged,  was  beyond  the  limits  of 
Van  Rensselaer's  colonic  ;  and  "  the  bold  attempt  to  con- 
struct there  a  fort  which  might  command  the  river,  and 
debar  Fort  Orange  from  the  free  navigation,  would  be  ruin- 
ous to  the  interests  of  the  company."     Koorn,  however.  Protest  of 
feeling  his  importance,  promptly  replied  to  Van  der  Huy-  mand'er  of 
gens'  protest.     "I  call  on  you,"  said  he,  "not  to  presume i^er-rit'ein 
to  oppose  and  frustrate  my  designs  on  the  Beeren  Island, '*^^°'' 
to  defraud  me  in  any  manner,  or  to  cause  me  any  trouble, 
as   it  has  been  the  will  of  their  High  Mightinesses,  the 


a  sergeant  in  the  West  India  Company's  service  at  Fort  Amsterdam,  whore,  in  December, 
1638,  he  was  tried,  and  sentenced  to  be  reduced  to  the  ranks. — Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  35,  36. 
*  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  JW,  234,  263  ;  iii     219 ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  370,  .tSO. 

C  c 


402        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XI.  States  Greneral,  and  the  privileged  West  India  Company^ 
to  invest  my  patroon  and  his  heir  with  the  right  to  extend 
■  and  fortify  his  colonie,  and  make  it  powerful  in  every  re- 
spect." "  I  protest  against  the  act  of  violence  and  assault 
committed  by  the  Honorable  Lords  Majors,  which  I  leave 
them  to  settle  between  themselves  and  my  honorable  pa- 
troon, inasmuch  as  this  step  has  been  taken  to  keep  the 
canker  of  free-traders  out  of  his  colonic."* 

Another  occasion  happened,  this  summer,  to  test  the 
April.        active  benevolence  of  the  Dutch.     Father  Joseph  Bressani, 
Bressani    while  ou  his  Way  from  Quebec  to  the  Huron  country,  was 
the  Mo^-'"'^  captured  on  the  Saint  Lawrence,  by  a  war  party  of  the  Ir- 
hawks.      oquois,  and  conveyed  a  prisoner  to  the  Mohawk  castles. 
There  he  suffered  even  more  horrid  tortures  than  those 
which  Jogues  had  undergone  two  years  before.     Yet  his 
life  was  spared  ;  and  an  old  squaw,  to  whom  he  had  been 
given,  took  him  to  the  "  nearest  habitation  of  the  Hol- 
landers," who,  by  a  large  contribution,  "satisfied  the  sav- 
ages," and  ransomed  the  suffering  Jesuit  missionary.    Aft- 
Ransomed  er  being  nursed  and  clothed  at  Fort  Orange,  he  was  sent 
Dutch.       down  the  river  to  Manhattan.     There  he  was  hospitably 
received  by  Kieft,  who  caused  him  to  be  supplied  with 
clothes,  and  provided  him,  as  he  had  Jogues,  with  a  pas- 
sage to  Europe.     The  director  and  council  also  issued  a 
passport,  recommending  Bressani  to  the  Christian  charity 
20  Sept.     of  those  into  whose  hands  he  might  happen  to  fall ;  and 
the  grateful  Jesuit,  sailing  from  Manhattan,  safely  reached 
Rochelle  toward  the  end  of  November.     Thus  the  influ- 
ence which  the  Dutch  possessed  among  the  Iroquois  was 
effectively  used  in  the  cause  of  humanity  ;  bigotry  was 
forgotten,  while  the  warm  gratitude  of  the  Roman  Cath- 
Gratitude    oUcs  was  sccurcd  j  and  in  after  years,  the  A'^iceroys  of  Can- 
ada a^uthor-  ada  did  not  fail  to  acknowledge,  with  characteristic  court- 
esy, the  ancient  kindness  of  the  colonists  of  New  Nether- 
land  toward  the  devoted  captive  missionaries  of  France.t 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iii.,  187,  188 ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  3S0,  381  ;  Hoi.  Doc,  v.,  364  ;  ii.,  N 
Y.  H.  S.   Coll.,  ii.,  330  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  344,  345  ;  Bancroft,  ii.,  304. 

t  Relation,  1643-44 ;  Creuxius,  395-403 ;  Charlevoix,  i.,  258-260 ;  Bancroft,  iii.,  134 
O'Call.,  i.,  337  ;  Lond.  Doc,  ii.,  196  ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii,,  153  ;  Macerata  Rel.,  1653. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  493 

Meanwhile,  the  disastrous  affairs  of  their  suffering  prov-  chap.  xi. 

ince  had  attracted  the  s;rave  attention  of  the  Dutch  gov- 

1644 
ernment.     The  letter  which  the  Eight  Men  had  sent  over  ^f^^^1^. 

in  the  autumn  of  1643,  was  no  sooner  received  by  the  ^^^^y^^®^^," 
States  General  than  it  was  referred  to  the  College  of  the  the'l\>s7 
XIX.,  with  directions  to  adopt  prompt  measures  for  the  re-|,^^'y  '^'"'* 
lief  of  New  Netherland.     But  the  "West  India  Company  *  ^'"'' 
was  now  almost  bankrupt ;  and  the  directors,  totally  un- 
able to  defend  their  American  colonies,  were  chiefly  anx- 
ious to  save  themselves  from  utter  ruin  by  forming  a  union 
with  the  flourishing  and  powerful  East  India  Company. 
In  reply  to  the  mandate  of  the  States  Greneral,  they  avow-23Apni. 
ed  their  sympathy  with  the  "  desolate  and  miserable"  col- 
onists of  New  Netherland;  but  "the  long-looked-for  profits 
thence"  had  not  come,  and  they  had  no  means  at  hand 
of  sending  relief  "  to  the  poor  inhabitants  who  have  left 
their  Fatherland."    And  the  bankrupt  company  urged  the 
States  General  for  a  subsidy  of  a  million  of  guilders,  to 
place  it  "  in  good,  prosperous,  and  profitable  order."* 

The  States  General  directed  copies  of  the  company's  27  Apni. 
application  to  be  communicated  to  the  several  States  of 
the  provinces.     Before  any  thing  was  done,  however,  Me- 
lyn's  urgent  letter  coming  to  hand,  was  immediately  re- 20  o.-toiier 
ferred  to  the  delegates  to  the  approaching  meeting  of  the 
College  of  the  XIX.     The  delegates  were  also  instructed  22  ociohcr. 
to  mform  themselves  fully  about  the  condition  of  the  prov-  cenerdi  r- 

.    ,,  .  .  1  .  \,  quire  a  lull 

mce,  and  especially  to  examine  into  the  propriety  of  re- report  om 
stricting  the  internal  trade  of  New  Netherland  to  the  resi-  the  prov- 

.  .  .  ince. 

dents,  as  well  as  into  the  policy  of  opening  a  free  trade 
between  Manhattan  and  Brazil.  A  full  report  upon  the 
whole  subject  was  required  to  be  made  to  the  States  Gen- 
eral.! 

At  the  meeting  of  the  College  of  the  XIX.,  the  affairs 
of  New  Netherland  were    fully  discussed.     The    second  28  October. 
bold  appeal,  which  the  Eight  Men  addressed  to  the  com- 
pany in  the  autumn,  reached  the  meeting  at  an  opportune 
moment.     It  was  now  felt  that  the  commonalty  were  in 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  ii.,  329,  330,  332 ;  ante,  p.  372.  t  Ibid.,  ii.,  337,  346,  348. 


404        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XI.  eamcst.     Either  a  new  director  must  be  speedily  sent 

~         "  with  a  beloved  peace"  to  New  Netherland,  or  the  colo- 

■  nists  there  must  "return  with  their  wives  and  children  to 

10  Dec.      their  dear  Fatherland."*    Kieft's  recall  was,  therefore,  de- 

Kieft's  re-  .  -n  i  • 

call  decided  tcrmmcd  upon.    But  the  appomtment  of  a  proper  success- 
or was  a  difficult  question.     Lubbertus  van  Dincklagen, 
who  had  been  dismissed  from  office  by  Van  Twiller  in 
1636,  had  for  eight  years  unsuccessfully  urged  his  claims 
for  arrears  of  salary.     He  was,  however,  "well  liked  by 
the  Indians,"  and  his  former  experience  in  New  Nether- 
van  Dinck-  land  rccommcndcd  him  for  promotion.     Van  Dincklagen 
vllfonauy   was,  therefore,  provisionally  appointed  to  succeed  Kieft  as 
fo  succeed  dircctor.     The  XIX.  also  resolved  to  refer  all  the  papers 
10  Dec.      relating  to  New  Netherland  to  the  company's  recently-or- 
ganized "  Rekenkamer,"  or  Bureau  of  Accounts,  with  in- 
structions to  prepare  a  full  report  upon  the  condition  of  the 
province,  and  recommend  measures  for  its  profit  and  ad 
vancement.t 
15  Dec.  In  a  few  days  the  Rekenkamer  presented  a  detailed  re- 

port, which  was  communicated  to  the  States  G-eneral,  This 
28  Dec.  document  is  one  of  the  most  important  State  Papers  relat- 
the  compa-  ing  to  Ncw  Nctherlaud.  Beginning  with  a  sketch  of  its 
reauofAc-  history,  from  its  discovery  by  the  Dutch,  through  the  im- 
portant epochs  of  the  organization  of  the  company,  the  set- 
tlement of  the  first  colonists  under  May,  the  establishment 
of  patroonships,  the  opening  of  the  fur  trade,  the  abuses 
which  followed,  the  breaking  out  of  the  Indian  war,  and 
of  the  deplorable  ruin  which  succeeded,  the  various  reme- 
dial measures  suggested  by  Kieft  and  by  the  commonalty 
were  concisely  stated.  The  director  counseled  the  ex- 
termination of  the  Indians,  whom  he  estimated  to  be  only 
three  hundred  strong,  and  asked  for  a  hundred  and  fifty 
armed  soldiers  and  munitions  of  war.  The  commonalty, 
on  the  other  hand,  supposing  the  savage  forces  to  amount 
to  several  thousands,  advised  a  peace.  Bat  "of  this  they 
have  but  little  hope,  as  long  as  the  present  administration 
remains  there." 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  ii.,  221  ;  a?i(e,  p  338.  t  Ibid.,  ii.,  362,  364 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  405 

From  all  these  statements,  the  Rekenkamer  inferred  chap,  xi 
that  their  American  province  had  fallen  into  ruin  and 
confusion   by    Kieft's    unnecessary    war,    "without    the  state  of  the 
knowledge,  and  much  less  the  order  of  the  XIX.,  and  p'''''"'^* 
against  the  will  of  the  commonalty  there."     According  to 
the  books  of  the  Amsterdam  Chamber,  New  Netherland, 
in  place  of  being  a  source  of  profit,  had  cost  the  company, 
from  1626  to  1644,  inclusive,  "  over  five  hundred  and  fif- 
ty thousand  guilders,  deducting  the  returns  received  from 
there."     But  as  the  charter  of  "Freedoms  and  Exemp- 
tions" had  promised  to  protect  and  defend  the  colonists, 
and  as  improvements  in  the  management  of  the  province 
were  not  beyond  hope,  "  the  company  can  not  decently  or 
consistently  abandon  it." 

The  Bureau  of  Accounts,  therefore,  recommended  a  se-  Reeom- 

■    •  1  mi       1  1  111  meiuiations 

ries  of  propositions  to  the  company.     Ihe  boundary  snoulaofthe 
be  at  once  established  between  the  Dutch  and  English,  of  Accounts 
as,  in  consequence  of  their  population,  they  "usurp  daily  uef  of  New 
more  of  our  territory."     Kieft's  advice  to  exterminate  the  land. 
Indians  should  "  by  no  means  be  adopted;"  but  the  opin- 
ion of  the  commonalty  should  be  followed,  and  the  sav- 
ages appeased.     It  would  also  be  proper  "to  order  hith- Kieft  to  be 
er  the  director  and  council,  who  are  responsible  for  that 
bloody  exploit  of  the  twenty-eighth  of  February,  1643,  to 
justify  and  vindicate  their  administration  before  the  noble 
Assembly  of  the  XIX."     The  colonists  should  be  settled  iiamiets  to 
in  towns,  villages,  and  hamlets,  "as  the  English  are  inized. 
the  habit  of  doing."     Fort  Amsterdam,  to  save  expense,  Fort  Am- 
should  be  repaired  "with  good  clay  and  firm  sods,"  andberepair«d 
a  garrison  of  fifty-three  soldiers  be  constantly  maintained. 
The  annual  salary  of  the  director  should  be  three  thousand 
guilders,  and  the  expense  of  the  whole  civil  and  military 
establishment  of  New  Netherland  twenty  thousand  guild- 
ers.     A  council  of  three  persons  should  be  established,  coundi  to 
composed  of  the  director  as  president,  and  the  second  and  ijfcd!"'^''''" 
fiscal  as  counselors  adjunct.     By  this  council  all  cases  of 
police,  justice,  dignity,  and  the  rights   of  the   company 
ehould  be  decided.     In  criminal  cases,  the  military  com- 


406  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XI.  mandaiit  should  take  the  place  of  the  fiscal,  and  "  two 
capable  persons  from  the  commonalty"  should  be  added 
■  As,  by  the  twenty-eighth  article  of  the  "Freedoms,"  each 
colonic  was  allowed  to  depute  one  or  two  persons  every 
year  to  represent  it  at  Manhattan,  it  was  now  recommend- 
ed, "  that  the  said  delegates  should,  moreover,  assemble 
every  six  months,  at  the  summons  of  the  director  and 
council,  for  mutual  good  understanding,  and  the  common 
advancement  of  the  welfare  of  the  inhabitants,"    Amster- 
dam weights  and  measures  should  be  used  throughout 
New  Netherland.     The  population  of  the  country  should 
be  strengthened,  and  the  island  of  Manhattan  first  of  all 
Lands  to  be  be  occupied,  by  offering  free  grants  of  land  to  emigrants. 
gnuued.     As  many  negroes  should  be  introduced  from  Brazil  as  the 
patroons,  colonists,  and  farmers  "  would  be  willing  to  pay 
for  at  a  fair  price."     The  Indian  trade  should  be  reserved 
exclusively  to  the  patroons,  colonists,  and  free  farmers ; 
No  fire-      but  uo  firc-arms  should  be  sold  to  the  savages.    Each  col- 
soid  to  the  onist  should  be  obliged  to  supply  himself  with  a  musket 
Colonists  to  and  side-arms;  and  the  director  should  cause  an  inspec- 

be  armed.       .  .  iiiiii 

Trade  with  tiou  to  DC  made  cvcry  SIX  months.     A  trade  should  be  al- 
encourag-   lowcd  with  Brazil;   fisheries,  and  the  manufacture  and 
exportation  of  salt,  should  be  encouraged ;  for  while  the 
colonists  thus  gained  advantage,  the  company  would  be 
relieved  from  large  expenses.     In  order  to  defray  the  ad- 
ditional cost  of  the  proposed  establishment  for  New  Neth- 
erland,  it  was  estimated  that  an  increasing  population 
and  a  growing  trade  would  readily  yield  a  handsome  rev- 
Recogni-    enuc  from  the  recognitions  and  tolls  upon  exports  and  im- 
eniorced.    ports ;  but  to  coUect  tlicsc,  vigilancc  should  be  enjoined, 
and  the  duties  of  the  revenue  officers  "  should  be  sharplv 
attended  to."* 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  ii.,  368-395  ,  O'Call.,  i.,  3*9-354,  41&-421. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  4Q7 


CHAPTER  XII. 
1645-1647. 

The  Indian  war,  which  Kieft's  recklessness  had  pro-  chai-.  xii 

voked,  was  now  about  to  end.     During  five  years,  New 

Netherland  had  known  hardly  five  months  of  peace.  Man-  g^j^i-rt!* 
hattan  was  nearly  depopulated  ;  while  the  Indian  nations  Indian  war. 
around  were  still  thousands  strong,  and  New  England  al- 
ready contained  more  than  fifty  thousand  souls.  Too  late 
Kieft  perceived  his  error;  for  a  stern  voice  of  warning  had 
come  from  the  Amsterdam  Chamber,  and  the  conscience 
of  the  director  smote  him,  as  he  foresaw  the  end  of  his 
rule  over  the  noble  province  whose  interests  he  had  sac- 
rificed. 

With  the-  opening  of  the  spring,  the  Indians,  who  were 
anxious  to  plant  their  corn,  desired  a  peace.      Delegates 
from  several  of  the  neighboring  tribes  came  to  Fort  Am- 
sterdam;  and  Kieft  eagerly  concluded  a  truce  with  thesaAprii 
warriors.     The  people  rejoiced  at  the  prospect  of  the  end  with  some 
of  dangers  of  which  they  were  weary,  and  "  a  grand  sa- tribes. 
lute  of  three  guns"  was  fired  from  the  fort.      But  many 
of  the  savage  nations  were  still  hostile.     Kieft  therefore, 
by  the  advice  of  his  council,  determined  to  engage  some 
of  the  friendly  Indians  in  the  interests  of  the  Dutch,  and 
Whiteneywen,  the  sachem  of  the  Mockgonecocks  on  Long 
Island,  was  dispatched,  with  several  of  his  warriors,  "to 24 May 
beat  and  destroy  the  hostile  tribes.''     The  sachem's  diplo- 
macy, however,  was  better  than  violence.     In  a  few  days, 
he  returned  to  Fort  Amsterdam,  bearing  friendly  messa- 
ges from  the  chiefs  of  the  tribes  along  the  Sound  and  near 
Rockaway,  an:l  a  pledge  that  they  would  no  longer  "in- 


408  HISTORY  OF  THE  STA  FE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

CHAP,  XII.  jure  the  Christians."     A  formal  peace  was  ratified  by  the 

exchange  of  tokens  of  eternal  friendship,  and  Whiteney- 

Peace  with  "^^'®^>  the  ambassador  sachem,  was  dismissed  with  liberal 

Island  sav-  prCSCntS. 

^=^^'  Kieft  now,  for  the  first  time,  went  up  the  river  to  Fort 

Orange,  with  La  Montagne,  to  secure  the  friendship  of  the 
July.  powerful  Mohawks.  Aided  by  the  influence  of  the  oflS- 
with  the  cers  at  Rensselaerswyck,  a  treaty  was  soon  arranged  with 
and  other  the  IroQuois  delegates,  and  with  the  Mahicans  and  the 

tribes  at  o  ^ 

Fort  Or-     othcr  neighboring  tribes.     The  languages  of  these  tribes 

aiige.  •  1      1  o        a 

were  various,  and  the  negotiations  were  conducted  with 
the  assistance  of  the  Indian  interpreter  Agheroense,  "who 
was  well  known  to  the  Christians."  Presents  were  again 
exchanged  in  ratification  of  the  peace  ;  and  Kieft's  em- 
barrassment for  the  want  of  money  was  relieved  by  Van 
der  Donck,  and  other  inhabitants  of  Rensselaerswyck. 
But  a  chemical  analysis  of  some  native  mineral,  with 
which  the  savages  painted  their  faces,  raised  hopes  in  the 
director's  mind  that  he  had  now  found  the  way  to  wealth.! 
The  treaty  at  Fort  Orange  was  followed,  before  long,  by 
a  general  peace  with  the  tribes  in  the  neighborhood  of 
ij  August.  Manhattan.  The  citizens  were  summoned  to  assemble  at 
Fort  Amsterdam,  at  the  ringing  of  the  bell  and  the  hoist- 
ing of  the  colors,  to  hear  the  proposed  articles  read ;  and 
they  were  assured  that  "  if  any  one  could  give  good  ad- 
vice, he  might  then  declare  his  opinions  freely."  The 
project  of  the  treaty  was  almost  unanimously  approved. 

*  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  298-301 ;  O'Call.,  i.,  354.    One  of  the  pins  bursting  when  the  salute 
was  tired,  Jacob  Jacobsen  Roy  lost  an  arm,  in  spite  of  the  skill  of  Surgeon  Hans  Kiersted. 
t  Alb.  Rec,  viii.,  79,  80.    Van  der  Donck,  In  his  Description  of  N.  N.,  p.  29  (ii.,  N.  Y. 
I  II.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  161),  refers  particularly  to  this  treaty,  and  describes  a  curious  incident 

connected  with  it.  One  morning,  the  Indian  interpreter,  Agheroense,  "  who  lodged  in 
the  director's  house,  came  down  stairs,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  director  and  myself 
sat  down,  and  began  stroking  and  painting  his  face.  The  director,  observing  the  opera- 
tion, asked  me  to  inquire  of  the  Indian  what  substance  he  was  using,  which  he  handed 
to  me,  and  I  handed  to  the  director.  After  he  had  examined  it  attentively,  he  judged,  from 
its  weight  and  its  greasy  lustre,  that  it  must  be  some  valuable  mineral.  So  we  commuted 
with  the  Indian  for  it,  in  order  to  see  what  it  was.  We  acted  with  it  as  we  best  could, 
under  the  direction  of  a  certain  Johannes  la  Montagne,  doctor  in  medicine,  and  counselor 
in  New  Netherland,  a  man  of  intelligence,  who  had  some  knowledge  or  science  in  these 
matters.  To  be  brief;  it  was  put  into  a  crucible,  and  after  it  had  been  thought  to  be  long 
enough  in  the  fire,  it  was  taken  out,  and  two  pieces  of  gold  were  found  in  it,  which  were 
both  judged  to  be  worth  about  three  guilders.    This  proof  was  at  first  kept  very  still." 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  4QJ 

No  one  dissented  but  "  Hendrick  Kip,  a  tailor,"  one  of  the  chap.  xn 
sturdy  burghers  who  had  wished  to  depose  Kieft  two  years  _ 

6<)fore,     On  the  following  day,  the  appointed  meeting  with  gj,  August, 
the  red  men  was  held.     In  front  of  Fort  Amsterdam,  un- 
der the  open  sky,  in  presence  of  the  sun  and  the  ocean, 
on  the  spot  "  where  the  commerce  of  the  world  may  bo 
watched  from  shady  walks,"  the  sachems  of  the  Hackin- 
sacks  and  Tappans,  the  delegates  from  Long  Island,  and 
the  Mahican  chief  who  spoke  for  the  Weckquaesgeeks, 
Sin t- Sings,  and  other  river  tribes,  all  acknowledging  the 
Iroquois  Confederacy,  which  was  represented  by  Mohawk 
ambassadors,  as  witnesses  and  arbitrators,  seated  them- 
selves, in  grave  silence,  in  presence  of  the  director  and 
council  of  New  Netherland,  and  the  commonalty  of  Man- 
hattan, and,  solemnly  smoking  the  great  calumet  of  peace,  General 
pledged  themselves   to   eternal   amity  with  the    Dutch,  peace  at 
Each  party  bound  itself  to  an  honorable  observance  of  the  sterdam. 
treaty.     In  cases  of  difficulty  with  "  the  Christians,"  the 
savages  were  immediately  to  apply  to  the  authorities  at 
Fort  Amsterdam  ;  should  an  Indian  be  the  aggressor,  the 
Dutch  were  to  complain  to  his  sachem.     No  armed  In- 
dian was  thereafter  to  approach  the  houses  of  the  Chris- 
tians on  Manhattan;  and  no  armed  European  was  to  visit 
the  villages  of  the  savages,  unless  with  a  native  escort. 
With  benevolent  consideration,  the  Dutch  pressed  for  and 
obtained  from  the  savages  the  promise  to  restore  the  cap- 
tive grand-daughter  of  Anne  Hutchinson.     The  promises 
of  the  savages  were  faithfully  performed.     Joy  succeeded 
sadness  in  the  devastated  province,  on  the  ratification  of 
the  great  Indian  Treaty  of  Fort  Amsterdam.     On  the  mor-  .si  Aupust 
row,  a  placard  was  issued,  directing  the  observance  of  the  tion  for « 
sixth  of  September  as  a  day  of  general  thanksgiving  inthanksgiv 
the  Dutch  and  English  churches,  "to  proclaim  the  good 
tidings  throughout  New  Netherland."* 

Thus  peaceful  days  revisited  the  Dutch  province.     But 
the  sting  of  war  remained.    In  two  years,  sixteen  hundred 

♦  All).  Rec,  ii.,  312-317  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  275,  270,  278  ;  Wintlirop,  ii.,  2C7  ; 
Emcroft,  ii.,  292  ;  O'CuU.,  i.,  354-357  ;  ante,  p.  356,  3G6.  Kip  married  a  dtughter  of 
he  SiUc,  afterward  sellout  fiscal  of  the  province  ;  post,  p.  476,  561,  C22,  093, 


410  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XII.  savages  had  been  killed  ;  at  Manhattan,  and  in  its  neigh- 
borhood,  scarcely  one  hundred  men,  besides  traders,  could 
condmmi  be  found.     The  church,  which  had  been  begun  in  1642, 
Dutch       remained  unfinished.    The  money  which  the  impoverished 
Province,    commoualty  had  contributed  to  build  a  common  school- 
house,  had  "  all  found  its  way  out,"  and  was  expended 
for  the  troops.     Even  the  poor-fund  of  the  deaconry  was 
sequestered,  and  applied  to  the  purposes  of  the  war.     Be- 
yond Manhattan,  almost  every  settlement  on  the  west  side 
of  the  North  River,  south  of  the  Highlands,  was  destroyed. 
The  greater  part  of  the  western  territory  of  Long  Island 
was  depopulated.     West  Chester  was  desolated.     In  all 
the  province,  the  posts  on  the  South  River  and  the  colonic 
of  Rensselaerswyck  alone  escaped  the  horrors  of  war.    The 
work  of  regeneration  was  now  to  be  begun.* 
Kieft  pur-       Kieft's  attention  was  first  given  to  securing  the  Indian 
lands  on     title  to  the  lauds  in  the  neighborhood  of  Manhattan  which 
and  lor  the  had  uot  yet  bccu  Ceded  to  the  company.     A  few  days  aft- 

corapany.  *^  tiii  r    ^       tvt 

10  Sept.  er  the  peace,  a  tract  extendmg  along  the  bay  of  the  North 
River,  from  Coney  Island  to  G-owanus,  now  known  as  New 
Utrecht,  was  purchased  from  the  Long  Island  Indians,  and 
became  part  of  the  public  domain  of  the  province.  This 
purchase  completed  the  title  of  the  West  India  Company 
to  most  of  the  land  within  the  present  counties  of  Kings 
and  Queens. 
19  October.  The  ncxt  month,  Thomas  Farrington,  John  Lawrence, 
3f  Flush-  John  Townsend,  Thomas  Stiles,  and  several  other  English 
emigrants,  obtained  from  the  director  a  patent  for  about 
sixteen  thousand  acres,  to  the  eastward  of  Doughty's  ruined 
settlement  at  Mespath.  The  territory  which  was  chosen 
by  the  new  colonists  was  named  Vlissingen  by  the  Dutch, 
after  one  of  the  principal  sea-port  towns  in  Zealand.  The 
patentees  received  a  grant  of  municipal  privileges,  similar 
to  those  which  their  countrymen  had  before  obtained  from 
the  provincial  authorities  of  New  Netherland  ;t  and  the 
foundations  of  the  present  flourishing  village  of  Flushing 

*  Breeden  Raedt,  19 ;  Hoi.  Doc,  ill.,  369 ;  iv.,  41  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  li.,  292,  331 
t  Thompson's  L.  I.,  ii.,  68,  69  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  357  ;  post,  p.  537. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  411 

were  happily  laid,  in  one  of  the  most  fertile  regions  of  chap.  xii 
Long  Island. 

The  English  colonists,  who  had  been  driven  by  the  sav-  coionista 
ages  from  their  settlement  at  Mespath,  returned  to  their  |^g"p^/,° 
desolated  homes  soon  after  the  peace  was  concluded.    But 
discords  soon  broke  out  among  them.     Doughty,  who  had 
been  liberally  treated  by  the  Dutch  at  Manhattan,  exhib- 
ited signs  of  covetousness  soon  after  his  return  to  Mespath, 
where  he  would  allow  no  one  to  build,  unless  upon  exor- 
bitant terms  of  purchase  and  quit-rent.      His  associates, 
who  did  not  wish  "  to  hmder  population,"  were  opposed  to 
this  policy ;  and  Smith  and  others  complained  to  the  di- 
rector and  council  at  Manhattan.     Upon  a  hearing  of  the 
case,  the  court  decided  that  "the  associates  might  enter  case  of 
upon  their  property" — the  farm  and  lands  which  Doughty  Doughty 
had   in  possession  being   reserved   to  him   individually. 
From  this  decision.  Doughty  gave  notice  of  an  appeal  to 
the  Court  of  Holland,  which,  however,  Kieft  would  not  al- 
low.    "  His  sentence,"  he  said,  "  could  not  be  appealed 
from,  but  must  avail  absolutely  ;"  and  Doughty  was  con- 
demned to  be  imprisoned  twenty-four  hours,  and  to  pay  a 
fine  of  twenty-five  guilders.     Not  long  afterward,  he  re-  Doughiy 
moved  to  the  neighboring  settlement  at  Flushing,  where  rSfrfg  *^ 
he  became  the  first  clergyman  of  the  English  colonists,  at 
an  annual  salary  of  six  hundred  guilders.* 

Lady  Moody,  who  had  so  bravely  repelled  the  attacks 
of  the  Indians  during  the  war,  was  now  complimented  by  J9  Dec. 
Kieft  with  a  patent,  granting  to  herself.  Sir  Henry  Moody  Moody's 
her  son.  Ensign  George  Baxter,  and  Sergeant  James  Hub-  Grave-  °' 
bard,  that  portion  of  Long  Island  adjoining  Coney  Island, 
upon  which  she  lived,  called  by  the  Dutch  "  Gravesande," 
and  now  known  as  Gravesend.     The  patentees  were  as- 
sured "  the  free  liberty  of  conscience,  according  to  the 
custom  and  manner  of  Holland,  without  molestation  or  dis- 
turbance from  any  magistrate  or  magistrates,  or  any  other 
ecclesiastical  minister  that  may  pretend  jurisdiction  over 

*  Breeden  Raedt,  24,  25  ;  Vertoogh  van  N.  N.,  and  Corte  Bericht,  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S. 
Coll.,  ii.,  301,  302,  333  ;  Thompson's  Long  Island,  ii.,  70. 


412        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XII.  tlicm."     They  were  also  liberally  allowed  "  to  erect  a  body 
politic  and  civil  combination  among  themselves,  as  free 
'  ■  men  of  this  province  and  town  of  Grravesend,"  and  invest- 
ed with  all  "the  immunities  and  privileges  already  granted 
to  the  inhabitants  of  this  province,  or  hereafter  to  be  grant- 
ed, as  if  they  were  natives  of  the  United  Belgic  Provinces." 
Loyalty  to  the  Dutch  authorities  was  required ;  and  the 
use  of  the  "  New  Style,"  and  of  the  weights  and  measures 
of  New  Netherland,  alone  enjoined.* 
Minerals         Soon  after  the  peace  was  made  with  the  Fort  Orange 
near  Fort    Indians,  Kieft,  in  pursuance  of  orders  he  had  received  from 
July.   "      Holland  to  ascertain  the  mineral  riches  of  the  province, 
sent  an  officer  and  several  men  to  the  hill,  where  he  wao 
told  the  substance  was  to  be  found  which  La  Montagne 
had  supposed  to  be  gold.     The  party  brought  back  a  buck- 
et full  of  earth  and  stones,  upon  which  several  experiments 
were  made,  "  all  with  the  same  result  as  the  first."     The 
31  August,  next  month,  when  the  general  treaty  was  made  at  Fort 
Amsterdam,  some  of  the  savages  exhibited  several  speci- 
Among  the  mcus  of  minerals  found  in  the  Nevesinck  Hills,  near  the 
Raritans.     Kieft  supposing  them  to  contain  valuable  met- 
al, sent  a  party  to  explore  the  region  ;  and  determined  to 
build  a  fort  for  the  security  of  any  mines  that  might  be 
discovered.     An  analysis  of  the  specimens  which  the  par- 
ty brought  back  yielded  what  was  supposed  to  be  gold  and 
12  October,  quicksilvcr ;  and  an  officer  and  thirty  men  were  dispatched 
again  to  continue  the  exploration,  and  procure  as  many 
specimens  as  they  could  for  transmission  to  Holland.     The 
new  mine  among  the  Raritans  was  judged  to  be  "  richer 
and  better  than  any  others  before  known."     Samples  of 
all  these  minerals  were  carefully  packed,  and  put  in  charge 
Arendt      of  Arcudt  Corsscn,  the  former  commissary  at  the  South 
dispatched  Rivcr,  to  be  delivered  to  the  Amsterdam  directors.     There 
being  no  ship  at  Manhattan  ready  to  sail  for  Holland, 

*  Gravesend  Records  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  i.,  629  ;  Thompson's  Long  Island,  ii.,  171  ; 
atite,  p.  367.  Coney  Island  was  patented  to  Gysbert  op  Dyck  on  the  24th  of  May,  1644. 
The  name  of  Coney  Island  Judge  Benson  derives  from  Conyn,  "  a  Dutch  surname  still 
remaining  among  us  ;"  but  he  adds  that,  "  from  the  name  coney,  there  arc  already  symp- 
toms of  the  beginning  of  a  tradition  that  it  once  abounded  in  raiJifs."— ii.,  N  Y.  Hist 
Coll.,  ii.,  p.  93. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  413 

Corssen  proceeded  to  New  Haven,  where  he  embarked,  chai'.  xii. 
about  Christmas,  in  a  vessel  of  eighty  tons,  belonging  to 
Lamberton  and  his  associates,  which  was  about  to  sail  for  25  Dec. 
London.  The  severe  winter,  "  the  earliest  and  sharpest" 
since  the  settlement  of  New  England,  had  already  set  in; 
and  the  harbor  was  frozen  up.  A  passage  was,  neverthe- 
less, "  cut  out  of  the  ice  three  miles,"  and  the  ship  £?ot  toCorssen 

'  '  i    o  lost  at  sea 

sea  early  the  next  month.  But  "  misfortune  attended  all  1646 
on  board."  The  New  Haven  vessel  foundered  at  sea,  and  J^""^""}- 
"  was  never  heard  of  after."* 

In  the  mean  time,  the  affairs  in  New  Netherland  had  re-  Action  of 

the  West 

ceived  the  serious  attention  of  the  West  India  Company.  India  com 
The  report  of  their  Chamber  of  Accounts  decided  the  fu-  lation  to 
ture  policy  of  the  directors;  and,  in  accordance  with  itseriand. 
recommendations,  the  College  of  the  XIX.,  at  its  meeting   1645. 
the  next  spring,  determined  that  thenceforward  the  pro- '^'"''^'*' 
vincial    government   should   be   vested    in    a   "  Supreme 
Council,"  consisting  of  a  Director  G-eneral,  a  Vice  Direct- 
or, and  a  Fiscal,  by  whom  all  public  concerns  were  to  be 
managed.     This  decision  rendered  new  arrangements  nec- 
essary. 

It  happened  that  Peter  Stuy  vesant,  the  director  of  the  Peter  stuj 
company's  colony  at  Curagoa,  who  had  lost  a  leg  in  an   1644. 
unsuccessful   attack   on  the  Portuguese   island  of  Saint  ■*?"'• 
Martin,  was  obliged  to  return  to  Holland  for  surgical  aid, 
in  the  autumn  of  1644.     Stuvvesant  was  the  son  of  aiiiseanj 

life. 

clergyman  in  Friesland,  and  was  educated  in  the  High 
School  at  Franeker.t  While  there,  he  acquired  that  famil- 
iar knowledge  of  the  Latin  language  which  he  was  always 
fond  of  displaying.  After  leaving  school,  he  entered  the  mil- 
itary service,  and  was  appointed  by  the  West  India  Com- 
pany to  be  the  Director  of  their  colony  at  Cura(;-oa.  He  de- 
lighted in  pomp  and  the  ostentation  of  command ;  and  his 

♦  Vertoogh  van  N.  N.,  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  267  ;  Van  der  Donck's  N.  N.,  29  ;  ii., 
^f.  y.  II.  S.  Coll..  i.,  161,  162;  llol.  Doc.,  ii.,  302.  363  ;  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  262,  312,  318,  323; 
O'Call.,  i.,  353 :  Winthrop,  ii.,  254,  200  :  Matlicr's  Magnalia,  i.,  25,  26.  Trumbull  and 
Hazard  (Ann.  Penn.,  93)  err  in  stating  ths  lo.s.s  of  the  New  Haven  vessel  in  the  year  1647. 

t  Breeden  Raedt,  20,  where  Stuyve.sant's  conduct  at  Franeker  is  stated  to  have  been 
culpable.  A  faulty  tran.sliition  of  e.xtracts  from  this  work  is  printed  in  Uoc.  Iljst.  N.  \., 
iv.,  101-112.    See  also  translation  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  iii.,  p.  2('3, 


414        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XII.  conduct  in  the  expedition  against  Saint  Martin  did  not 
~~  escape  censure.  The  directors,  however,  looked  upon  the 
'  attack  as  "  a  piece  of  Roman  courage  ;"  and  Stuyvesant's 
health  becoming  re-established  after  his  return  to  Holland, 
May.  they  determined  to  appoint  him  in  the  place  of  Kieft,  and 
.\ppointed  send  him  to  New  Netherland  as  "  redresser  general"  of  all 

director  of  __         _^.  , 

New  Neth-  abuscs.    Van  Dmcklagen's  provisional  appointment  in  De- 
cember was,  therefore,  revoked  ;  and  he  was  now  formal- 
5  May.      ly  commissioncd  as  vice-director,  to  be  "  second  to,  and 

Van  Dinck-   •'  '  ' 

lagen  vice-  first  couusclor  of  the  director  of  New  Netherland."     Hen- 

director. 

^^ji^Dyck  drick  van  Dyck,  who  had  served  as  ensign  under  Kieft, 
28  June,  -y^as  soon  aftcrward  appointed,  by  the  Amsterdam  Cham- 
ber, to  be  fiscal  in  the  place  of  Van  der  Huygens,  "  to 
make  complaints  against  all  delinquents  and  transgressors 
of  the  military  laws,  and  all  other  our  instructions  and 
commands,"  and  was  furnished  with  detailed  instructions 
respecting  his  duties.* 
T  July.  Early  the  next  month,  the  College  of  the  XIX.  prepared 

tionsoftheand  adopted  a  code  of  general  instructions  for  the  regula- 

Provincial      .  *  '^  .,     .  ,  .  .\^ 

Council,  tion  of  the  "  supreme  council  in  the  countries  of  New 
Netherland."  Under  these  instructions,  the  director,  as 
president,  with  his  vice,  and  the  fiscal,  were  to  administer 
and  decide  upon  all  civil  and  military  affairs :  when  the 
fiscal  was  prosecutor,  the  military  commandant  was  to  sit 
in  his  stead ;  and  if  the  charge  was  a  criminal  one,  "two 
capable  persons"  were  to  be  "  adjoined  from  the  common- 
alty of  that  district  where  the  crime  or  act  was  perpetra- 
ted." The  director  and  council  were  to  "  take  care  that 
the  English  do  not  encroach  further  on  the  company's 
lands,"  and,  in  the  mean  time,  try  to  arrange  a  definite 
boundary  line.  They  were  to  endeavor,  by  all  possible 
means,  "  to  pacify  and  give  satisfaction  to  the  Indians," 
and  advance  "  on  the  one  side  the  interests  of  the  compa- 
ny, and  on  the  other  maintain  good  correspondence  with 
their  neighbors."  They  were  to  "do  all  in  their  power  to 
induce  the  colonists  to  establish  themselves  on  some  of  the 
most  suitable  places,  with  a  certain  number  of  inhabit- 

♦  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  3  ;  vi.,  197,  236 ;  Breeden  Racdt,  26,  27,  35. 


WiLL/AM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  4 15 

ants,  in  the  manner  of  towns,  villages,  and  hamlets,  as  the  chap.  xii. 
English  are  in  the  habit  of  doing."  Fort  Amsterdam  was 
to  be  at  once  repaired  with  "good  clay,  earth,  and  firm  i„gtnic- 
sods."  A  permanent  garrison  was  to  be  maintained ;  and  Jh°e"proviiv 
for  greater  security,  the  colonists  were  also  to  be  required  ^lu  ^°^^' 
to  provide  themselves  with  "weapons  for  their  own  de- 
fense, so  as  to  be  able,  in  time  of  necessity,  with  the  gar- 
rison, to  resist  a  genei-al  attack."  But  this  colonial  mili- 
tia was  not  to  receive  pay.  The  right  of  the  several  sub- 
ordinate colonies  to  send  delegates  to  the  council  at  Man- 
hattan was  confirmed.  The  director  and  council  were  to 
encourage,  by  grants  of  land,  the  immediate  planting  and 
settlement  of  the  island  of  Manhattan,  and  to  permit  the 
introduction  of  as  many  negroes  as  the  patroons,  colonists, 
and  other  farmers  may  be  "  willing  to  purchase  at  a  fair 
price."  No  arms  or  ammunition  were  to  be  sold  to  the 
Indians.  The  company  having  "now  resolved  to  open  to 
private  persons  the  trade  which  it  has  exclusively  carried 
on  with  New  Netherland,"  and  to  permit  all  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  United  Provinces  "to  sail  with  their  own  ships 
to  New  Netherland,  the  Virginias,  the  Swedish,  English, 
and  French  colonies,  or  other  places  thereabout,"  the  di- 
rector and  council  were  finally  instructed  to  be  vigilant 
in  enforcing  all  colonial  custom-house  regulations  which 
might  be  enacted.*  It  was  also  agreed  in  the  College  of 
the  XIX.,  that  the  expenses  of  the  government  of  New 
Netherland  should,  in  future,  be  borne  by  all  the  Cham- 
bers of  the  company  in  common.  The  Amsterdam  Cham-  e  Jaiy. 
ber,  however,  charged  itself  with  the  equipment  of  two 
vessels,  to  convey  Stuyvesant  and  his  suite  to  Manhattan. t 

Another  meeting  of  the  XIX.  was  held  at  Middleburg  21  Sept. 
in  the  following  autumn,  at  which  Stuyvesant  submitted 
a  memorial  in  relation  to  the  better  government  of  the 
company's  American  possessions.      The  whole  subject  was 
now  reconsidered.     After  much  discussion,  it  was  event- 14  October 
ually  determined  that  the  carrying  trade  between  Hol- 

*  IIol.  Doc,  iii.,  19.    Translations  of  these  instructions,  and  of  Van  Dincklagen's  and 
Van  Dyck's  commissions  and  instructions,  are  in  O'Oall.,  ii.,  Appendix,  659-564. 
t  IIol.  Doc,  iii.,  3. 


416  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XII.  land  aiid  New  Netherland,  which  had  hitherto  been  re- 
tained  as  a  monopoly  by  the  company,  with  an  exception 
f^g^y  ^r. '   in  favor  of  the  privileged  patroons,  should  be  thrown  open 
me"msre-   ^^  ^^^  vcssels  of  private  merchants.     Regulations  were 
trTde'and    adopted  to  give  effect  to  this  policy,  and  to  concentrate  all 
commerce,  colonial  trade  at  Manhattan.     All  cargoes  shipped  to  New 
Netherland  were  to  be  examined,  on  their  arrival,  by  the 
customs'  officers  at  Fort  Amsterdam  ;  and  all  homeward- 
bound  vessels  were  to  clear  from  the  same  place,  where 
bonds  were  to  be  given  for  the  payment  of  duties  in  Hol- 
land.    Cura^oa,  Aruba,  and  the  neighboring  AVest  India 
Islands,  were  also  to  be  placed  under  the  general  govern- 
ment of  the  director  of  New  Netherland.     But  some  of  the 
The  prov    Chambers  of  the  company  demurred  to  the  new  expenses 
mafiirun-  whicli  they  were  to  incur  by  sharing  in   common  the 
B^rdam  *""  chargcs  of  tlic  proviucc  ;  and  the   Amsterdam  directors 
eventually  retained  the   exclusive  management  of  New 
Netherland.* 

These  disagreements  among  the  several  Chambers  in- 
terrupted the  plans  which  had  been  arranged  during  the 
stuyve-      spring  and  summer ;  and  Stuyvesant's  departure  was  de- 
parture     layed  for  more  than  a  year.     Intelligence  of  the  peace, 
which  had  at  last  been  established  in  New  Netherland, 
was  now  received  in  Holland ;  and  the  improved  aspect 
of  the  affairs  of  the  province  perhaps  tempted  the  compa- 
ny to  allow  Kieft  to  remain  awhile  longer  in  the  post  he 
had  so  unworthily  occupied. 
Kieft's  un-       The  ncws  of  the  intended  recall  of  the  director  soon 
fncr'eaJes!  reached   Manhattan.     The    commonalty   were    delighted 
with  the  prospect  of  a  change;  and  some  of  the  most  free- 
Temper  of  spoken  of  them  did  not  hesitate  openly  to  express  their  joy, 
and  even  threaten  their  mortified  chief  with  personal  chas- 
tisement, when  he  should  "  take  off  the  coat  with  which 
he  was  bedecked  by  the  Lords  his  masters."     Kieft,  who 
had  been  furnished  by  the  West  India  Company  with  a 
copy  of  the  letter  of  the  Eight  Men,  of  the  previous  au- 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  31-63;  v.,  124;  viii.,  153;  Alb.  Rec    viii.,  39,  40;  xii.,  45,  63,  TO 
O'Call.,  i.,  360,  3C1 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  417 

tumn,  was  in  no  temper  to  brook  the  reproaches  with  chap.  xii 
which  he  was  now  constantly  saluted.     The  people  who        ~3~ 
ventured  to  speak  too  boldly  were  arraigned,  and  fined 
and  banished.     No  appeal  to  the  Fatherland  was  allowed.  The  nsin 
The  right  had  already  been  refused  in  the  case  of  the  En- again  Ve- 
glish  clergyman  Doughty ;  another  opportunity  now  oc- 
curred to  deny  it  to  a  "free  merchant"  of  Manhattan. 
Arnoldus  van  Hardenburg,  for  giving  a  written  notice  of  28Apni. 
his  intention  to  appeal  from  a  decree  of  confiscation,  was 
condemned  "  to  pay  forthwith  a  fine  of  twenty-five  guild- 
ers, or  be  imprisoned  until  the  penalty  be  paid — an  ex- 
ample to  others."     Van  Hardenburg's  conduct  was  looked 
upon  as  causing  "dangerous  consequences  to  result  to  the 
supreme  authority  of  this  land's  magistracy."* 

The  republican  spirit  which  accompanied  the  colonists  The  people 
from  Holland  led  them  to  denounce  Kieft's  denial  of  the  Kieft's  tyr- 
right  of  appeal.  They  considered  it  "an  act  of  tyranny, 
and  regarded  it  as  a  token  of  sovereignty."  Two  years 
before,  they  had  boldly  complained  to  the  States  General 
that  "  one  man,"  who  represented  the  West  India  Com- 
pany, had  acted  in  a  more  arbitrary  manner  "than  a  king 
would  be  suffered  legally  to  do."  The  popular  feeling  Quarrel  be- 
was  encouraged  by  Domine  Bogardus,  whom  Kieft  hadandBogar- 
accused  of  drunkenness,  and  reprimanded  for  siding  with 
the  malcontented  multitude.  Twelve  years  before,  Bo- 
gardus had  not  hesitated  to  attack  Van  Twiller  in  rude 
words.  From  the  pulpit  he  now  boldly  denounced  Van 
Twiller's  more  obnoxious  successor.  "What  are  the  great 
men  of  the  country,"  said  he  to  the  congregation,  as  he 
was  preaching  on  a  Sunday,  "  but  vessels  of  wrath,  and 
fountains  of  woe  and  trouble  ?  They  think  of  nothing 
but  to  plunder  the  property  of  others,  to  dismiss,  to  ban- 
ish, to  transport  to  Holland."  To  escape  such  severe  cler- 
ical admonitions,  Kieft  absented  himself  from  church  ;  and 
his  example  was  followed  by  many  of  the  chief  provincial 
officers.    The  director  encouraged  the  officers  and  soldiers  to 

*  Vertoogh  van  N.  N.,  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  302,  303,  333,  334  ;  Dreeden  Raedt, 
21,  25. 

Dd 


418  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XII.  practice  all  kinds  of  nois}  amusements  about  the  church 
during  the  sermon.  The  drum  was  ordered  to  be  beaten, 
and  a  cannon  was  several  times  discharged  while  the  peo- 
ple were  attending  divine  service.  The  communicants 
were  openly  insulted.  But  the  Domine  did  not  relax  his 
censures ;  and  the  people  were  still  more  embittered. 
Kieft,  vexed  beyond  endurance,  at  last  determined  to  bring 

2  January,  the  contumacious  clergyman  to  trial.  "  Your  conduct 
stirs  the  people  to  mutiny  and  rebellion,  when  they  are 
already  too  much  divided,  causes  schism  and  abuses  in 
the  Church,  and  makes  us  a  scorn  and  laughing-stock  to 
our  neighbors,"  was  the  inducement  to  a  series  of  charges 
which  the  director  cited  Bogardus  to  answer  before  the 
court  in  fourteen  days. 

The  Domine's  reply  was  considered  insolent,  calumni 

15 January. ous,  and  Unsatisfactory;  and  a  further  answer  was  re- 

22  March,   quircd,  which  Bogardus  refused  to   give.     The   director 

now  offered  to  refer  the  decision  of  the  whole  case  to  Me- 
gapolensis  and  Doughty,  the  other  clergymen  of  the  prov- 
Apru.  ince,  and  two  or  three  more  impartial  persons.  Bogardus, 
however,  rejected  the  proposition,  and  announced  his  in- 
tention to  appeal  to  Kieft's  successor.  This  appeal  Kieft 
refused  to  entertain,  as  it  was  uncertain  when  the  new 
director  would  arrive  ;  and  to  stop  "  the  scandal  and  dis- 
order, which  were  prevailing  more  and  more,"  the  case 
was  ordered  to  proceed.  But  the  interference  of  mutual 
friends  before  long  put  an  end  to  the  prosecution  ;  and  the 
The  Direct-  dircctor  was  enabled  to  attend  divine  service  once  more,  by 
Domine  the  prompt  compliance  of  Bogardus  with  his  request,  that 
Domine  Megapolensis  should  be  allowed  to  preach  in  the 
church  the  next  Sunday,  "as  was  his  usual  custom  when 
in  New  Amsterdam."  The  Classis  of  Amsterdam  had, 
meanwhile,  been  taking  some  steps  to  send  out  more  cler- 
gymen to  New  Netherland.     But  their  efforts  were  unsuc- 

23  July,      cessful ;  and  the  West  India  Company  wrote  to  Bogardus, 

asking  him  to  retain  awhile  longer  his  post  in  the  province.* 

*  Vertoogh,  ut  sup.,  202  ;  Cor.  Classis  Amst. ;  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  334-347  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  368- 
865  ;  Breeden  Raedt,  22,  23.     See  also  not«  O,  Appendix. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  419 

Not  long  after  this  dispute  had  been  arranged,  KieftcHAP.  xh 
was  called  upon  to  perform  a  pleasant  duty.     The  captive 
grand-daughter  of  Anne  Hutchinson,  whom  the  savages  Restora- 
had  promised  to  return,  was  faithfully  delivered  up  to  the  ^l°",f 
Dutch  at  Fort  Amsterdam  ;  and  Kieft  hastened  to  restore  ""'f '"' 
her  to  her  friends  at  Boston.     "  She  was  about  eight  years  riaugfuer 
old  when  she  was  taken,  and  continued  with  them  about ^"'^' 
four  years ;  and  she  had  forgot  her  own  language  and  all 
her  friends,  and  was  loath  to  have  come  from  the  Indians."* 

In  the  mean  time,  Hans  Jorissen  Houten,  so  long  the    1645. 
company's  vice-director  and  commissary  at  Fort  Orange,  Fonor- 
had  been  succeeded  by  Harman  Mynderts  van  de   Bo-Ren'sse- 
gaerdt,  who  came  out  to  the  province  in  1631  as  surgeon  ^""''"^'^ 
of  the  ship  Eendragt.     The  fort  and  its  precinct  was  jeal- 
ously maintained  by  the  company  ;  for  it  was  now  its  sole 
possession  within  the  colonic  of  Rensselaerswyck.     The 
management  of  that  patroonship  had  already  given  dis- 
satisfaction to  the  provincial  government,  which,  the  year 
before,  had  so  distinctly  rebuked  the  arrogant  pretensiou 
to  levy  a  toll  on  vessels  passing  Beeren  Island.     The  West 
India  Company,  indeed,  by  this  time  had  begun  to  regard 
the  colonic  as  injurious  to  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  the 
province  at  large. t 

Arendt  van  Curler  remained  commissary  of  Rensselaers-  Quanei  ih^ 

''  ,       twetii  X'aii 

wvck  ;  but  Adriaen  van  der  Donck,  who  had  become  dis-  f'urier  anj 
satisfied  with  his  residence  in  the  colonic,  determining  to^'oi'^'^ 
remove  to  Manhattan,  where  he  had  married  a  daughter 
of  Francis  Doughty,  the  English  clergyman,  was  succeed- 
ed in  his  office  of  schout  by  Nicholas  Koorn,  the  former 
"  Wacht-meester"  at   Beeren   Island.      Before  Van   der   1646. 
Donck    completed   his    arrangements    for    departing,  the  '  ^""'"^* 
house  which  he  had  occupied  was  burned  ;  and  Van  Cur- 
ler invited  him  and  his  wife  to  share  his  hospitality  dur- 
ing the  depth  of  a  remarkably  inclement  winter.     A  quar- 
rel soon  arose,  because  Van  Curler  insisted  that  Van  der 
Donck  was  bound  by  his  lease  to  make  good  to  the  pa- 

*  Winthrop,  ii.,  267.    Welde  describes  the  captive  as  the  daughter  of  Anne  Hutchin- 
son's daughter.     See  ante,  p.  366.  t  Alb.  Rec,  iv.^  199. 


420  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap,  xil  troon  the  loss  of  the  house ;  and  the  unfortunate  tenant 
was  peremptorily  ordered  to  "  remove  his  chest"  in  two 

19  Feb.  days.  Seeking  refuge  in  Fort  Orange,  Van  der  Donck 
was  allowed  hy  Commissary  Van  de  Bogaerdt  to  occupy 
a  hut  "  into  which  no  one  would  hardly  be  willing  to  en- 
ter."    There  he  remained  until  a   great  freshet  came, 

March.  which  causcd  great  damage  at  Beverswyck,  and  almost 
swept  away  the  fort.  It  had  not  been  equaled  since  the 
flood  which  De  Vries  witnessed  in  1640.     At  length,  on 

28  April,  the  opening  of  the  river  navigation,  Van  der  Donck  went 
down  to  Manhattan.* 

Death  of         Ncws  of  the  death  of  Kiliaen  van  Rensselaer  soon  after- 

Rensse-  Ward  rcachcd  the  colonic.  By  this  event,  the  title  and  es- 
tate of  the  patroon  descended  to  his  eldest  son  Johannes, 
who  being  under  age,  was,  by  his  father's  testamentary 
directions,  placed,  with  his  property,  under  the  guardian- 
ship of  Johannes  van  Wely  and  Wouter  van  Twiller,  the 
executors  of  the  will.  Van  Curler,  now  proposing  to  re- 
turn to  Holland,  intrusted  the  immediate  care  of  Rensse- 
laerswyck  to  Anthonie  de  Hooges,  the  colonial  secretary. 

10  Nov.      The  same  autumn,  the  guardians  of  the  younor  patroon, 

Brandt  van  .  i  i    i  J  o    f  ' 

siechten-    haviug  rendered  homasre  to  the   States   Greneral  in  the 

horst  ap-  c    1      •  1 

pointed  di-  name  of  their  ward,  appointed  Brandt  van  Slechtenhorst, 

rector  of  '      rr  7 

the  colonic,  of  G-ueldcrlaud,  director  of  the  colonie,  to  succeed  Van 
Curler.  It  was  more  than  a  year,  however,  before  the  new 
commissary  arrived  at  Beverswyck. t 

Van  der         Not  loug  after  Van  der  Donck  removed  from  Rensse- 

Donck  ob-  ii-.ii  •  i  •  1  r     -i 

tainsapat-laerswyck,  he  visited  the  region  on  the  east  side  of  the 
colonie      North  River,  adioininsr  Manhattan  Island,  for  the  purpose 

north  of  T  , .   1  .  1  •  fp  1  mi 

Manhattan,  of  establishing  himseit  permanently  as  a  patroon.  The 
valley  of  the  Nepera,  or  Sawkill,  appeared  favorable  for 
the  erection  of  mills,  and  Kieft  readily  granted  to  Van  der 

*  Renss.  MSS.  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  34fi,  4G9-4T1  ;  Winthrop,  ii.,  254.  The  result  of  the  differ- 
ences between  Van  Curler  and  Van  der  Donck  was  "  to  let  the  matter  rest  so,"  and  to 
take  the  advice  of  the  patroon  in  Holland.  Van  der  Donck,  in  his  Beschryvinge  van  N. 
N.,  p.  8  (ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  143),  speaks  of  two  whales  having  swum  up  the  North 
River,  in  March,  1647  (1646  ?)  ;  one  of  which  grounding  on  an  island  near  "  the  great  Co- 
hooes'  Falls,"  since  known  as  Walvisch  or  Whale  Island,  afforded  the  colonists  a  supply 
of  oil,  besides  causing  the  river  to  be  covered  with  grease  for  three  weeks. 

t  Renss.  MSS. ;  O'Call.,  i.,  122,  345  ;  ii.,  68,  69  ;  post,  p.  491. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  4^1 

Donck  the  privileges  of  a  patroon  over  the  lands  in  that  chap  xii. 
neighborhood,  because  he  "had  contributed  a  vast  deal  by 
his  services  as  mediator"  in  negotiating  the  peace  at  Fort 
Orange  the  year  before,  and  had  "  advanced  the  principal 
part  of  the  money,  as  the  director  general  was  at  that  pe- 
riod not  well  provided  with  it,  to  procure  sewan."    Under 
Kieft's  grant,  Van  der  Donck  purchased  from  the  savages 
their  unextinguished  title  to  the  lands  "  as  far  as  Papirine- 
min,  called  by  our  people  (Spyt  den  Duyvel),  in  Spite  of  spytdtn 
the  Devil."     The  new  patroonship  was  soon  afterward   "^^^' 
formally  named  "  Colen  Donck,"  or  Donck's  Colony ;  and  coien- 
the  States  General  confirmed  to  the  patroon  the  right  to  now  von- 
dispose  of  his  fief  by  will.     The  name  of  the  present  town 
of  Yonkers  perpetuates  the  memory  of  the  first  European 
proprietor  of  Colendonck.* 

The  same  summer,  Kieft  issued  a  patent  to  Cornells  22  August 
Antonissen  van  Slyck,  of  Breuckelen,  for  "  the  land  of  Katskiii. 
Katskill,  lying  on  the  River  Mauritius,  there  to  plant,  with 
his  associates,  a  colonic  according  to  the  freedoms  and  ex- 
emptions of  New  Netherland."  The  consideration  for  this 
patent  were  the  great  services  which  Van  Slyck  had  done 
"  this  country,  as  well  in  the  making  of  peace  as  in  the 
ransoming  of  prisoners,  and  it  being  proper  that  such  no- 
torious services  should  not  remain  unacknowledged."!  In 
thus  granting  a  patent  for  the  present  town  of  Catskill, 
Kieft  openly  set  at  naught  the  pretensions  of  the  patroon 
of  Rensselaerswyck,  which,  indeed,  had  already  been  for- 
mally denied  in  the  proceedings  against  Koorn  in  1644. 

The  policy  recommended  by  the  West  India  Company's  26  Nov. 
Chamber  of  Accounts  was  now  acted  upon ;  and  late  in  obfains\ 
the  autumn,  the  inhabitants  of  Breuckelen  were  invested  govern-'' 
with  a  grant  of  the  municipal  privileges  they  desired. 
They  were  to  have  the  right  of  electing  two  schepens  or 
magistrates,  with  full  judicial  powers,  as  in  the  Father- 

♦  Alb.  Rec,  viii.,  79 ;  Patents,  i.,  56;  Hoi.  Doc,  vi.,  118;  Bolton's  West  Chester,  ii., 
401-409  ;  Benson's  Memoir,  111,  112  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  127.  The  Dutch  were  in 
the  habit  of  calling  Van  der  Donck's  estate  "  de  Jonkheer's  Landt,"  which  the  English  aft- 
erward corrupted  into  "Yonkers."  Jonkheer  is  a  title  usually  applied  in  Hollar  d  to  the 
son  of  a  nobleman.    It  had  a  more  extended  significance  in  New  Netherland. 

t  Alb.  Rec.  C.  G.,  157  ;  Renss.  MSS. ;  O'Call.,  i.,  382,  383;  ante,  p.  378,  401. 


422 


HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


Chap.  XII, 


1646. 

First 
schout  of 
Breucke- 
Icn. 


1645. 

Peace  be- 
tween the 
Iroquois 
and  the 
French. 


gues  again 
in  Canada. 


1646. 

16  May.* 


29  May. 
Visas  "Lai 
du  Saint 
Sacre- 
ment." 


Descends 
the  North 
River  to 
Fort  Or- 
ange. 
4  June. 


land.  Those  who  opposed  the  magistrates  in  the  discharge 
of  their  duties  were  to  be  deprived  of  all  share  in  the  com- 
mon lands  adjoining  the  village.  A  schout  was  also  to  he 
appointed,  in  subordination  to  the  schout-fiscal  at  Man- 
hattan ;  and  Jan  Teunissen  was  immediately  commission- 
ed for  the  post.  The  village  of  Breuckelen  itself  was,  at 
this  time,  nearly  a  mile  inland  from  the  river ;  the  ham- 
let at  the  water's  edge,  opposite  Manhattan,  was  known 
as  "  the  Ferry."* 

Peace  had  at  length  been  arranged  between  the  French 
and  the  Iroquois  ;  and  the  Mohawk  deputies  had  proclaim- 
ed at  the  Three  Rivers,  that  they  had  "thrown  the  hatchet 
so  high  into  the  air,  and  beyond  the  skies,  that  no  arm  on 
earth  can  reach  to  bring  it  down."  Father  Jogues,  who 
had  just  returned  from  France,  was  now  commissioned  to 
revisit  the  Mohawk  country,  with  presents,  to  ratify  the 
new  treaty.  Accompanied  by  Bourdon,  an  engineer,  and 
some  Indian  guides,  he  ascended  the  Richelieu ;  traversed 
the  waters  of  Champlain;  passed  "the  place  where  the 
lake  contracts  ;"  and  on  the  eve  of  the  festival  of  Corpus 
Christi,  reached  the  smaller  lake,  which  the  savages  called 
"  Andiatarocte."  In  commemoration  of  the  day,  the  name 
of  "  Saint  Sacrement"  was  now  given  to  those  pure  waters, 
which  Jogues  was  perhaps  the  first  European  to  explore 
and  traverse.!  Continuing  his  route  on  foot,  oppressed 
with  the  heavy  luggage  he  was  obliged  to  carry,  at  six 
leagues  distance  from  the  lake  he  reached  the  upper  wa- 
ters of  a  stream  which  the  Iroquois  called  the  "  Oiogue," 
and  which  the  Hollanders,  who  were  settled  upon  it  fur- 
ther down,  had  named  "the  River  Mauritius."  Again  em- 
barking, he  descended  the  stream  to  Fort  Orange,  where 
he  was  hospitably  entertained  by  the  Dutch  commander. 


*  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  357,  385 ;  iii.,  362  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  383 ;  Van  Tienhoven,  in  ii.,  N.  V.  II.  S. 
Coll.,  ii.,  332,  and  Murphy's  note. 

+  "  lis  arriverent,  la  veille  du  S.  Sacrement,  au  bout  du  Lac  qui  est  joint  au  grand  La? 
de  Champlain.  Les  Iroquois  le  nomment  Andiatarocte^,  comme  qui  diroit  M  ou  le  Lac  se 
ferme.  Le  Pere  le  nomma  le  Lac  du  S.  Sacrement."— Relation,  1645-6, 50.  These  beau- 
tiful waters  might  now  belter  hear  the  aboriginal  name  suggested  by  Cooper,  or  that  of 
the  illustrious  missionary  who  explored  ihem,  than  commemorate  the  "  undoubted  donun 
ion"  of  a  Hanoverian  king;  an*f,  p.  "'.  note. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  423 

Thence  proceeding  to  the  Mohawk  country,  after  two  days'  chap.  xii. 
journey,  he  reached  then*  first  castle,  called  "  Oneugiou- 
re,"  now  known   as   Caughnawaga.      The   Mohawks   re- ,.  ,y„g 
ceived  him  kindly,  and  interchanged  presents  in  ratifica-  ",e^^io.^ 
tion  of  their  treaty ;  and  Jogues,  after  offering  to  the  Onon-  h'^^v^coun- 
dagas  the  friendship  of  the  French,  returned  to  the  Three  Returns  to 
Rivers  "by  the  same  route,  and  with  similar  toil."  17 June! 

It  was  now  hoped  that  the  time  had  come  for  France 
to  establish  a  permanent  mission  among  the  Iroquois ;  and 
before  the  end  of  three  months,  Jogues,  whose  zeal  "burn- 
ed to  preach  the  faith,"  was  again  on  his  way  to  the  Mo-  24  sept. 
hawk  valley,     " /60,  nee  redibo'^ — "I  shall  go,  but  shall  again  re- 
never  return,"  was  his  own  presage,  in  the  last  letter  he  Mohawks, 
wrote  to  his  superior  in  France.     The  fate  he  expected 
awaited  him.     Disease  had  swept  off  many  of  the  savages ; 
their  harvest  had  failed  ;  and  the  Mohawks  were  persuad- 
ed that  the  Evil  Spirit  lurked  in  the  small  box  of  mission- 
ary furniture  which  the  father  had  left  in  their  charge. 
On  reaching  the  Mohawk  valley,  Jogues  was  seized,  strip-  ir  October. 
ped,  and  beaten  ;  and  the  grand  council  condemned  him 
to  death  as  an  enchanter.     As  he  was  entering  the  wiij-  is  October 
wam  where  he  was  called  to  sup,  a  savage  behind  the  door 
struck  him  down  with  an  axe.     His  head  was  cut  off  and  nis  death. 
impaled  upon  the  stockade,  and  his  body  was  thrown  into 
the  Mohawk  River.      Thenceforward  that  valley  became 
known  in  the  annals  of  the  Jesuits  as  "  the  Mission  of  the 
Martyrs."* 

The  interests  of  the  Hollanders  on  the  South  River  had,    1G45. 
meanwhile,  demanded  Kieft's  serious  attention.    With  but  uie's.mt'h 
a  small  force — eighty  or  ninety  men  at  the  utmost — to  gar-  ^'^"^"^ 
rison  all  his  posts,  Printz,  the  new  Swedish  governor,  had 
succeeded,  by  good  management,  in  drawing  to  himself 
nearly  all  the  Indian  trade  in  that  quarter,  and  had  al- 
most annihilated  the  commerce  of  the  Dutch  "1    A  new  em- 

*  Relation,  <fec.,  1645-6,  50-59  ;  1647,  6-8,  124-130;  Letters  of  I  abbatie,  30th  of  Oct., 
and  of  Kiefl,  14th  of  Nov.,  1646,  in  ii.,  N  V.  11.  S.  Coll.,  iii.  ;  Tanner,  Soc.  Jesu,  &c., 
530,  531  ;  Crcuxius,  457  ;  Bancroft,  iii.,  135-138  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  300  ;  Hildreth,  ii.,  87.  The 
missal  of  Father  Jogues,  atid  some  of  his  clothes,  were  afterward  given  by  the  Mohawks 
to  Domine  Megapolcnsis. — Letter  to  Classis  of  Amsterdam,  28th  of  September,  1658. 

+  Fort  New  Gottenburg,  with  all  its  buildings,  was  burned  down  on  the  5th  of  Decern- 


424        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap  XII.  barrassment  soon  occurred.    Jan  Jansen  was  charged  with 


fraud  and  neglect  of  duty  ;  and  the  provincial  government, 
Jansen  su-  ^^^^^  examining  the  evidence,  sent  Andries  Hudde,  the 
iToc'tober.  town  survcyor  of  New  Amsterdam,  to  succeed  him,  "  for 
Hudde  ap-  th^  present,"  as  commissary  at  Fort  Nassau.  Jansen,  on 
commfssa-  ^^^  Tctum,  was  uuablc  to  justify  himself  to  the  satisfac- 
^^ir^n  tion  of  Kicft,  who  ordered  him  to  be  sent,  "with  all  his 
3  Feb.       documents  and  the  process  of  the  schout-fiscal,  with  the 

first  sailing  ship  to  Amsterdam,  to  defend  and  exculpate 

himself  before  the  directors."* 

Hudde  soon  found  that  the  office  of  commissary  on  the 
23  June.  Soutli  Rlvcr  was  no  sinecure.  A  shallop,  which  several 
sloop  or-    private  traders  at  Manhattan  had  dispatched  to  him  with 

dered  out  of  •iii  tii  •  •i-n 

theschuyi-a  Considerable  cargo,  was  directed,  on  its  arrival  at  i*ort 
Swedes.  Nassau,  to  proceed  "to  the  Schuylkill  near  the  right,  and 
wait  for  the  Minquas."  As  soon  as  the  Dutch  vessel 
reached  the  spot,  Juriaen  Blanck,  the  trader  on  board,  was 
ordered  off  by  the  Swedish  commander,  who  claimed  that 
the  country  belonged  to  his  queen.  Hudde  hearing  of  this, 
instantly  went  with  four  men  to  the  Schuylkill,  "  to  ex- 
amine how  matters  stood,"  But  the  Dutch  commissary 
himself  was  treated  with  no  more  favor  than  were  the 
Manhattan  traders  ;  and  he  too,  receiving  notice  to  leave 
the  Swedish  territory,  returned  at  once  to  Fort  Nassau, 
after  sending  a  message  to  Printz  that  the  Schuylkill  had 
always  been  a  trading  place  for  the  Dutch.  The  next 
day  Printz  sent  his  chaplain,  Campanius,  to  communicate 
his  determination  to  compel  the  Dutch  vessel  to  leave  the 

iiudde's     Schuylkill.     Hudde  protesting  against  such  arbitrary  con- 
negotiation  •(••  ci-i  r    ^       ^T^ 

With  duct  as  an  iniringement  oi  the  rights  or  the  West  India 
Company,  and  as  a  breach  of  the  alliance  between  the 
United  Provinces  and  Sweden,  Printz  sent  Hendrick  Huy- 
gens,  his  commissary,  with  two  of  his  officers,  to  ascertain 
the  rights  which  the  Dutch  claimed  to  the  Schuylkill, 

ber,  1645,  and  all  the  powder  ard  goods  in  store  blown  up.    The  accident  was  owing  to 
the  negligence  of  a  servant,  whi  fell  asleep,  leaving  a  candle  burning. — Hudde's  Report, 
in  Alb.  Rec,  xvii.,  321,  and  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  429 ;  Winthrop,  ii.,  254  ;  Hub- 
bard, 434. 
*  Alb.  Rec,  ii.,  319,  323,  337  ;  Acrelius,  413  :  S.  Hazard's  Ann.  Penn.,  85,  86. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  435 

and  to  interrogate  the  commissary  at  Fort  Nassau  as  to  chap.  xii 
his  conduct.     But  Hudde's  replies  were  considered  to  be "~ 
unsatisfactory  ;  and  a  few  days  afterward,  Printz  sent  a  j  j^,      * 
peremptory  order  for  Blanck  to  depart  at  once,  under  pain 
of  confiscation  of  his  vessel  and  cargo.     On  this  warning, 
Blanck,  fearing  that  Printz  would  execute  his  threat,  sail- 
ed out  of  the  Schuylkill ;  and  Hudde  immediately  wrote  to  12  juiy. 
Kieft  an  account  of  the  affair.* 

Soon   afterward,  Hudde,  in  obedience   to  orders  from 
Kieft,  "to  inquire  about  certain  minerals  in  this  country," 
went  up  to  the  country  of  the  Sankikan  Indians,  who  were 
seated  at  Assinpink,  now   Trenton,  in  New  Jersey,  and 
tried  to  penetrate  to  the  "  Great  Falls."     As  he  was  pass-  iiuddepre- 
ing  the  lower  rapids,  he  was  stopped  by  one  of  the  sa-  visitLg'th? 
chems,  and  forbidden  to  proceed.     After  some  hesitation,  Trenton. 
the   sachem   admitted  that  Printz  had   spread   a  report  Printz  en- 
among  the  Indians  that  the  Dutch  intended  to  establish  a  excite  the 
fort  at  the  falls,  to  be  garrisoned  with  two  hundred  and  against  the 
fifty  men  from  Manhattan,  and  exterminate  all  the  sav- 
ages in  the  neighborhood.     In  vain  did  Hudde  employ  a 
variety  of  means  to  succeed  in  his  object.     He  was  stop- 
ped every  time  by  the  same  objection,  and  was  finally  com- 
pelled to  return  to  Fort  Nassau  without  being  able  to  reach 
the  Falls.t 

About  the  same  time,  the  director  and  council  at  Man- 10  August. 
hattan  granted  to  Abraham  Planck  and  three  others,  one  grants 
hundred  morgens,  or  two  hundred  acres  of  land,  lying  on  the  somh 
the  west  side  of  the  South  River,  "almost  over  against Dutci) .°ub- 
the  little  '  Singing-bird'  Island,"  upon  condition  that  they^"^''' 
should  settle  four  plantations  there  within  one  year,  and 
always  continue  their  allegiance  to  the  States  Greneral. 
But  it  is  said  that  the  grantees  did  not  avail  themselves 
of  their  patent,  and  "  never  came  there. "t 

The  next  month,  Hudde  received  a  letter  from  Kieft.  in  7  sopt. 

*  Hudde's  Report,  in  Alb.  Rec,  xvii.,  321,  and  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  Coll.,  i.,  p.  43^-432  I 
seems  that  some  of  the  Swedish  officers  were  native  Dutchmen.  Ilcndricli  Iluygens, 
Printz's  commissary,  was  a  nephew  ofMinuit,  and  a  native  of  Cleef ;  and  Gregory  van 
Dyclt,  tlie  sergeant  or  Waclit-meester,  was  born  at  the  Hague. 

t  Hudde's  Report,  ut  su)).,  432,  433. 

i  Alb.  Rec,  Patents,  153  ;  Acrelius,  417  ,  Hazard,  Reg.  Penn.,  iv.,  119. 


426  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XII.  which  he  was  "imperiously  commanded"  to  pm'chase  from 
the  savages  some  land  "on  the  west  shore,  about  a  mile 
■  distant  from  Fort  Nassau  to  the  north."     On  the  follow- 
ing day,  the  Dutch  commissary  accordingly  took  posses- 
sion of  the  spot,  which  seems  to  have  adjoined  Corssen's 
25  Sept.     first  purchase ;  and  soon  afterward,  a  bargain  was  com- 
chasesthe  plctcd  with  the  "original  proprietor,"  who  assisted  in  af- 
adeiphia     fixing  the  amis  of  the  company  to  a  pole  erected  on  the 
natives,     limits.     Several  Dutch  freemen  immediately  made  prepa- 
rations to  build  on  their  newly-acquired  possession,  which, 
considering  its  distance  and  direction  from  Fort  Nassau, 
may  be  very  properly  regarded  as  the  site  of  the  present 
city  of  Philadelphia.* 

Printz,  on  receiving  intelligence  of  this,  sent  his  com- 
missary Huygens  to  oppose  the  proceedings  of  the  Dutch. 
8  October.  Tlic  Swcdlsh  officcr  promptly  executed  his  orders.     "  In 
arms  torn   an  insolcnt  and  hostile  manner,"  he  tore  down  the  arms 
the"'"  ^    which  Hudde  had  erected,  and  declared  that  "  thouofh  it 
had  been  the  colors  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  that  were 
hoisted  there,  he  would  have  thrown  these  too  under  his 
feet."t 
30  Sept.  A  few  days  afterward,  Printz  formally  notified  Hudde 

lu  October.  ^Q  discontinue  the  "injuries"  of  which  he  had  been  guilty 
Printz  pro-  against  the  crown  of  Sweden,  and  protested  against  the 
against  "  sccrct  and  unlawful  purchase  of  land  from  the  savages," 
purchase,  which  would  sccm  to  arguc  that  the  Dutch  had  no  more 
right  to  that  place  than  to  their  other  "pretensive  claims" 

*  Hudde's  Report,  in  Alb.  Rec,  xvii.,  and  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  Coll.,  i.,  p.  433,  440 ;  Acrelius, 
412  ;  Ferris's  Early  Settlements,  p.  75  ;  ante,  p.  232.  Campanius  (p.  79)  says  that  a  few 
days  before  this  (Sept.  4,  1646),  he  consecrated  a  decent  wooden  church,  which  had  just 
been  built  at  Tinicum.  Before  the  building  of  this  church,  worship  was  probably  con- 
ducted in  some  part  of  the  Fort  New  Gottenburg,  which  was  destroyed  by  fire  the  last 
year.— Hazard's  Ann.  Penn.,  89. 

t  Hudde's  Report,  435  ;  Acrelius,  412.  Alluding  to  this  occurrence,  the  commonalty 
of  N.  N  ,  in  their  "  Vertoogh,"  of  the  13th  of  October,  1649,  remark,  "It  is  matter  of  ev- 
idence, that  above  Maghchachansie,  near  the  Sankikans,  the  arms  of  their  High  Mighti- 
nesses were  erected,  by  order  of  Director  Kieft,"  &c.— ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  283. 
The  place,  however,  seems  here  to  have  been  inaccurately  described  as  at  Crosswick 
Creek,  near  Bordentown.  Acrelius,  too  (p.  412),  says  that  it  was  "at  Santhickan,"  or 
Trenton.  But  Commissary  Hudde,  as  we  have  already  seen,  was  prevented  reaching 
Trenton  Falls,  or  " Assinpink,"  where  the  Sankikans  were  seated;  and  he  expressly 
states  that  the  spot  upon  which  he  erected  the  Dutch  arms  was  "  on  the  west  shore, 
ahout  r,  Dutch  mile  distant  from  Fort  Nassau  to  the  north,"  or  on  the  site  of  Philadelphia 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  427 

on  the  South  River.     Finding  that  the  Swedish  governor  chap.  xn 
had  followed  up  his  protest  by  "  forbidding  his  subjects  to 
enter  into  any  transactions"  with  the  Dutch,  Hudde  re-  22  October 
plied,  "I  purchased  the  land  not  in  a  clandestine  manner,  "ly'lo" '^ '^'*' 
neither  unjustly,  unless  your  honor  calls  that  a  clandes-  ^'""'^' 
tine  manner  which  is  not  performed  with  your  honor's 
knowledge.     I  purchased  it  from  the  real  owner.     If  he 
sold  that  land  previously  to  your  honor,  then  he  imposed 
upon  me  shamefully.     The  place  which  we  possess,  we 
possess  in  deed,  in  just  property — perhaps  before  the  name 
of  the  South  River  was  heard  of  in  Sweden."     Referring 
to  the  "  insolent  and  hostile"  manner  in  which  the  Dutch 
arms  had  been  thrown  down,  Hudde  warned  the  Swedish 
governor  that  his  conduct  could  have  "no  other  tendency 
than  to  cause  great  calamities  ;"  and  urged  him  to  pro- 
mote good  correspondence  and  harmony,  "  at  least  from 
the  consideration  that  we  who  are  Christians  should  not 
place  ourselves  as  a  stumbling-block  or  laughing-stock  to 
those  savage  heathens." 

But  the   Dutch  commis3ary's  dispatch  was  very  un- Primzs 
ceremoniously  treated  by  the  imperious   commander  ofouscoi- 
the  Swedes.     When  Hudde's  messenger  arrived  at  Fort  ward  the 
New  Gottenburg,  Printz,  taking  the  letter  from  his  hand,  23  oi-iobd 
threw  it  on  the  ground,  bidding  one  of  his  attendants  to 
",take  care  of  it;"  and  then  went  "to  meet  some  English- 
men just  arrived  from  New  England."    After  some  inter- 
val, the  messenger,  asking  for  an  answer,  "  was  thrown 
out  of  doors,  the  governor  taking  a  gun  in  his  hand  from 
the  wall,  to  shoot  him,  as  he  imagined."     Printz,  how- 
ever, was  prevented  from  leaving  the  room  to  execute  his 
threat ;  but  his  general  conduct  toward  the  Dutch  con- 
tinued brutal  in  the  extreme.     "  The  subjects  of  the  com- 
pany," wrote  Hudde,  "  as  well  freemen  as  servants,  when 
arriving  at  the  place  where  he  resides,  are  in  a  most  un- 
reasonable manner  abused,  so  that  they  are  often,  on  re- 
turning home,  bloody  and  bruised."* 

Thus  ended  Kieft's  negotiations  with  the  Swedes  on  the 

*  Uudde's  Report,  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  11.  S.  Coll.,  i..  434-430. 


42b        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XII.  South  Rivcr.     Angry  recriminations  alone  marked  their 
progress  ;  for  the  bankrupt  authorities  at  Manhattan  were 
'  in  no  position  to  repel  distant  encroachments.     And  thus 
the  purchase  and  occupation  of  the  site  of  Philadelphia  by 
the  Dutch  was  the  occasion  of  unseemly  wrangles  between 
the  rival  European  colonists  who  first  settled  themselves 
on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware. 
Difficulties      While  the  Swedes  were  thus  thwarting  the  Dutch  on 
English  at  tlic  South  Rivcr,  the  attention  of  the  government  at  Fort 
Amsterdam  was  awakened  to  fresh  annoyances  from  the 
English  at  the  East.     The  post  which  Pynchon  had  estab- 
lished at  Springfield  effectually  commanded  the  upper  val- 
New  Ha-    ley  of  the  Connecticut.     Some  of  the  New  Haven  people 
ing-post  on  now  purchascd  a  tract  of  land  from  the  Indians,  and  built 
gussett.      a  trading-house  on  the  Paugussett  or  Naugatuck  River, 
just  above    its    confluence   with  the   Housatonic.     This 
brought  the  English  settlements  within  a  short  distance 
3  August,    of  Magdalen  Island,  on  the  North  River.*     On  learning 
tests         this,  Kieft  dispatched  Lieutenant  G-eorge  Baxter,  with  a 
encroach-    letter  in  Latin  to   Governor  Eaton,  complaining  of  the 
"  insatiable  desire"  of  New  Haven  to  usurp  Dutch  terri- 
tory and  possess  "  that  which  is  ours."     Against  Eaton 
himself  and  his  people  he  protested,  as  disturbers  of  the 
public  quiet,  "  because  you  and  yours  have  of  late  de- 
termined to  fasten  your  foot  near  the  Mauritius  River,  in 
this  province  ;"  and  he  threatened  that,  if  the  English  did 
not  make  proper  reparation,  the  Dutch  would  use  all  the 
means  God  had  given  them  to  recover  their  rights. 
H  August.      In  a  few  days,  Eaton  replied  in  Latin,  professing  to 
c^iaimsthe  know  no  such  river  as  the  Mauritius,  "unless  it  be  that 
purchase''^  which  thc  EugHsh  have  long  and  still  do  call  Hudson's 
iTy'^e'es!     River,"  and  denying  that  they  had  in  any  respect  injured 
the  Dutch.     They  had  built,  he  admitted,  a  small  house 
within  their  own  territory,  which  they  had  purchased  from 
the  Indians  "  on  Paugussett  River,  which  falls  into  the  sea 
in  the  midst  of  the  English  plantations,  many  miles,  nay, 
leagues  from  the  Manhattoes,  from  the  Dutch  trading- 

♦  ii.,  N.  Y.  Coll.,  ii.,  p.  273  ;  O'Call., :.,  376  ;  ante,  p.  51,  note,  251. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  429 

house,  or  from  any  port  on  Hudson's  river."     And  then,  chap.  xii. 
adroitly  recriminating,  he  alluded  to  the  injuries  which 
the  Dutch  had  done  the  people  of  New  Haven,  at  the  South  compuuns 
River  and  at  Manhattan,  and  offered  to  refer  the  whole  ^^nllu^t 'jj" 
case  to  arhitration,  "either  here  or  in  Europe,"  heing  well  o.'ftue'"''^ 
assured  that  the  king  and  Parliament  would  maintain  e""'** '^"'' 
their  own  rights,  and  that  even  Kieft's   own   superiors 
would  "  approve  the  righteousness"  of  the  proceedings  of 
New  Haven.* 

The  next  month  the  Commissioners  of  the  United  Colo-  September 

Tlie  com- 

nies  met  at  New  Haven,  and  within  the  claimed  limits  of  missioners 

•  1      infiBt  at 

New  Netherland.     Taking  advantage  of  the  occasion,  the  New  Ha- 

°  °  van. 

Hartford  people  laid  before  them  their  story  of  the  wrongs 
which  David  Provoost,  the  commissary  at  Fort  Grood 
Hope,  had  committed  against  them.  The  commissioners  j%  Sept. 
"thought  fit  to  express  their  apprehensions  in  writing," Kieit 
and  accordingly  sent  a  letter  in  Latin  to  Kieft,  complain- 
ing that  the  Dutch  agent  and  his  company  at  Hartford 
had  "  now  grown  to  a  strange  and  insufferable  boldness." 
An  Indian  captive,  who  had  fled  from  her  English  master, 
was  "entertained"  at  the  Fort  Grood  Hope;  and,  though 
required  by  the  magistrate,  was  detained  by  the  Dutch. 
"  Such  a  servant,"  urged  the  commissioners,  "  is  part  of 
her  master's  estate,  and  a  more  considerable  part  than  a 
beast."t  "When  the  "watch  at  Hartford"  was  sent  to  re- 
claim the  slave,  Provoost  drew  and  broke  his  rapier  upon 
their  weapons,  and  then  retired  within  the  fort.  "  Had  he 
been  slain  in  this  proud  affront,  his  blood  had  been  ujjon 
his  own  head." 

Lieutenant  G-odfrey,  who  was  dispatched  to  Fort  Am-  22  sept. 
sterdam  with  this  letter,  returned  in   a  few   days  with  wise  reply 
Kieft's  reply  in  Latin,  addressed  to  the  "  Commissioners 

*  Hazard,  ii.,  55,  56. 

t  It  appears  to  have  been  the  practice  in  the  Puritan  colonics  to  enslave  and  sell  into 
foreign  bondage  the  natives  of  North  America. — Winthrop,  i.,  234,  254  ;  Bancroft,  i.,  168, 
169  ;  ante,  p.  272.  Winthrop  himself  bequeathed  to  his  son  his  "Indians,"  at  his  island 
"called  Governor's  Garden."— Winthrop,  ii.,  App.,  360.  The  Massachusetts  code  of 
1641  expressly  sanctioned  the  holding  in  bond  slavery  of  "lawful  captives  taken  in  just 
wars,"  and  such  "  as  willingly  sell  themselves,  or  are  sold  to  us,"  several  years  before 
the  example  was  followed  by  Virginia  or  Maryland. — Colony  Charters  and  Laws,  xii.,  52, 
53  ;  llildreth,  i.,  278. 


430  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XII.  of  the  Federated  English,  met  together  at  the  Red  Mount, 
or  New  Haven,  in  New  Netherland."  The  Hartford  peo- 
ple, he  insisted,  had  deceived  the  commissioners  with  false 
accusations ;  the  wrongs  were  committed  on  their  side ; 
their  usurpation  of  Dutch  jurisdiction,  and  shedding  of 
blood,  and  seizure  of  cattle,  "do  sufficiently  testify  the 
equity  of  their  proceedings."  As  to  the  "barbarian  hand- 
maid," detained  at  Fort  Grood  Hope,  she  was  probably  not 
a  slave,  but  a  free  woman,  "  because  she  was  neither 
taken  in  war  nor  bought  with  price."  Yet  she  should  not 
be  "wrongfully  detained."  For  the  English  at  Hartford 
to  complain  of  the  Dutch  at  Fort  Good  Hope,  was  like 
"Esop's  wolf  complaining  of  the  lamb."  The  answer  of 
the  New  Haven  people  was  what  might  have  been  expect- 
ed ;  yet  the  Dutch  would  still  pursue  their  own  rights  by 
Protest  just  mcaus.  "  We  protest,"  concluded  Kieft,  "  against 
meeting  of  all  you  commissioucrs  met  at  the  Red  Mount,  as  against 
rnissioners  brcakcrs  of  thc  comiTion  league,  and  also  infringers  of  the 

at  New  Ha-  •i-iicitiioii  •  •         ^ 

ven.  special  right  oi  the  Lords  the  fetates  our  superiors,  in  that 

ye  have  dared,  without  express  commission,  to  hold  your 


general  meeting  within  the  limits  of  New  Netherland." 


1 1 


missioners. 


Sept.  The  commissioners  immediately  declared  themselves 
of the"com-  "much  uusatisfied"  with  Kieft's  letter.  The  Indian  maid, 
they  insisted,  was  a  slave,  captured  in  war,  who  had  fled 
from  public  justice,  and  was  detained  by  the  Dutch,  "both 
from  her  master  and  the  magistrate."  The  conduct  of  the 
Dutch,  in  this  and  other  respects,  the  commissioners  con- 
ceived, fully  warranted  their  use  of  the  offensive  term 
"unsufferable  disorders."  Kieft  could  hardly  prove  that 
the  Hartford  Confederates  had  deceived  them  by  false 
complaints  ;  and  "  for  your  other  expressions,  proverbs,  or 
allusions,  we  leave  them  to  your  better  consideration." 
"  We  have  more  cause  to  protest  against  your  protesta- 
tions," added  the  commissioners,  "than  you  have  to  be  of- 
fended at  our  boldness  in  meeting  at  New  Haven,  and,  for 
aught  we  know,  may  show  as  good  commission  for  the  one 
as  you  for  the  other."* 

'  Hazard,  ii.,  57,  58,  6&-72;  i.,  N.  Y.  Hist.  Coll.,  i.,  189-199;  Trumbull's  Conn.,  i., 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  431 

This  quiet  dispatch  closed  the  correspondence  between  chap.  xii. 
the  Director  of  New  Netherland  and  the  colonial  authori- 
ties  of  New  England,  whose  long  altercations  "had  no  dig- 
nity, because  they  were  followed  by  no  result."*  While 
justice  and  equity  appeared  to  be  on  the  side  of  the  Hol- 
landers, the  English  negotiators  showed  themselves  the 
best  diplomatists  ;  and  the  reckless  Kieft  only  injured  a 
good  cause  by  intemperate  zeal  and  undignified  language. 

Kieft  promptly  sent  an  account  of  the  fresh  encroach-  22  Nov. 

Instruc- 

ment  of  New  Haven  to  the  Amsterdam  Chamber.     The  tions  orthe 

T  •  1-  11-  !•  !••       Amster- 

du'ectors,  m  reply,  instructed  hmi  to  obtam  authentic  in-  dam  cham- 

•  -1  IT  bertoop- 

formation  respecting  the  assumed  right  of  the  Indians  to  pose  the  de 

signs  of  ihe 

sell  to  the  English  any  lands  within  the  Dutch  limits,  in  English. 
the  direction  of  Fort  Orange ;  to  prevent  the  erection  of 
any  more  English  trading-houses  in  that  quarter  by  all 
possible  measures  short  of  those  likely  to  provoke  actual 
war  ;  and  to  watch  with  vigilance,  and  oppose  with  vigor, 
all  further  movements  of  those  grasping  neighbors,  who 
now  seemed  bent  on  appropriating  to  themselves  the  whole 
of  New  Netherland.  Referring  to  the  discovery  of  mines  Expiora- 
on  Staten  Island,  and  in  the  Raritan  country,  they  also  in-  mines  tote 

.  ,     ,     ,  .  ,1      •  1  encour- 

timated  that  it  was  their  purpose  to  send  out  proper  per-  aged. 
sons  to  examine  and  report,  and  to  continue  explorations 
which  they  hoped  would  be  advantageous  to  the  com- 
pany.! 

Kieft's  disastrous  administration  was  now  drawing  near 
its  end.     The  differences  among  the  several  Chambers  of 
the  "West  India  Company,  which  had  so  long  delayed  the  13  Juiy. 
departure  of  their  new  director  from  Holland,  were  now  panVarob 
so  far  arranged,  that  in  the  summer  of  1646  an  applica- state's cen- 
tion  was  made  to  the  general  government  for  the  ratifica-  fy'^stuyv^-' 
tion  of  Stuyvesant's  commission.     But  the  statesmen  at  lesion"™' 

155-158;  Wiiithrop,  ii.,  268.  Kiefl  having  written  to  Winthrop,  complaining  of  Whiting, 
a  magistrate  of  Hartford,  "  for  saying  that  the  English  were  fools  in  suffering  the  Dutch 
in  the  centre,"  &c.,  the  letter  was  referred  to  the  commissioners,  who  wrote  to  the  direct- 
or that  Ihey  wished  "  all  such  provoking  and  threatening  language  might  be  forborne  on 
both  parts,"  as  contrary  to  the  peace  and  neighborly  correspondence  they  desired  to  pre- 
serve between  the  two  nations.  Kieft  replied,  that  he  would  "  altogether  forget"  what 
Whiting  had  said,  and  added,  "that  the  sun  of  peace  may  more  clearly  shine  among  us, 
I  both  applaud  and  desire." 
*  Bancroft,  ii.,  283.  t  Alb   Rec,  xii.,  397,  398  ;  O'Call.,  i.,  359,  381. 


432  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  i\E\V  YORK. 

Chap.  XII.  the  Hague  declined  to  take  any  action  upon  the  subject 
until  they  knew  how  the  company  had  disposed  of  the 
complaints  which  the  commonalty  of  New  Netherland  had 
addressed  to  the  Fatherland,  and  until  they  had  examined 
the  instructions  for  the  provincial  director  and  council, 
The  eompa- which  the  Company  had  proposed  the  year  before.  These 
structions  wcrc  promptly  submitted  ;  and  the  States  Greneral  ap- 

approved.  .,.  iii  t 

atijuiy.     provmg  their  tenor,  ordered  them  to   be  enrolled  in  their 

archives.* 
2S  July.  Two  days  afterward,  the  draft  of  Stuy vesant's  commis- 

sant's  com-  siou  was  Considered  and  ratified.  By  this  instrument,  the 
proved.  Statcs  General  appointed  him  director  over  New  Nether- 
land  and  the  adjoining  places,  and  also  over  the  islands  of 
Cura^oa,  Buenaire,  Aruba,  and  their  dependencies.  He 
was  "to  perform  all  that  concerns  his  office  and  duties  in 
accordance  with  the  charter,  and  with  the  general  and 
particular  instructions  herewith  given  and  hereafter  to  be 
given  to  him ;"  and  all  the  officers  and  subjects  of  the 
United  Provinces  in  those  countries  were  enjoined  "to  ac- 
knowledge respect,  and  obey  the  said  Peter  Stuyvesant  as 
Director     our  director."     The  same   day   Stuyvesant  appeared  in 

and  vice-di-  .  <•    i        n  r~i  i  i  j     i  • 

rector        persou  in  the  meeting  of  the  States  (xeneral,  and  took  his 

sworn  in* 

28  July,     oath  of  office.     Immediately  afterward,  Lubbertus  van 
Dincklagen  was  sworn,  in  the  same  manner,  as  vice-di- 
rector and  first  counselor  of  New  Netherland ;  and  the 
newly-commissioned  officers   repaired  to  Amsterdam  to 
hasten  their  preparations  for  embarking.t 
Expedition      But  the  departure  of  the  expedition  was  still  delayed 
theTexei   nearly  five  months  longer.     At  last,  all  the  preliminary 
Nether-      arrangements  were  completed  ;  and  Stuyvesant  and  Van 
December.  Dincklagcu,  accompauicd  by  Fiscal  Van  Dyck,  Captain 
Bryan  Newton,  an  Englishman  who  had  served  under  the 
company  several  years  at  Cura(;oa,  Commissary  Adriaen 
Keyser,  and  Captain  Jelmer  Thomas,  embarked  in  four 
ships  at  the  Texel.     Besides  these  officers  and  their  at- 

*  Hoi.  Doc  ,  iii.,  19,  70,  72,  74,  77,  78,  81. 

t  IIol.  Doc,  iii.,  82-89.     Stuyvesant  was  married  at  Amsterdam  to  Judith  Bayard,  thi 
daughter  of  a  French  Protestant  refugee.— ii.,  N.  Y.  U.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  400,  455. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  433 

tendants,  several  soldiers  and  a  number  of  free  colonists  chap.  xu. 
and  private  traders  now  proceeded  to  New  Netherland. 

The  little  squadron  sailed  from  the  Texel  on  Christmas  25  Dec. 
day,  164G.     Running  to  the  southward,  the  expedition 
visited  the  West  Indies  and  Curacoa ;  and  during  the  pro-  stuyvc 

rt  1       •  •  r        sant's  arlii 

longed  voyage,  Stuyvesants  imperious  temper  gave  Ire- trary  con- 
quent  earnests  of  a  future  arbitrary  rule.     At  Saint  Chris-  voyage. 
topher's,  the  Fiscal  Van  Dyck,  claiming  a  seat  at  the  coun-   1G47. 
oil  board,  to  dispose  of  a  captured  prize,  was  rudely  re- 
pelled— "When  I  want  you,  I  will  call  you,"  was  Stuy- 
vesant's  haughty  reply.     Renewing  his  attempt  at  Cura- 
(joa,  the  insulted  fiscal  met  a  still  sterner  rebuff,  and  was 
not  allowed  even  a  "stroll  ashore"  during  the  three  weeks 
the  ship  lay  at  anchor  there.* 

In  the  middle  of  May,  nearly  six  months  after  his  de-iiMay. 

Stuvv6Siini 

parture  from  Holland,  the  newly-commissioned  director  lands  at 
general  arrived  at  Manhattan,  and  landed  under  a  spon- 
taneous salute  of  the  inhabitants.  The  "  whole  commu- 
nity" turned  out  under  arms ;  and  there  was  so  much 
shouting  and  firing,  that  almost  all  the  powder  in  New 
Amsterdam  was  expended.  "I  shall  govern  you  as  a  fa- 
ther his  children,  for  the  advantage  of  the  chartered  West 
India  Company,  and  these  burghers,  and  this  land,"  said 
Stuyvesant,  as  he  was  about  to  assume  the  authority 
which  Kieft  had  misused.!  And  the  people  went  joy- 
ously home,  with  hopeful  auguries  of  their  new  chief. 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  vi.,  62,  241. 

t  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  1  ;  v.,  36  ;  xii.,  30 ;  Van  Dincklagen  to  Van  der  Donck,  in  Hoi.  Doc, 
vi..  32;  Breeden  Raedt,  27 

E  E 


4a4  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

1647-1648. 

ch.  XIII.       "While  Stuyvesant  was  commencing  an  administration 
which  was  to  endure  until  the  end  of  the  Dutch  domin- 

Affairs  in  i         i  t    •       i  •       -n 

tiie  Father-  ion  ovcr  Ncw  Nctherland,  pontical  events  in  Europe  were 
gravely  affecting  the  fortunes  of  the  Fatherland. 

Frederick  Henry,  prince  of  Orange,  who,  since  the  death 
1647.  of  his  brother  Maurice  in  1625,  had  been  stadtholder  of 
Deaui oaiie  the  United  Provinces,  died  in  the  spring  of  1647,  at  the 
erl^F^e'der-  age  of  sLxty-three  years.     During  his  long  term  of  pub- 
ick  Henry,  ^[q  gervicc,  hc  had  approved  himself  worthy  of  his  exalted 
station ;  and  the  judgment  of  posterity  has  pronounced 
him  one  of  the  wisest  and  best  chief  magistrates  the 
United  Netherlands  ever  possessed.      Under  the  Act  of 
Reversion,  which  the  States  of  the  provinces  had  passed 
in  1631,  Frederick  Henry's  offices  devolved,  immediately 
Succeeded  upou  his  death,  to  his  son,  William  H.     The  young  prince 
n.    '  """  burned  to  emulate  his  father's  military  renown ;  but  the 
nation,  distrusting  his  inexperience,  was  unwilling  to  pro- 
long hostilities  which  Frederick  Henry  had  anxiously  de- 
vegotia-     sired  to  terminate.     The  draft  of  a  separate  treaty  with 
mnsieT.    Spain  was  agreed  to  by  the  States  Greneral,  and  instruc- 
tions to  complete  it  were  sent  to  their  plenipotentiaries 
at  Munster,  in  Westphalia.      These  orders  excited  bitter 
complaints  on  the  part  of  France,  that  the  United  Provin- 
ces were  about  to  violate  the  treaty  which  they  had  lately 
made  with  Louis  XIV.;  and  Mazarin  even  ordered  Tu- 
renne,  who  was  on  his  march  to  Bohemia,  to  return  to  the 
frontiers   of  Luxemburg.     But  the  Dutch  ambassadors 
were  in  nc  mood  to  lend  themselves  to  the   cardinal's 


TKE  TREATY  OF  WESTPHALIA.  43^ 

crooked  diplomacy ;  and,  in  spite  of  the  intrigues  of  the  ch.  xiu 
French  plenipotentiaries,  the    long -pending  treaty   was  ~~ 

signed  at  Munster,  in  January,  1648,  by  the  representa-  rj.^J^^. ' 
tives  of  the  United  Netherlands  and  of  Spain.     The  treaty  3 jfj^^'.^^g 
was  immediately  ratified  by  Philip  IV.,  and  by  the  sever- 
al states  of  the  United  Provinces  ;  and  peace  was  solemn-  peace  pr.^ 
ly  proclaimed,  on  the  fifth  of  June,  amid  demonstrations  5  Ju"b 
of  general  joy.     On  the  very  day  on  which  the  Counts  of 
Egmont  and  of  Hoorn,  the  first  martyrs  for  Batavian  lib- 
erty, had  been  beheaded  eighty  years  before,  the  undoubt- 
ed sovereignty  of  the  republic  was  formally  recognized  by 
the  King  of  Spain,  and  formally  published  at  the  Hague. 
A  few  months  afterward,  the  tranquillity  of  Europe  was  se-  24  October 
cured  for  a  time  by  the  definitive  signature  of  the  general  westpua- 
treaty  of  Westphalia.* 

Thus,  after  eighty  years  of  constant  strife — intermitted 
only  for  twelve  years  by  the   truce  of  1609  —  the  war 
which  patriotism  and  justice  commenced  against  tyranny   1568. 
and  wrong,  and  which  had  cost  Spain  over  fifteen  hundred 
millions  of  ducats,  was  gloriously  terminated  by  the  full   1648. 
and  absolute  recc^gnition  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  United 
Provinces.     By  the  decree  of  unerring  providence,  the  an- 
cient oppressors  of  the  Netherlands  hastened  to  propitiate 
the  powerful  rej^ublie  they  had  at  last  distinctly  recog- 
nized in  the  face  of  the  world.     Le  Brun  was  sent  as  am-  Spanish 
bassador  to  the  Hague  before  Philip  had  himself  received  dor  seurw 
one  from  the  Dutch;  and  in  his  address  to  the  States  Gen-  \q^[}^ 
eral,  on  his  first  audience,  the  representative  of  Spain  took  20  -'u-iu. 
especial  pains  to  flatter  the  pride  and  conciliate  the  good- 
will of  that  nation  with  which  his  master  was  now  anx- 
ious to  be  on  the  best  terms.t 

The  Dutch  Republic,  which,  for  nearly  a  century  after  tmo  Dm  ti 
it  first  took  its  place  in  the  rank  of  independent  nations,    ""p*^"'""" 
continued  to  sway  the  balance  of  European  politics,  owed 

*  Corps  Dip.,  vi.,  429,  450  ;  Basnagc,  Annales  des  Prov.  Un.,  i.,  102, 110  ;  Grattan,  262; 
Davies,  ii.,  645,  649;  ante,  p.  160. 

t  "  On  remarqua  qu'il  affectoit  dans  sa  harangue  de  nommer  la  Republique  avant  la 
Roi  son  maltre,  ct  de  r('!p6ter  souvcrit  les  litres  (TEtat  Puissant,  Florissant,  et  Souvcrai^; 
—Basnagc,  i.,  p.  156. 


436  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  xiii.  its  proud  position  to  the  moral  qualities  and  free  spirit  of 
~"  the  people  of  the  Netherlands  ;  to  the  constitution  of  their 
'  government ;  to  their  geographical  situation  ;  their  mari- 
time power  ;  their  liberal  commercial  policy ;  their  spirit 
of  universal  toleration ;  and  to  the  wise  statesmanship 
which  attracted  to  their  shores  a  winnowed  population 
from  other  lands. 

The  house       The  feudal   sovereignty  of  the  Netherlands  had  early 

jy. "  °      centred  in  the  house  of  Burgundy  ;    and  Philip  I.,  from 

1426.  the  time  he  became  their  chief,  carefully  respected  the 
ancient  rights  and  privileges  of  the  Dutch.  "  Taxation 
only  by  consent,"  was  the  grand  principle  which  the  Ba- 
tavian  burghers  steadily  asserted  as  the  fundamental  con- 

Phiiip  I.  dition  of  th^ir  obedience.  And  during  Philip's  sovereign- 
ty, the  self-ruling  spirit  of  the  towns  demanded  and  ob- 
tained successive  enlargements  of  their  franchises. 

Charles  the  The  short  and  eventful  rule  of  Philip's  son,  Charles  the 
Bold,  was  not  favorable  to  the  liberties  of  the  Dutch.  Mil- 
itary service  was  the  original  feudal  tenure  of  lands  ;  and 
the  towns,  which  had  commuted  their  liability  by  an  ob- 

Riiyter       ligation  to  pay  a  fixed  "  Ruytergeld,"  or  militia  rate,  were 

^'^^^'  constantly  called  upon  to  assist  their  warlike  sovereign. 
But  relief  from  oppression  came  before  long,  and  it  came 
from  an  unexpected  quarter.  Like  the  Dutch,  the  Swiss 
had  early  learned  to  depend  upon  their  own  unaided  in- 
dustry. Kindred  in  spirit,  the  Helvetians  lived  among 
the  mountains  whence  the  Rhine  flowed  ;  while  the  home 
of  the  Batavians  was  in  the  marshes  where  at  length  it 

i?attieof    reached  the  sea.     At  the  memorable  field  of  Morat,  the 
1477    forces  of  the  impetuous  Charles  were  overwhelmed  ;  and 
the  fatal  battle  of  Nanci,  soon  afterward,  ended  the  brill- 
iant but  ill-starred  career  of  the  last  reigning  Duke  of 
Burgundy. 

On  the  death  of  Charles  the  Bold,  the  sovereignty  of  the 

i/i.,ry  of  Netherlands  passed  to  his  only  child  Mary,  then  nineteen 
years  of  age  ;  and  the  Dutch  at  once  determined  to  render 
secure  those  liberties  which  had  been  invaded,  and  to  ex- 
tend still  further  the  privileges  they  were  resolved  to  en- 


THE  GREAT  CHARTER  OF  HOLLAND.  437 

joy.     Three  months  after  the  accession  of  Mary,  the  fir.st  ch.  xm 

assembly  of  the  States  General  was  summoned  at  Ghent.  ~ 

1477 
To  this  assembly  came  the  deputies  of  the  Netherlands,  g^^^^^  (j^',. 

with    anxious    thought    and    immovable    determination,  q,"^^*^ 
They  told  their  young  sovereign  that  they  would  support 
and  assist  her  ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  they  demanded  of 
her  the  renouncement  of  prerogatives  which  had,  of  late 
years,  made  "  great  encroachments  on  the  liberties  and 
privileges  of  the  provinces  and  towns."    Mary  was  obliged 
to  yield  to  the  firm  resolution  of  the  States,  and  soon  seal- 
ed patents  of  privileges  for  all  the  provinces  of  the  Neth- 
erlands.    The  formal  acknowledgment  of  the  conditions  Great  chnr 
upon  which  the  popular  allegiance  was  based  was  com- land, 
monly  known  among  the  Hollanders  as  their  "  Great  Char- 
ter."    It  guaranteed  and  confirmed  the  ancient  privileges 
of  the  municipal  governments,  and  recognized  the  right  of 
the  towns,  at  all  times,  to  confer  with  each  other,  and  with 
the  states  of  the  Netherlands.     It  declared  that  no  taxes  Taxation 
should  be  imposed  without  the  consent  of  the  states  ;  and  consent. 
it  distinctly  secured  the  freedom  of  trade  and  commerce.* 
To  these  vital  principles  the  Dutch  ever  afterward  clung 
with  the  noblest  tenacity. 

Twenty-three  years  after  the  concession  of  the  "  Great  charies  v 
Charter"  of  Holland,  the   future   Emperor  of  Germany, 
Charles  V.,  was  born  at  Ghent.     He  was  brought  up  in   1500. 
the  Low  Countries,  where  he  passed  the  happiest  of  his 
years.     Through  his  grandmother,  Mary  of  Burgundy,  he 
inherited  the  sovereignty  of  the  Netherlands ;  toward  which 
country,  during  the  greater  part  of  his  reign,  he  manifest- 
ed so  much  partiality  as  to  cause  dissatisfaction  to  his 
Spanish  subjects.     At  length  he  abdicated  his  enormous  nis  aijdn;;i- 
empire ;  and  the  kingdom  of  Spain  and  the  sovereignty  of    X555 
the  Netherlands  passed  to  his  son,  Philip  II. 

But  the  son,  on  succeeding  to  his  father's  hereditary  puihp  il 
dominions,  did  not  inherit  his  father's  political  wisdom. 
Born  at  Valladolid,  and  educated  in  Spain,  Philip  knew  but 
little  of  the  ardent  patriotism  and  love  of  liberty  which 

*  Groot  Placaatbook,  i-  ,  658  ;  Barantc,  xi.,  I  ;  Davie«,  i,,  284    McCuUagh,  ii.,  129-139- 


438        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

(;h.  XIII.  distinguished  the  people  of  the  Netherlands.     No  native 
~        sympathies  attached  him  to  the  Dutch.     He  came  to  the 
throne  with  all  the  strong  prejudices  of  a  Spanish  king; 
His  bigotry  and  commenced  his  reign  over  the  Low  Countries  without 
ism.  the  kindly  feeling  of  a  compatriot  sovereign.     Thinking 

that  he  could  govern  his  Dutch  subjects  as  a  despot,  and 
disregard  their  established  laws,  which  the  house  of  Bur- 
gundy had  acknowledged  and  generally  respected,  he  drove 
them  into  a  Revolution,  which  resulted  in  the  declaration 
of  their  national  independence. 
Free  si)irit  An  indomitable  spirit  of  civil  liberty  ever  animated  the 
tavians.  Bataviaus.  Of  all  the  subjects  of  imperial  Rome,  they 
were  the  bravest.  Dwelling  in  the  isles  rather  than  on 
the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  they  desired  to  avoid  incorpora- 
tion with  the  empire,  Rome  asked  them  not  for  contri- 
butions ;  but  in  the  hour  of  danger  looked  for  their  aid,  as 
the  javelin  is  sought  for  on  the  eve  of  battle.* 

Fourteen  centuries  after  Tacitus  thus  vividly  delineated 
the  character  of  the  early  dwellers  at  the  mouths  of  the 
Rhine,  the  writings  of  Luther  were  printed  and  publicly 
1518.  sold  in  the  provinces  of  Friesland  and  Holland.     Thence- 
o?manon  in  forward  the  Netherlanders  resolved  to  shake  off  all  shackles 
Md'FrL-  upon  the  freedom  of  conscience.    To  their  indomitable  spir- 
it of  civil  liberty  was  now  added  a  deterrnined  purpose  of 
resistance  to  ecclesiastical  intolerance.     Friesland  openly 
adopted  the  principles  of  the  Reformation ;  while  Eras- 
mus, of  Rotterdam,  without  actually  declaring  himself  a 
disciple  of  Luther,  did  perhaps  as  much  as  any  of  the  other 
advocates  of  religious  reform  to  correct  the  abuses  of  the 
Church.t 
1540.       The  Spanish  government  presently  attempted  to  impose 
restraints  upon  freedom  of  religion  in  the  northern  prov- 
inces of  the  Netherlands.     Protestants  were  severely  per- 

*  "  Omnium  harum  gentium  virtute  praecipui  Batavi,  non  multum  ex  ripa,  sed  insulani 
Rheni  amnis  colunt,  Cattorum  quondam  populus,  et  seditione  domestica  in  eas  sedes 
transgressus,  in  quibus  pars  Romani  imperii  fiereiit.  Manet  honos  et  antiquae  societalis 
insigne  ;  nam  neo  tributis  contemnuntur,  nee  publicanus  adterit ;  exempli  oneribus  el 
collationibus,  et  tantum  in  usum  praeliorum  sepositi,  velut  tela  atque  arma  bellis  reser- 
vantur."— Tacitus,  De  Mor.  Ger.,  29. 

t  Brandt,  ii.,  62, 63  ;  Grattan.  67 ;  Davios,  i.,  353  ;  McCulIagh,  ii.,  1.  See  also  chapii  r 
iT.,  avtt,  p.  100,  et  seq. 


land, 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  REVOLT  IN  HOLLAND.  439 

secuted,     A  modified  species  of  Inquisition  was  introduced  ch.  xni. 

into  Holland.     The  writinsrs  of  the  Reformers  were  pro- 

•  •  1549 

hibited,    A  succession  of  edicts  against  heretics,  each  more  j^^^.^^  ^^ 

rigorous  than  the  last,  marked  the  growing  intolerance  y^^y^p,^."""^ 

which  distinguished  the   decade  preceding  the  pompous™"'- 

abdication  of  Charles  the  Fifth. 

The  bigotry  of  Philip,  so  strongly  in  contrast  to  the  mild 
spirit  of  Christianity,  soon  completed  what  Charles  had 
begun.     New  bishoprics  were  erected,  to  provide,  as  the   1559. 
king  alleged,  for  the  spiritual  wants  of  an  increasing  pop-ereeJsnew 
ulation,  but  more  particularly  for  the  extirpation  of  her- '^'^'*°^"'''' 
esy.     The  measure  was  odious,  not  only  to  the  clergy  and 
the  nobles,  but  more  especially  to  the  people,  who  had 
a  firm  conviction  that  its  purpose  was  to  support  and  ex- 
tend the  power  of  the  Inquisition.     Persecution  was  now  Persecu- 
carried  on  with  increased  vigor  in  most  of  the  provinces, 
excepting  those  of  Holland,  Zealand,  and  Utrecht,  of  which 
William,  prince  of  Orange,  was   stadtholder.     The   new 
decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent  were  published,  and  their  1565. 
enforcement  proclaimed.      Fresh   edicts   against  heretics 
invested  the  clergy  with  almost  unlimited  power  over  the 
lives  and  property  of  the  people.     These  edicts  were  no  The  popu- 
sooner  published,  than  the  popular  mind  became  violently  inflamed. 
inflamed.     Pamphlets  and  placards  were  distributed  and 
posted  on  the  walls  of  the  towns.     The  people  were  elo- 
quently exhorted  to  defend  themselves  against  the  Inqui- 
sition, and  against  the  tyranny  of  the  Spaniards.     All  ef- 
forts to  discover  the  authors  or  printers  of  these  unlicensed 
publications  were  unavailing.     The  spirit  of  liberty  was 
aroused  and  at  work.* 

It  was  quickly  perceived  that  the  people  were  on  the  eve 
of  a  revolt ;  and  the  nobles,  wishing  to  provide  for  their 
own  security  by  leading  public  opinion,  framed  the  famous    1566. 
bond  of  alliance  known  as  the  "  Compromise."     By  this '^''"'''''' 

*  Meteren,  ii.,  39;  Davies,  i.,  520.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  a  coin  was  issued 
from  the  Zealand  Mint,  stamped  on  the  one  side  with  the  device  of  a  dismasted  ship, 
without  a  rudder,  drifting  on  the  waves,  surrounded  by  the  legend  "Inxertum  qto 
FATA  FERENT  ;"  and  on  the  other  with  the  effigy  of  Hope  holding  her  anchor,  and  point- 
ing to  heaven,  with  the  motto  "  Spes  ai.ma  supersit."— Bizot,  Med.  Hist.,  1?  Van 
Loon,  i.,  72. 


440        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

CH.  XIII.  instrument,  they  bound  themselves  on  oath  to  resist,  "to 
the  utmost  of  their  power,  the  establishment  of  the  In- 
uiiance  of  quisition,  Under  what  name  or  pretext  soever ;  to  sup- 
tue  nobles,  p^j^-  g^j^^  assist  cach  other  as  faithful  friends  and  brothers ; 
and  if  any  one  of  them  were  disquieted  or  molested  on  ac- 
count of  this  alliance,  to  devote  their  lives  and  properties 
to  his  protection." 

The  confederated  nobles  soon  took  occasion  to  present  a 
remonstrance  on  the  state  of  public  affairs  to  the  Duchess 
of  Parma,  as  governess  of  the  Netherlands.     As  they  ap- 
s  April,      proached  the  court  at  Brussels,  on  foot,  plainly  dressed, 
and  unarmed,  the  Count  of  Barlaimont  remarked  to  the 
governess  that  she  had  no  cause  of  fear,  since  "they  were 
Origin  of    only  a  troop  of  beggars  (gueux)."     The  taunting  expres- 
"Guenx."  siou  was  eagerly  caught  up,  and  went  from  mouth  to 
mouth.     "  It  is  no  shame,"  said  the  patriotic  noblemen, 
"to  be  beggars  for  our  country's  good."     A  feast  was 
given  the  same  evening  by  the  Lord  of  Brederode,  at 
which  nearly  three  hundred  guests  were  present.  "  Vivent 
les  gueux,"  resounded  through  the  apartment.    Brederode, 
bringing  in  a  wooden  vessel,  such  as  the  pilgrims  used, 
pledged  the  company  to  the  health  of  the  "  gueux ;"  the 
cup  went  round  ;  the  Prince  of  Orange,  and  the  Counts 
of  Egmont  and  Hoorn,  joined  in  the  pledge ;  and  the  epi- 
thet that  levity  suggested  was  soon  seriously  adopted  as  a 
party  appellation  and  watch- word  by  all  who  were  hostile 
to  the  measures  of  Philip's  government.     The  gray  garb 
of  beggars  became  a  political  uniform.     The  taxes  were 
no  longer  paid.     A  great  Revolution  was  at  hand.* 
Tiie  Duke       Philip  immediately  prepared  to  send  the  Duke  of  Alva 
u) the  Nem- with  a  vast  army  into  the  Netherlands,  to  chastise  his  re- 
bellious subjects.     The  "beggars"  began  to  lay  in  stores 
of  arms ;  and  as  the  news  of  Alva's  coming  reached  Brus- 
Aupist.      sels,  the  "Iconoclasts"  began  to  destroy  the  images  of  the 
ciasts.       saints.     With  electric  rapidity  the  impulse  spread  through- 
all  the  provinces.     Religious  enthusiasm  soon  ran  into 
riotous  excess.     In  nearly  every  town  and  village  the 

*  Meteren,  ii.,  40,  41 ;  Brandt,  vi.,  294  ;  Davies,  i.,  520-533. 


THE  REVOLUTION  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS.  44I 


1566. 


churches  were  attacked ;  images  were  thrown  down ; 
n.onuments  were  defaced  ;  windows  of  painted  glass,  the 
unrivaled  magnificence  of  which  challenged  the  admira- 
tion of  Europe,  were  destroyed.  Within  three  days,  more 
than  four  hundred  churches,  including  those  at  the  Hague, 
Leyden,  and  Amsterdam,  were  despoiled.* 

The  Duke  of  Alva  presently  began  his  bloody  work.  1567. 
The  patriot  Counts  of  Egmont  and  Hoorn  were  arrested. 
The  Inquisition  was  established,  and  the  penal  edicts  en- 
forced with  the  utmost  rigor.  Aspirations  j^fter  civil  and 
religious  freedom  were  punished  as  treason  against  the 
king.  The  privileges  and  liberties  which  the  Dutch  had 
so  long  and  so  devotedly  cherished  were  annihilated  by 
the  erection  of  a  "  Council  of  Troubles,"  which  soon  re- 
ceived the  name  it  well  merited,  "  The  Council  of  Blood."  The  coun- 

,.  -Ill  r      T   •  Ml  -1  1  ci' of  Blood. 

l^rom  the  irresponsible  decrees  of  this  terrible  tribunal 
there  was  no  appeal.  In  the  execution  of  its  sanguinary 
judgments  there  was  no  mercy.  The  whole  land  was 
covered  with  gibbets  ;  and  in  a  few  weeks  eighteen  hund- 
red victims  perished  by  the  hand  of  the  executioner.! 

The  spirit  of  the  Netherlanders  rose  against  the  tyran-TheDuuu 
ny  of  their  oppressors.     Louis  of  Nassau,  brother  of  the  against 
Prince  of  Orange,  entered  the  province  of  G-roningen  at 
the  head  of  a  party  of  the  "Gueux,"  and  routed  the  dis-24May. 
ciplined  troops  of  Spain.     This  was  the  commencement 
of  actual  hostilities.     Exasperated  at  the   defeat  of  his 
forces,  Alva  instantly  brought  the  Counts  of  Egmont  and  3  June. 
Hoorn  to  a  mock  trial.     They  were  at  once  condemned  to 
death ;  and  on  the  morning  of  the  fifth  of  June,  1568,  the    1568. 
proto-martyrs  for  the  Dutch  Republic  were  beheaded  inlxemion 
the  great  square  before  the  Hotel  de  Ville  at  Brussels,  anjiloom 
As  soon  as  the  fatal  work  was  done,  the  people  pressed 
around  the  scaffold,  and  dipped  their  handkerchiefs  in  the 
blood ;  vowing,  after  the  manner  of  their  forefathers,  to 
leave  their  beards  and  hair  uncut  until  the  wrongs  of  their 
country  and  the  murders  of  her  sons  were  avenged.t    And 
they  nobly  kept  their  faith. 

*  Meteren.  ii.,  44.  t  Davies,  i.,  548,  55."?.  t  Mctercn,  ii.,  58 ;  Davies,  i.,  561. 


442  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIII.  Driven  from  their  own  country,  many  of  the  Gueux 
sought  refuge  in  England.  But  Alva  peremptorily  re- 
quired Elizabeth  not  to  afford  encouragement  to  the  rebel 

The  Gueux  subiccts  of  Spain.    The  queen  assented  to  Alva's  demand, 

refused  a 

refuge  in  and  Ordered  the  Gueux  to  quit  her  ports.  Thus  expelled 
from  their  last  refuge,  a  party  of  the  patriots  under  the 
command  of  William  van  de  Marck,  who  had  joined  in 
the  romantic  vow  to  avenge  the  murders  of  Egmont  and 

1572.  Hoorn,  suddenly  appeared  before  the  town  of  Brielle,  at 
capmre  of  ^hc  mouth  of  the  Maese,  and  captured  it  with  little  oppo- 
theBneiie.  gj^^Qj^      rjij^g  Gucux  wcrc  ouce  morc  on  their  native  land. 

The  standard  of  revolt  was  soon  openly  set  up  in  Hol- 
land.    Alva  attempted  to  enforce  a  levy  of  one  penny  in 
The  people  cvcry  ten.     But  the  people — faithful  to  their  hereditary 

r6fus6  to  . 

pay  Alva's  principle  of  "Taxation  only  by  consent" — resisted  the  de- 

arbitrary  ,_  , 

tax.  mand.     it  was  not  the  payment  of  the  tax  itself  that  they 

resisted  so  much  as  the  mode  of  its  levy.  "  Omnia  dabant 
ne  decimam  darent."*  They  periled  every  thing  to  stop 
the  exaction  of  an  arbitrary  tithe.     Deputies  from  the  no- 

june.  bles  and  from  the  towns,  meeting  at  Dordrecht,  acknowl- 
edged the  Prince  of  Orange  as  stadtholder,  and  voted  lev- 
ies of  money  and  of  men  to  oppose  the  encroaching  tyran- 

Hacriem     uy  of  Spain.t    Hacrlcm  was  closely  besieged  by  the  Span- 

maer  be-    iards,  and  forced  to  surrender,  after  seven  months  of  almost 

sieged. 

1573.  unparalleled  suffering.  Yet  the  conquest  cost  the  victors 
14  July,  twelve  thousand  men.  Alckmaer,  too,  was  invested  ;  but 
10  October,  the  pcoplc,  Cutting  through  the  dikes,  deluged  the  Spanish 

camp,  and  the  besieging  army  fled.  The  Prince  of  Orange 
and  the  States  of  Holland,  in  a  long  letter  to  the  king, 
which  was  soon  printed  and  distributed  among  the  people, 
complained  of  the  open  violation  of  their  liberties,  under 
The  people  prctcnse  of  sccuriug  the  Roman  religion.     "We  contend 

demand  lib-  i-i  i,        -iicn  ii- 

ertyofcon-  for  nothing  Icss,"  Said  the  States,  "than  for  freedom  of  con- 

bcience.  .  .  i      i  -i  i 

science,  our  wives  and  children,  our  lives  and  fortunes."t 

*  Grotius,  Annals,  ii.,  49. 

t  The  famous  Dutch  national  song,  "Wilhelmus  van  Nassauwen,"  is  said  to  have 
been  composed  this  year.  Its  author  is  not  known  with  certainty.  Some  ascribe  it  to 
Philip  van  Marnix,  lord  of  Saint  Aldegonde ;  others  to  Dirck  Volkertsen  Koornheet. — 
Brandt,  x.,  535 ;  Davies,  ii.,  362.  t  Brandt,  x.,  554. 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  LEYDEN  FOUNDED.  443 

Alva  was  now  recalled,  though  Philip  did  not  relax  his  ch.  xiii. 


efforts  to  subjugate  the  people  of  the  Netherlands.     Ley-      _^ 
den,  besieged  by  an  enormous  Spanish  army,  was  bravely  November 
defended  by  its  burgher  guards  alone.     The  States  of  Hoi-  eaued"' 
land,  assembled  at  Rotterdam,  finding  that  it  was  idle  to   1574. 
think  of  breaking  the  blockade  with  any  forces  which  they  sieged. 
could  muster,  resolved,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  to  cut  the  dikes  and  open  the  sluices,  so  as  to 
admit  vessels  with  supplies  up  to  the  gates  of  the  famish- 
ed city.     The  damage  was  estimated  at  an  enormous  sum ; 
"but,"  said  the  patriotic  deputies,  "it  is  better  that  the 
country  should  be  ruined  than  lost."    The  dikes  were  cut;  The peopu 

cut  the 

the  waters  of  the  Meuse  rushed  over  the  land;  flat- bot- dikes, 
tomed  boats,  loaded  with  provisions,  rode  in  triumph  over 
the  waves ;  the  Spaniards  abandoned  the  sixty-two  forts 
they  had  erected  around  the  besieged  city ;  and  Ley  den 
was  saved.  The  liberated  inhabitants  repaired  to  their  3  October, 
principal  church,  to  offer  thanks  to  that  God  "who  had 
made  for  them  a  sea  upon  the  dry  land."  In  commemo- 
ration of  the  siege,  the  Statos  of  Holland  offered  to  found 
either  a   university  or  a  fair  at  Leyden.     The  citizens  i.eyden 

•  1  •    ^  ii'iii  Universitv 

chose  a  university,  which  was  established  the  next  year,  founded 
and  in  the  learning  of  Grotius,  Scaliger,  Boerhaave,  and 
others  of  its  sons,  has  proved  a  noble  monument  to  the 
heroic  cause  which  gave  it  birth.* 

Negotiations  were  presently  opened,  on  the  part  of  Hoi-   1575. 
land,  for  an  accommodation  with  Philip.     But  Don  Louis 
de  Requesens,  the  new  Spanish  viceroy,!  insisting,  as  aRequesens 
preliminary,  that  the   service   of  the  Reformed   Church 
should  wholly  cease,  and  that  the  Reformed  clergy  should 
leave  the  country,  it  soon  became  evident  that  no  recon- 
ciliation could  take  place  with  the  bigoted  king.     A  year   1576. 
afterward,  the  atrocious  sack  of  Antwerp  aroused  the  ab- Antwerp. 

*  Meteren,  v.,  107;  Davies,  ii.,  14,  15. 

t  Requesens  was  perhaps  the  ablest  of  the  Spanish  governors  of  the  Low  Countries 
To  him  the  Netherlands  are,  at  all  events,  indebted  for  the  introduction,  in  1575,  of  the 
uniform  system  of  rer  koning  the  year  as  beginning  on  the  1st  of  January.  The  States  of 
Holland  had  long  before  adopted  this  calculation,  and  endeavored,  as  early  as  1532,  to 
bring  it  into  general  use.  The  Gregorian,  or  new  style,  was  adopted  by  Holland  in  1582, 
but  it  was  not  by  England  until  the  year  1753. 


444  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  xiii.  horrence   of  Europe,  and  hastened  the   signature   of  an 
~      agreement  among  the  provinces,  commonly  known  as  the 
Pacification  "  Pacification  of  G-hent."     The  articles  of  this  treaty  pro- 
of Ghent,    yidcd  foi  a  full  amnesty  for  all  offenses ;  for  a  firm  alliance 
between  the  provinces,  and  mutual  assistance  to  expel  the 
Spaniards ;  for  the  toleration  of  both  Catholics  and  Prot- 
estants ;  for  the  suspension  of  the  penal  edicts ;  and  that  no 
decrees  of  the  king  were  to  be  published  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  Prince  of  Orange  and  the  States  of  the  several 
8  Nov.       provinces.     The  publication  of  this  instrument  was  re- 
ceived with  the  liveliest  joy  throughout  the  Netherlands  ; 
and  the  great  charter  of  union  was  thenceforward  consid- 
ered as  the  fundamental  law  of  the  country.     An  envoy 
was  immediately  sent  to  England  to  solicit  the  assistance 
Elizabeth    of  thc  quccn  I  and  Elizabeth  promptly  agreed  to  a  loan  of 

assists  the  i  i       i     i  i  i       rV  t    • 

Dutch.       one  hundred  thousand  pounds  to  the  States,  upon  condition 
that  they  should  not  make  any  treaty  without  her  partici- 
pation.* 
Don  John,       Early  the  next  year,  Don  John  of  Austria,  who  had  suc- 
viceroy.   '  cecdcd  Rcqucsens  as  viceroy,  accepted  the  Pacification  of 
P  ' '  •   Ghent,  and  issued  the  famous  "  Perpetual  Edict,"  by  which 
he  consented  to  the  assembling  of  the  States  General,  and 
to  the  departure  of  the  Spanish  forces.!     But  Don  John 
was  only  dissembling.     He  had  secretly  dispatched  letters 
to  Spain,  asking  for  new  supplies  of  troops;  and  these  let- 
ters having  been  intercepted,  were  published  by  the  Prince 
of  Orange.     No  time  was  now  to  be  lost.     The  citadel  of 
Antwerp,  and  other  important  fortresses,  were  immediate- 
ly occupied  by  the  troops  of  the  States.     William  of  Or- 
ano^e  was  invited  to  Brussels,  and  elected  Governor  of  Bra- 
bant.     An  embassy  was  again  dispatched  to  London ;  and 
contin-      Elizabeth  engaged  to  send  troops  into  the  Netherlands,  and 
troops  fur-  supply  them  with  another  hundred  thousand  pounds.    The 
Elizabeth,  quocu  Ukcwisc  obtained  the  concession  that  the  command- 
er of  her  forces  should  have  a  seat  in  the  Council  of  State, 
and  that  any  disputes  which  might  arise  Vetween  the  prov- 
inces should  be  referred  to  her.l 

•  Meteren,  vi.,  125,  131.  t  Ibid.,  vi.,  132.  1  Ibid.,  vii.,  144. 


THE  UNION  OF  UTRECHT.  445 

Open  war  was  now  declared.     The  Pope  proclaimed  a  ch.  xm 
crusade  against  the  heretics  in  the  Netherlands,  and  bless- 
ed  the  crucifix  in  the  banner  of  Don  John.     The  bull  of  jg  p^^ 
Gregory  XIII.  influenced  the  Walloon  provinces,  the  most  procuS. 
of  the  inhabitants  of  which  were  attached  to  the  Roman  The  south- 
religion,  to  withdraw  from  the  common  cause,  and  adopt  inceawuiu 
a  policy  of  neutrality.     William  of  Orange  soon  saw  that 
the  real  hope  for  safety  and  success  was  a  cordial  and  firm 
alliance  of  the  northern  provinces  of  the  Netherlands.     A 
new  Assembly  was  therefore  convoked  at  Utrecht,  under 
the  auspices  of  his  brother.  Count  John  of  Nassau,  which 
was  attended  by  delegates  from  the  provinces  of  Holland, 
Zealand,  Utrecht,  Gruelderland,  and  the  Ommeland  of  G-ron- 
ingen.     After  waiting  several  days  for  deputies  from  the  1579. 
other  provinces,  those  assembled  proclaimed,  on  their  own  unioa'ol'^^ 
authority,  the  famous  "  Union  of  Utrecht,"  framed,  as  its  em  p'rov. 
preamble  declared,  "for  the  purpose  of  protecting  them- utre'ht. 
selves  against  the  attempts  of  the  Spaniards  to  separate 
and  dismember  the  provinces,  and  to  render  the  Pacifica- 
tion of  Ghent  of  none  effect,  and  thereby  to  bring  them 
into  subjection  and  slavery."*     This  "Union,"  which  was 
soon  afterward  acceded  to  by  the  provinces  of  Friesland, 
Overyssel,  and  Groningen,  became  the  fundamental  basis 
of  the  Dutch  Republic ;  virtually  disowning  the  authority 
of  Spain ;  preserving  to  each  province  its  own  sovereign- 
ty, and  its  own  peculiar  laws  and  privileges  ;  granting  to 
all  the  unmolested  exercise  of  their  own  religion  ;  provid- 
ing for  a  uniform  currency  ;  restraining  any  one  province 
from  making  foreign  alliances  without  the  consent  of  the 
rest ;  and  consolidating  an  indissoluble  connection  of  all 
the  "United  Provinces  of  the  Netherlands,"  for  mutual 
defense  and  protection,  in  the  spirit  of  their  patriotic  mot- 
to, "  Eendragt  maakt  mag-f^ — Unity  makes  might. 

For  a  time,  the  Dutch  preserved  some  show  of  respect 
for  the  person  and  the  name  of  the  king.  But  finding,  be- 
fore long,  that  instead  of  relieving  them  from  the  evils  which 
they  had  suffered,  he  was  resolved  to  oppress  them  still 

*  Meteren,  viii.,  148  :  Pavies,  ii.,  74-79. 


446  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YOllK. 

CH.  XIII.  further,  they  determined  to  affix  the  seal  to  their  charter 
of  liberty,  hy  openly  renouncing  all  allegiance  to  Philip  II. 
Following  the  example  of  the  province  of  Holland,  the 
States  General  solemnly  executed  their  deliberate  purpose. 
1581.  Assembling  in  large  numbers  at  the  Hague,  they  publish- 
The"unite(i  ed  a  declaration,  asserting  the  great  truth  that  "  subjects 
deciare*^*^  are  Hot  Created  for  the  prince,  but  the  prince  for  the  sub- 
pendenc*    jccts,"  who  havc  always  the  right  to  abjure  allegiance  to 
a  bad  sovereign;  and,  after  enumerating  the  offenses  com- 
mitted  by  Philip  against  the  laws  and  the  liberties  of  the 
Netherlands,  declaring  him,  "  ipso  jure, ''^  deposed  from  his 
sovereignty,  right,  and  heritage  in  the  Low  Countries,  and 
the  inhabitants  released  from  all  fealty  to  their  repudiated 
king.     This  remarkable  State  Paper,  which  for  its  clear 
conceptions  of  the  principles  of  political  freedom,  and  its 
distinct  assertion  of  the  rights  and  powers  of  the  people, 
was  the  wonder  of  its  age,  had  scarcely  a  parallel  in  his- 
tory— except,  perhaps,  the  "  Declaration  of  Right"  of  1689, 
under  which  the  Prince  of  Orange,  a  native  Dutchman, 
ascended  the  English  throne  as  William  III. — until  nearly 
two  centuries  afterward,  when  the  representatives  of  the 
1776.  United  States  of  America  threw  off  the  yoke  of  Great  Brit- 
ain, and  published  their  Declaration  of  Independence.* 

It  is  needless  to  trace,  in  detail,  the  progress  of  public 
events  in  the  Netherlands  for  the  next  sixty-seven  years. 
During  the  first  part  of  that  period,  the  nominal  sovereign- 
ty of  the  country  was  vested,  for  a  short  time,  in  the  Duke 
of  Anjou,  but  the  executive  power  was  virtually  wielded 
by  William,  prince  of  Orange,  the  stadtholder  of  Holland, 
1584.   Zealand,  and  Utrecht.     The  assassination  of  the  prince  at 
Muniwof  Delft,  in  the  midst  of  his  friends,  and  in  the  heart  of  a 
oValig^  ""^  country  where  he  was  loved  almost  to.  veneration,  com- 
pelled new  arrangements.    William's  second  son,  Maurice, 
was  immediately  named  governor  by  the  States  General, 
Maurice     and  was  also  created  stadtholder  of  the  provinces  of  Hol- 
'tadihoid-   land  and  Zealand.     It  soon  became  obvious,  however,  from 
the  unremitted  exertions  of  the  King  of  Spain,  that  foreign 

•  Moti;rori,  X.,  2  9  ;  Davies,  li.,  102-111  ;  Kent's  Com.,  i.,  208.    See  dso  App.,noteP. 


THE  DUTCH  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDEI^cr:.     447 

aid  must  be  obtained,  or  the  Netherlands  would  be   in  ch.  xiii 
danger  of  subjugation.     A  solemn  embassy,  headed  by  the 
patriot  Olden  Barneveldt,  was  therefore  sent  to  England, 
and  Elizabeth  consented  to  the  appointment  of  her  favor-  The  Eari 

.  1       p     1  •  ■       1         ofLeicestei 

itc  Leicester  as  governor  general  01  the  provmces  in  her  governor 

1  ,  .1      general. 

name.  The  queen  also  sent  a  large  army  to  assist  the 
Dutch,  from  whom  she  obtained  the  pledge  of  Flushing, 
Rammekens,  and  the  Brielle,  until  her  expenses  should  be  1585. 
repaid.  But  Leicester  soon  rendered  himself  so  unpopu- 
lar with  the  Dutch,  that  within  two  years  he  was  recall- 
ed. The  campaigns  of  the  Dutch  armies  were  conducted 
with  splendid  success  by  the  youthful  stadtholder,  Prince 
Maurice,  and  the  Dutch  fleets  were  almost  invariably  vie-  constant 

.  .  successes 

torious  on  the  seas.     The  proud  King  of  Spain,  ruined  by  of  the 
constant  losses,  was  obliged  to  declare  his  insolvency ;  and 
soon  afterward  the  baffled  and  humiliated  monarch  sunk 
into  the  grave.     Philip  IIL  was,  if  possible,  still  more  hos-   1598. 
tile  toward  the  Dutch  than  his  father  had  been ;  but  it 
was  his  fate  to  see  them  achieve  the  political  independence 
for  which  they  panted.     In  1609,  he  was  obliged  to  sign   1609. 
a  truce  for  twelve  years  with  his  victorious  foes,  and  to  ad- 
mit them  formally  to  a  participation  in  the  Indian  trade. 
At  the  end  of  the  truce,  hostilities  were  renewed,  only  to   1621. 
end  in  the  full,  free,  and  unequivocal  acknowledgment  of 
the  sovereignty  of  the  Netherlands  by  Philip  IV.,  in  the 
treaty  at  Munster,  of  1648.     Thus,  inch  by  inch,  and  year  1648. 
by  year,  through  nearly  three  generations  of  men,  and  t^fumph"^' 
against  three  successive  kings  of  Spain,  the  Dutch  con- 
tended for  their  liberties ;  and  their  unanimous  spirit  of 
popular  freedom  at  last  obtained  its  noble  and  triumphant 
reward. 

The  Dutch  manifesto  of  1581  was  the  necessary  result  The  Dutch 

ft  sclf-i?ov- 

of  that  irrepressible  spirit  of  civil  liberty  which  ever  ani-  eming  pco- 
mated  the  descendants  of  the  Batavians.  The  declara- 
tion of  their  independence  of  Spain  was  merely  a  formal 
assertion  of  their  right  to  govern  themselves.  Practically, 
Holland  had  governed  herself  long  before  ;  practically,  she 
had  governed  herself  from  the  time  her  toil-trained  burgh- 


448  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 

ch.  XIII.  ers  first  maintained  the  right  of  self-assessment,  and  wrung 
from  Mary  of  Burgundy  the  "  Great  Charter"  of  1477. 
Character  ^^^  many  ages  the  Dutch  had  been  accustomed  to  think 
outch.  ^^^  themselves,  to  do,  and  to  endure ;  to  rely  with  calm 
courage  upon  their  own  unaided  efforts ;  to  act  with  stern 
energy  and  firm  will ;  to  fight,  from  youth  to  age,  "  their 
fathers'  fight"  against  the  inexorable  elements ;  to  med- 
itate toilsome  enterprises  at  their  firesides,  and  counsel 
great  deeds  together  in  their  villages  and  towns ;  to  trust 
with  undoubting  confidence  their  neighbor's  word  ;  to  be- 
lieve, with  steady  faith,  that  work  is  the  true  lot  of  man, 
in  which  each  one  is  bound  to  be  diligently  employed. 
They  were  earnest,  self-relying  men,  in  whom  the  habit 
of  personal  independence  had  created  the  desire  of  sep- 
arate nationality.*  It  was  not  the  revolt  of  the  Nether- 
land  Provinces  from  Spain,  nor  the  union  of  the  Nether- 
land  Provinces  at  Utrecht,  which  made  the  Dutch  a  nation 
of  heroes,  and  statesmen,  and  patriots,  any  more  than  it 
was  the  revolt  of  the  American  colonies  from  England,  or 
the  confederation  of  the  American  States,  which  made  the 
people  of  the  United  States  a  brave,  capable,  and  patriotic 
people.  The  characters  of  both  nations  had  been  gradual- 
ly formed  by  long  years  of  experience  in  self-government, 
and  by  long  endurance  of  oppression  and  suffering,  before 
they  openly  renounced  their  allegiance  to  their  sovereigns, 
and  took  the  administration  of  their  own  affairs  entirely 
into  their  own  hands. 

With  the  declaration  of  the  national  independence  of  the 

Dutch  came  the  necessity  of  modifying  their  system  of  ad- 

Tiisir  sys-  ministratlou ;  and  the  people  of  the  United  Provinces  soon 

ministra-    matured  a  form  of  government  better  adapted  to  their  po- 
tion as  a  re-      .  .  "  ,  .  j 
public.       litical  condition  as  a  commonwealth,     ihe  management 

of  the  affairs  of  the  republic  was  vested  in  five  chief  pow- 
ers :  the  States  General ;  the  Council  of  State  ;  the  Cham- 
ber of  Accounts ;  the  Stadtholder,  and  the  Colleges  of  the 
The  States  Admiralty.  Each  province  appointed  its  own  deputies  to 
sit  in  the  assembly  of  the  States  General,  and  regulated 

*  Richesse  de  la  IIoU.,  i..  prof.,  9  ;  McCullagh,  ii.,  235,  23T,  238. 


THE  STATES  GENERAL  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS.     449 

their  numbers,  the  modes  of  their  choice,  and  the  periods  ch.  xiii. 
of  their  service.     But,  in  conformity  to  established  regu-  ~~ 
lation,  each  province  had  only  one  suffrage  in  the  States 
Greneral,  whatever  might  be  the  number  of  its  deputies. 

The  States  G-eneral  usually  sat  at  the  Hague.     It  was  charact.  r 

.         ,      ,        ?  ,  and  luiic- 

not,  m  a  true  sense,  a  representative  body,  but  rather  a  tions  oi  tin; 

.  Til  1     •  •  T         1  states  (Jrn 

deputation.  It  had  no  claim  to  sovereignty.  It  obeyed  erai. 
the  instructions  of  its  constituents  to  the  letter.  When  a 
new  subject  was  introduced,  new  directions  were  applied 
for  to  the  provinces.  Neither  war  nor  peace  could  be  made 
without  the  unanimous  consent  of  these  provinces.  Nei- 
ther money  nor  troops  could  be  raised  without  the  same 
unanimity.  Yet,  with  all  the  restrictions  on  its  power, 
the  States  General  had  much  influence  and  authority.  It 
received  and  appointed  ambassadors,  and  conducted  the 
foreign  relations  of  the  republic ;  and  the  reports  which  it 
addressed  to  the  different  provinces  usually  had  great  ef- 
fect upon  the  resolutions  which  each  adopted.  The  aver- 
age number  of  deputies  at  the  ordinary  meetings  of  the 
States  Greneral  was  about  twelve  or  fourteen.  These  meet- 
ings were  held  in  an  oblong  and  beautifully-decorated 
apartment  in  the  old  palace  of  the  Binnenhof,  or  "inner 
court,"  which  formed  a  part  of  the  ancient  residence  of  the 
Counts  of  Holland  at  the  Hague.  The  Grand  Pensionary 
of  Holland,  who  was  always  a  member,  the  "  Greffier,"  or 
Clerk  of  the  States  General,  the  Treasurer  of  the  Union, 
and  the  Secretary  of  the  Council  of  State,  formed  what 
may  perhaps  be  called  the  "  ministry."  Of  these,  the  Gref- 
fier  was  generally  the  man  of  affairs ;  and  in  his  small, 
modestly-furnished  office,  adjoining  the  decorated  apart- 
ment of  the  States  General,  the  gravest  concerns  of  the  re- 
public were  often  arranged,  and  foreign  ambassadors  fre- 
quently transacted  their  most  important  business.  In  the 
assembly  of  the  States  General,  each  province  presided  in 
turn  for  a  week.  The  presiding  deputy  proposed  all  ques- 
tions ;  directed  the  Greffier  to  read  all  papers ;  put  the 
question,  and  announced  the  conclusion.  The  States  Gen- 
eral were   frequently  denominated  the  "  Generaletiet ;" 


Accounts 


450  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIII.  their  formal  title  was  "  Hoogh  Mogende  Heeren,"  "  High 

——and  Mighty  Lords." 

conn^  of       Th®  Council  of  State,  which  was  next  in  authority  to 

^"''^-  the  States  Greneral,  was  established  in  1584,  and  consist- 
ed of  twelve  members,  exclusive  of  the  Treasurer  Greneral. 
It  was  composed  of  three  members  from  Holland,  two  from 
Zealand,  two  from  Friesland,  two  from  Guelderland,  one 
from  Utrecht, -one  from  Overyssel,  and  one  from  Gronin- 
gen.  The  authority  of  this  council  was  confined  to  mili- 
tary and  financial  affairs,  and  in  most  instances  it  could 
adopt  no  resolution  without  the  concurrence  of  the  States 
General. 

ch:.mberof  Tlic  "  Rckenkamer,"  or  Chamber  of  Accounts,  which 
consisted  of  two  deputies  from  each  province,  was  estab- 
lished in  1607,  to  relieve  the  Council  of  State  from  the 
management  of  the  details  of  the  collection  and  disburse- 
ment of  the  revenue. 

The  stadtholder  was  captain  general,  and  admiral  of  the 
land  and  naval  forces  of  the  republic.  His  dignity  was 
originally  not  hereditary,  but  elective  by  the  provinces. 
During  war  he  disposed  of  all  military  grades,  and  con- 
ducted all  military  operations  as  general  in  chief.  The 
stadtholder  being  at  the  same  time  admiral  of  the  naval 
forces  of  the  republic,  the  commanders  of  the  separate 
fleets  were  called  "lieutenant  admirals."  The  stadthold- 
er might  at  any  time  enter  the  hall  of  the  States  General 
to  propose  public  measures.  But  he  had  no  vote,  and  no 
right  to  deliberate.  During  his  presence  debate  was  sus- 
pended ;  and  when  the  object  of  his  'visit  was  attained,  he 
left  the  Assembly.  After  William  I.,  the  dignity  of  stadt- 
holder was  continued,  by  successive  elections,  in  the  fam- 
ily of  the  Prince  of  Orange  until  1672,  when  William  HI 
procured  it  to  be  made  hereditary. 

Tile  Adini-  Thcrc  wcrc  five  colleges  of  the  Admiralty  ;  the  first  at 
Rotterdam,  the  second  at  Amsterdam,  the  third  at  Hoorn, 
the  fourth  at  Middleburg,  and  the  fifth  at  Harlingen,  in 
Friesland.  They  watched  over  the  defense  of  the  coasts  ; 
furnished  convoys ;  equipped  the  fleets ;  judged  in  prize 


rally. 


THE  PROVINCE  OF  HOLLAND.  45] 

cases,  and  in  cases  of  fraud  against  the  revenue ;  and  nom-  ch.  xm. 
inated  subaltern  naval  officers.  

Of  all  the  provinces,  Holland  was  the  most  important,  provj^.c  "^f 
"by  reason  of  its  population  and  its  wealth.    Hence  its  name  """a'"i- 
was  often  applied  to  the  confederacy,  and  the  inhabitants 
of  all  the  United  Provinces  were  frequently  called  "  Hol- 
landers," by  way  of  eminence.    Being  the  richest  and  most 
populous  of  the  provinces,  Holland  soon  obtained  an  as- 
cendency in  the  confederation  which  was  not  altogether 
unjust,  since  Holland,  above  all  the  others,  bore  most  of 
the  burden,  and  did  most  for  the  general  service  of  the  re- 
public*    By  reason  of  this  preponderance,  the  provincial 
states  of  Holland  bore  the  title  of  "Edel,  Groot,  Mogende 
Heeren,"  Noble,  Great,  and  Mighty  Lords ;  while  the  states 
of  the  other  provinces  were  addressed  in  the  simpler  style 
of  "  Edel  Mogende."     The  provincial  states  of  Holland  Provincial 
were  composed  of  deputies  from  the  nobles,  and  deputies  iiouand. 
from  the  several  towns.     Of  these,  the  number  was  indef- 
inite ;  but  the  entire  body  of  nobles  had  only  one  vote, 
while  each  of  the  eighteen  towns  had  likewise  a  vote.    The 
whole  number  of  sufti-ages  was  thus  nineteen,  of  which  the 
nobles  controled  only  one. 

The  chief  magistrate  of  the  province  was  at  first  called  Grim.i  p  n 
the  Advocate  General,  and  afterward  the  "  Grand  Pension-  hoUunV 
ary."  He  had  great  influence  in  the  states ;  for  though 
he  could  not  vote,  his  advice  was  always  asked  in  affairs 
of  moment.  He  was  elected  for  five  years  by  the  states, 
but  was  generally  continued  in  office  during  life  by  re- 
election. He  propounded  subjects  of  discussion ;  was  the 
keeper  of  the  great  seal  of  Holland,  and  the  speaker  or 
presiding  officer  of  the  states  ;  and  was  their  permanent 

*  By  a  regulation  of  the  Council  of  State  of  the  10th  of  December,  1612,  the  fixed  rata- 
bility of  the  several  provinces  was  thus  assigned : 

Holland gl.  57  14    8 

Frieslund 11  10  11 

Zealand 9    1  10 

Groningen 5  15    6 

Utrecht 5  15    5 

Guclderland 5  n     2 

Overyssel 3  10    8 

■  Total  (including  Drenthe) 100    0    0 


452  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIII.  special  representative  in  the  assembly  of  the  States  Gen- 
eral.  In  cases  of  differences  of  opinion,  he  was  generally 
■  engaged  in  overcoming  the  scruples  of  the  minority ;  be- 
ing, according  to  G-rotius,  vox  publiccB  Ubertatis,  prccit 
suadendo,  componit  dissidentes;  "  the  voice  of  public  lib- 
erty, he  influences  by  persuasion,  and  reconciles  the  dis- 
senting." He  was  in  truth  the  eyes,  ears,  and  mouth  of 
the  provincial  states. 

The  "  Gecommiteerde  Raden,"  or  College  of  Council- 
r.ecommit-  men,  was  composed  of  ten  deputies  ;  one  from  the  body  of 
Jen.  nobles,  and  nine  from  the  towns.     It  watched  over  the 

finances  of  the  province,  and  decided  in  suits  between  the 
farmers  of  the  revenue  and  the  tax-payers.  It  also  had 
jurisdiction  over  the  military  affairs  of  the  province ;  and 
two  of  its  deputies  were  constantly  members  of  the  States 
General. 

The  sovereign  power  of  the  province  did  not,  however, 
The  sover-  rcside  in  the  states  of  Holland,  but  in  the  constituencies 
the  people,  of  tlic  dcputics.  Thc  rcal  authorities  were  the  college  of 
nobles,  and  the  municipal  councils  of  the  towns.  To  them 
each  deputy  was  responsible  for  his  vote,  and  under  their 
instructions  alone  he  acted.  Thus  the  government  of  Hol- 
land, in  fact,  rested  mainly  upon  its  people. 

Trained  in  a  school  of  diversified  industry,  the  Dutch 
Industrial   embodied  in  the  form  of  their  government  the  principles 
oratic  spirit  which  agcs  of  stcm  experience  had  implanted  in  the  na- 
Dutch.       tional  mind.     The  early  and  constant  necessity  for  the 
construction  of  dikes  gave  them  a  habit  of  union  and  good- 
will, and  imbued  them  with  a  propensity  to  reciprocal  jus- 
tice, because,  by  unanimity  and  honesty  alone  could  their 
country  be  saved  from  the  sea.    They  were  forced  by  na- 
ture to  be  industrious  from  the  first.     Their  labor-trained 
energies  were  essential  elements  of  their  national  wealth 
and  happiness.     They  relied  upon  themselves.    Their  first 
political  lessons  were  lessons  in  self-government.  And  thus 
one  of  the  earliest  schools  of  modern  democracy  was  es- 
tablished in  Holland.* 

*  Bisnage  ;  Davies  ;  Meyer,  Inst.  Jud.,  iii.  C2-25 ;  Rev.  Dr-  Ecthune. 


THE  MUNICIPAL  GOVERNMENTS  OF  HOLLAND.  453 

The  most  striking  feature  in  their  political  organization  ch.  xiii 

was  localism.     Holland  was  an  aojffregate  of  towns,  each 

164S 
providing  for  its  own  defense,  administering  its  own  finan-Logaii^];,' 

ces,  and  governing  itself  by  its  own  laws.  The  inhabit- 
ants of  the  towns  were  not,  however,  all  upon  an  equality. 
To  entitle  a  resident  to  every  municipal  franchise,  the 
■'burgher  recht,"  or  burghership,  must  be  acquired.  This  Burgher- 
burghership  was  generally  obtained  by  the  payment  of  a  ^^'^' 
sum  of  money,  and  the  registry  of  the  citizen's  name  upon 
the  roll  of  burghers.  It  was  hereditary  ;  it  could  pass  by 
marriage  ;  and  it  could  be  acquired  by  females  as  well  as 
by  males.  Foreigners,  also,  after  a  year's  probation,  could 
become  burghers.  The  burgher  right  gave  to  the  citizen 
freedom  of  trade,  exemption  from  tolls,  special  privileges 
and  favors  in  prosecutions,  and  an  exclusive  eligibility  to 
municipal  office.  The  burghers  were,  generally,  mer- 
chants and  tradesmen.  The  several  trades  and  profes-cuiids.or 
sions  formed  themselves  into  separate  associations  called  uons.''* 
"  guilds,"  or  fraternities,  the  members  of  which  were  bound 
to  assist  each  other  in  distress,  and  stand  by  each  other  in 
time  of  danger.  Each  guild  inhabited,  for  the  most  part, 
a  separate  quarter  of  the  town  ;  was  organized  as  a  mili- 
tary company ;  fought  under  its  own  standard  ;  and  was 
presided  over  by  a  "  Dekken,"  or  Dean. 

The  government  of  each  town  was  administered  by  a  Municipal 
"  Wethouderschap,"  or  Board  of  Magistrates,  consisting  of  Sw! 
several  burgomasters,  and  a  certain  number  of  schepens, 
or  aldermen.     This  board  of  wethouders  provided  for  the 
public  safety,  attended  to  the  police,  mustered  the  burgh- 
er guard  in  case  of  danger,  administered  the  finances,  and 
assessed  the  taxes  to  be  paid  by  each  individual.     In  gen- 
eral, the  term  of  office  was  annual.     The  burgomasters  BurgomaK 
and  schepens  were  chosen  by  the  eight  or  nine  "good  men"  mom,  aad° 
elected  by  the  "  Vroedschap,"  or  great  council  of  the  town,  Jh^v'. 
which  was  itself  composed,  in  most  cases,  of  all  the  inhab- 
itants who   possessed    a    certain    property   qualification. 
There  was    also    another   important  officer,   named   tlm 
'*  sohout,"   who,  in   early  times,  was   appointed   l.y  th.^s-'u^'t 


454  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

c«.  XIII.  Count,  out  of  a  triple  nomination  by  the  wethouders.  The 
functions  of  the  schout — whose  name,  according  to  Grro- 
tius,  was  an  abbreviation  of  "  schuld-rechter,"  or  a  judge 
of  crimes — were  somewhat  analogous  to  those  of  bailiff, 
or  county  sheriff;  combining,  however,  with  them  some 
of  the  duties  of  a  prosecuting  attorney. *"  Thus  the  towns 
themselves  were  aggregates  of  voluntary  associations  of 
burghers ;  and  the  burghers,  looking  upon  their  towns  as, 
to  a  certain  extent,  their  nation,  firmly  insisted,  through 
all  vicissitudes,  on  being  governed  by  representatives  of 
their  own  classes. 
Effects  of  The  local  municipal  system  of  the  Dutch,  which  jeal- 
pai  system,  ous  cncmics  Continually  prophesied  would  end  in  disunion, 
was,  in  truth,  their  salvation.  Bound  together  by  the 
strongest  ties  of  reciprocal  interest,  the  community  of  fam- 
ilies, of  guilds,  of  towns,  of  provinces,  became  invincible. 
Subjugation  was  impossible,  when  each  individual  city 
was  endued  with  the  spirit  of  the  whole  province,  and 
each  province  was  a  fresh  nation  to  conquer.  As  the  only 
form  of  political  liberty  which  the  Dutch  had  really  known 
was  localism,  so,  in  the  organization  of  their  general  gov- 
ernment, they  only  expanded  the  system  which  was  the 
very  core  of  their  existence.  The  self-relying  burghers 
governed  the  towns  ;  the  representatives  of  the  towns  and 
of  the  rural  nobility  governed  the  several  provinces  ;  and 
the  several  "  states"  of  the  respective  provinces  claimed 
supreme  jurisdiction  within  their  own  precincts.  The  dep- 
uties which  each  constituent  province  sent  to  the  States 
General  were  rather  envoys,  with  limited  powers,  than 
plenipotentiary  representatives.  They  had  explicit  in- 
structions which  they  dared  not  exceed  ;  and  in  every  case 
of  importance  they  were  obliged  to  ask  the  directions  of 
their  Provincial  Legislatures.  Thus  jealously  did  the 
Dutch  restrain  the  limits  of  the  political  power  they  in- 
trusted to  their  representatives. 

The  States  General  was,  in  one  sense,  an  aggregate  as- 

♦  Guicciardini.ii.,  160-180;  Grotius.Inleyding,  127  ;  Meyer,  Inst.  Jud.,iii.,  160-186;  Van 
Leeuwen's  Roman  Dutch  Law,  i.,  15;  Van  der  Linden,  i.,  ch.  ii.,  1)  4  ;  Wagenaar,  Besch. 
van  Amst,,  iii.,  141-161,  269-355  ;  Davies,  1  ,  76-90 ;  ante,  p.  326,  327  ;  post,  p.  474. 


SOCIAL  RESULTS  OF  THE  DUTCH  SYSTr:M.  455 

sembly  of  the  states  of  the  provinces,  each  of  which  might  ch.  xiii. 
send  an  unlimited  number  of  deputies.*     The  votes,  how- 
ever,  were  taken,  as  we  have  already  seen,  not  according  p^vinciaj 
to  the  number  of  individual  deputies,  but  according  to  the  t,','" slaiel' 
number  of  the  provinces  represented ;  and  there  were,  there-  ^'^'^'''^^^■ 
fore,  never  more  than  seven.     By  this  system,  each  prov- 
ince maintained  its  own  due  weight  and  influence  in  the 
affairs  of  the  republic.     The   doctrine  of  State  Rights,  Doctrine  o 
which  forms  so  vital  a  principle  in  the  American  confed-  Rights. 
eration,  was,  from  the  first,  a  distinguishing  characteristic 
in  the  union  of  the  provinces  of  the  Netherlands. 

The  results  which  followed  this  union  of  self-confiding  social  re- 
coramunities  in  one  firm  association  signally  attested  the  I'utch  po- 
wisdom  of  the  Dutch  in  thus  making  their  national  gov-  tem. 
ernment  reflect  the  national  mind.  All  were  stimulated 
to  a  noble  competition  ;  all  felt  a  personal  interest  in  the 
common  weal  and  the  common  woe.  The  nobles  of  Hol- 
land had  the  wisdom  to  identify  their  interests  with  those 
of  the  people  ;  and,  in  return,  the  nobility  were  permit- 
ted, without  jealousy,  to  enjoy  a  large  share  of  political 
influence  and  public  honors.  "  Those  families  wdio  live 
upon  their  patrimonial  estates,"  says  the  courtly  but  can- 
did Temple,  "  are  differently  mannered  from  the  traders, 
though  like  them  in  garb  and  habit.  Their  youth  are 
generally  bred  up  at  schools  and  universities ;  and  when 
they  are  rich,  they  travel  for  some  years,  after  the  course 
of  their  studies  at  home.  The  chief  end  of  their  breeding 
is  to  make  them  fit  for  the  service  of  their  country."  Thus 
educated  for  the  business  of  state,  it  is  not  surprising  tlmt 
the  descendants  of  the  old  Dutch  nobles  were  intrusted 
by  a  business  people,  who  esteemed  fitness  above  all  things, 
with  a  greater  proportion  of  important  public  functions 
than  were  conferred  upon  men  of  their  own  order. t  At 
the  same  time,  the  constitutional  government  of  Holland 
seems  from  the  first  to  have  recognized  the  principle  that 
her  great  commercial  interests  could  be  adequately  repre- 

*  Basnage,  i.,  14,  15.    When  the  Twelve  Years'  truce  with  Spain  was  ratified  at  Ber- 
gen-op-Zoorn,  eight  hundred  members  attended  the  meeting  of  the  States  General. 
t  Temple,  ch.  iv. ;   Har.  Misc.,  ii.,  599. 


456  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  xm  sented  only  ty  commercial  men.  The  success  of  the 
Dutch  was  attributed,  by  a  shrewd  observer,  to  the  lead- 
ing circumstance  that,  "in  their  greatest  councils  of  state 
and  war,  they  have  trading  merchants,  who  have  not  only 
the  theoretical  knowledge,  but  the  practical  experience  of 
trade."*  This  happy  absence  of  class  jealousies  consoli- 
dated the  social  as  well  as  the  political  constitution  of  the 
republic  ;  and  thought,  speech,  enterprise,  and  commerce, 
unfettered  by  illiberal  regulations,  assured  the  prosperity 
of  the  wise  people  who  so  earnestly,  so  steadily,  and  so 
successfully  vindicated  their  capacity  to  govern  themselves. 

Prosperity       And  great,  indeed,  was  their  prosperity.     It  was  not 

of  the  ,  °-,_  1,        1         .         1  1        ,  ^ 

Dutcb        because  Holland  enjoyed  great  natural  advantages.     On 

the  contrary,  nature  gave  her  a  sandy  and  marshy  soil. 
The  surface  of  Holland  is  flat,  like  the  sea  in  a  calm,  and 
looks  as  if,  after  a  long  contention,  it  had  been  divided  be- 
tween land  and  water.  The  elements  are  there  at  con- 
stant variance.  The  fat  soil  is  made  into  turf  and  burn- 
ed ;  the  excavated  land  is  drained  by  countless  wind-mills. 
Not  a  block  of  stone  nor  an  ore  of  metal  can  be  found 
within  her  territory.  The  granite  with  which  the  Dutch 
faced  their  dikes  and  built  their  palaces  was  brought  from 
other  lands.  Their  country  yielded  them  "  almost  nothing 
out  of  its  own  bowels. "t  All  the  corn  which  was  raised 
in  Holland  was  not  sufficient  to  feed  the  men  employed  in 
keeping  the  dikes  in  repair.  Yet  the  indefatigable  people 
who  inhabited  this  barren  region  became  one  of  the  rich- 
est in  the  world.  An  infinity  of  sails  crowded  her  endless 
canals.  The  Rhine  and  the  Maese  brought  down  the  com- 
modities of  Germany  to  the  magazines  of  her  merchants, 
who,  in  the  days  of  her  power  and  glory,  were  accustomed 
to  "vent them  by  their  shipping  into  all  parts  of  the  world 
where  the  market  calls  for  them."$  In  the  year  1650,  the 
whole  population  of  Holland  was  estimated  at  two  millions 
four  hundred  thousand  souls.  Of  these,  De  Witt  supposed 
that  six  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  lived  by  manufactur- 

*  Sir  J.  Child,  Discovery  of  Trade.  t  De  Witt,  i.,  ch.  9 

t  liar.  Misc.,  ii.,  597. 


PROSPERITY  OF  THE  DUTCH.  457 

ing  articles  for  exportation ;  as  many  more  were  employed  ch.  xiii. 
in  trades,  and  in  contributing  to  the  pleasure,  ease,  or  com- 
fort  of  those  who  dwelt  at  home  ;  four  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  subsisted  by  the  fisheries,  and  other  callings  de- 
pendent on  them ;  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  by  nav- 
igation and  commerce ;  two  hundred  thousand  by  agricul- 
ture ;  and  a  like  number  by  civil  and  military  public  serv- 
ice, by  rents  of  land,  or  interest  on  invested  capital,  and 
by  taxes  for  the  support  of  the  poor.*  The  whole  Bata-  Aspect  of 
vian  territory  was  only  a  little  larger  than  Wales,  "  But 
all  that  narrow  space  was  a  busy  and  populous  hive,  in 
which  new  wealth  was  every  day  created,  and  in  which 
vast  masses  of  old  wealth  were  hoarded.  The  aspect  of 
Holland,  the  rich  cultivation,  the  innumerable  canals,  the 
ever- whirling  mills,  the  endless  fleets  of  barges,  the  quick 
succession  of  great  towns,  the  ports  bristling  with  thou- 
sands of  masts,  the  large  and  stately  mansions,  the  trim 
villas,  the  richly-furnished  apartments,  the  picture  galler- 
ies, the  summer-houses,  the  tulip  beds,  produced  on  En- 
glish travellers  in  that  age  an  effect  similar  to  the  effect 
which  the  first  sight  of  England  now  produces  on  a  Nor- 
wegian or  a  Canadian."! 

After  the  sack  of  Antwerp,  the  prosperity  of  Amsterdam  Extensiv. 
began  rapidly  to  increase.     Her  merchants,  finding  them- ' 
selves  prohibited  from  trading  to  Spain,  boldly  sought  the 
ends  of  the  earth,  and,  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  their  en- 
emies, their  expanding  commerce  soon  covered  every  sea. 

"  Each  waxing  moon  supplied  her  watery  store, 
To  swell  those  tides  which  from  the  line  did  bear 
Their  brimful  vessels  to  the  Belgian  shore." 

Their  exchange  presently  resounded  with  a  confused  hum 
of  all  the  languages  spoken  by  civilized  man.  The  floor 
of  the  Burghers'  Hall,  in  the  magnificent  stadthuys  at 
Amsterdam,  which  was  begun  in  1648,  was  inlaid  with 
marble,  so  as  to  represent  maps  of  all  the  nations  of  the 
world — "  a  mute  but  eloquent  expression  of  the  all-em- 
bracing enterprise  of  the  people."     And  thus  the  Dutch 

•  Dc  Witt,  i.,  ch.  8  ;  McCuIlagh,  ii..  279.  t  Macaulay,  i.,  SCI. 


commerce. 


458  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

CH.  xiii.  soon  rendered  themselves  the  chief  carriers  of  the  world, 
and  their  country  the  chief  depository  of  its  productions. 
■  Without  mines,  or  vineyards,  or  forests,  there  was  nowhere 
such  an  abundance  of  metals,  wines,  and  timber  as  in 
Holland  ;  and  when,  in  years  of  scarcity,  France  and  En- 
gland needed  supplies  of  corn,  "they  looked  not  to  Poland 
or  Livonia,  where  it  grew,  but  to  the  cities  of  the  Dutch, 
where  they  were  always  sure  to  find  a  ready  and  plentiful 
store."*  This  constant  abundance  amonsr  the  Dutch  grew 
out  of  their  liberal  commercial  policy.  "  The  freedom  of 
traffic,"  said  De  Witt,  "  has  ever  been  greater  with  them 

Free  Trade,  than  amoug  any  of  their  neighbors."!  "  The  low  duties 
of  these  wise  states,"  said  Raleigh,  "  draw  all  traffic  to 
them,  and  the  great  liberty  allowed  to  strangers  makes  a 
continual  mart.  And  although  the  duties  be  but  small, 
yet  the  vast  exports  and  imports  do  greatly  increase  their 
revenues,  which  vast  commerce  enables  the  common  peo- 
ple not  only  to  bear  the  burden  of  the  excises  and  imposi- 
tions laid  on  them,  but  also  to  grow  rich."t 

Universal  The  liberal  commercial  policy  of  Holland  was  accom- 
panied by  entire  freedom  in  matters  of  faith,  and  by  a 
generous  statesmanship  which  offered  a  secure  asylum  to 
strangers  of  every  race  and  creed.  This  universal  senti- 
ment of  toleration  among  the  Dutch  was  neither  a  polit- 
ical expedient,  nor  the  result  of  any  state  necessity.  "  It 
was  the  instinct,  and  habit,  and  traditional  law  of  right 
in  the  heart  of  the  nation,  the  observance  of  which  they 
could  boast,  with  honest  pride,  for  ages."^  However  much 
the  clergy  of  Holland  may  have  been  inclined  toward  sect- 
arian exclusiveness,  the  magistrates  and  the  people,  who 
made  the  laws,  were  almost  universally  liberal.  "  The 
great  care  of  this  state  has  ever  been  to  favor  no  particu- 
lar or  curious  inquisition  into  the  faith  or  religious  princi- 
ples of  any  peaceable  man  who  came  to  live  under  the 
protection  of  their  laws,  and  to  suffer  no  violence  or  op- 
pression upon  any  man's  conscience  whose  opinions  broke 

*  McCuIlagh,  ii.,  !265,  266.  t  De  Witt,  i.,  cap.  ii. 

t  Raleigli'a  Observations  to  King  James.  ^  McCuUagh,  ii.,  163. 


to.eration. 


TREEDOM  OF  THE  DUTCH  PRESS.  459 

not  out  in  expressions  or  actions  of  ill  consequence  to  the  ch.  xiii. 
state."*     Attracted  by  this  magnanimous  liberality,  fugi- 
tive  "Walloons  from  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  Lutherans  Fore.giier* 
from  Grermany,  Puritans  from  England,  Huguenots  from  ^"'■^'''*'^- 
France,  Waldenses   from   Piedmont,  and  long-persecuted 
Jews  from  Portugal,  found  in  Holland  a  cordial  welcome 
and  full  employment.     And  the  liberal-minded  Hollanders 
received  a  prompt  and  abundant  reward.     New  branches  New  moe- 
of  manufactures  were  introduced  and  established,  the  un-  estabusa- 

ed. 

rivaled  excellence  of  which  soon  commanded  the  markets 
of  the  world.  Even  English  cloths,  sent  to  Amsterdam  to 
be  dressed  and  dyed,  were  shipped  thence  to  foreign  coun- 
tries, and  sold  "by  the  name  of  Flemish  Bayes,"  said  Ra- 
leigh ;  "  so  we  lose  the  very  name  of  our  home-bred  com- 
modities."t  For  ages,  the  linens  and  the  paper  of  Hol- 
land maintained  the  highest  reputation,  and  found  a  large 
consumption  abroad.^  The  printing  of  books  early  became  Pubii<atiim 
an  important  branch  of  the  national  industry,  and  men  of 
taste  and  learning  constantly  superintended  the  press. 
The  names  of  the  Elzeviers  of  Leyden  are  still  cherished 
with  the  sincerest  respect  by  all  who  have  seen  their  ad- 
mirable editions,  which,  for  accuracy  and  beauty  of  typog- 
raphy, are  unsurpassed  by  the  publications  of  our  own  day. 
As  long  as  an  author  abstained  from  uttering  positive  li- 
bels, he  might  promulgate  whatever  opinions  he  saw  fit ; 
and  the  natural  consequence  of  the  freedom  of  the  Dutch 
press  was  the  publication  of  a  vast  number  of  books,  the 
exportation  of  which  for  a  long  time  formed  a  lucrative 
branch  of  trade.  The  Hisjh  Court  of  Holland  was  some-  Liiieny  of 
times  called  upon  to  interfere,  in  cases  of  gross  ollensc ;  but  press. 
the  plans  which  were  more  than  once  suggested  to  the 
states,  for  restricting  the  liberty  of  the  press,  were  invari- 
ably rejected.^  Thus  it  was  that  the  people  of  the  Neth- 
erlands became  prosperous  and  great. 

*  Har.  Misc.,  ii.,  600  ;  ante,  p.  102.  t  Observations  to  King  James. 

t  While  examining  the  documents  relating  to  Now  York  in  the  English  archives  at 
London,  I  observed  that  many  of  the  oiricial  dispatches  to  and  from  our  colonial  govern- 
ors, from  the  time  of  Colonel  Nicolls  down  to  the  period  of  the  Revolulion,  were  writltvn 
on  paper  bearing  the  Dntch  water-mark.  » 

i,  Wagenaar,  VaO.  Hist.,  xc.  213  ;  Davios,  iii.,  102. 


460        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1648. 

Illustrious 
men  ol'Hol- 
land. 


1 11.  XIII.  While  the  Dutch,  as  a  people,  were  distinguished  by 
talents  perhaps  more  solid  than  brilliant,  some  of  the  most 
illustrious  men  of  modern  times  were  natives  of  Holland. 
In  politics,  none  are  greater  than  Barneveldt  and  the  De 
Witns  ;  in  arms,  none  excel  Maurice  and  the  other  princes 
of  Orange  ;  in  naval  affairs,  none  surpass  Heemskerk,  and 
Heyn,  and  Tromp,  and  De  Ruyter.  Holland  was  equally 
remarkable  for  intellectual  superiority.  Her  Universi- 
ties of  Leyden,  Utrecht,  and  Groningen  produced  scholars 
equal  to  most,  and  superior  to  many.  In  the  schools  of 
divinity,  none  have  obtained  higher  distinction  than  Agric- 
ola,  Arminius,  Cocceius,  Episcopius,  Gromarus,  Junius,  or 
Witsius.  In  classical  accomplishments,  few  scholars  have 
ever  surpassed  Grronovius,  Heinsius,  Scaliger,  or  Vossius. 
In  philosophy  and  science,  the  world  has  assigned  the 
highest  place  to  Erasmus,  Grotius,  Plancius,  Huygens, 
Jansen,  and  Spinosa.  In  medicine  and  surgery,  none  have 
excelled  Boerhaave,  and  Ruysch,  and  Tulp.  Among  her 
own  sons,  Holland  has  found  worthy  historians  in  Bor, 
Brandt,  De  La»jt,  Hooft,  and  Van  Meteren.  In  lighter  lit- 
erature, also,  the  Dutch  were  not  deficient ;  and,  though 
the  propensity  of  the  people  to  rhyming  perhaps  corrupted 
the  national  taste,  the  illustrious  names  of  Cats  and  Von- 
del  are  quite  sufficient  to  rescue  from  contempt  the  poet- 
ical reputation  of  their  Fatherland. 

The  Netherlands,  too,  can  boast  of  having  produced 
some  of  the  most  eminent  artists.  There  were  born  Back- 
huysen,  Cuyp,  Gerard  Dow,  Hobbima,  Mieris,  Paul  Pot- 
ter, Rembrandt,  Jan  Steen,  Van  der  Huyden,  Vander- 
velde,  Wouvermans,  and  many  others  of  nearly  equal  ce- 
lebrity. The  visitor  at  Gouda  can  not  fail  to  render  a  trib- 
ute of  admiration  to  the  talents  of  the  brothers  Crabeth, 
who  painted  the  magnificent  glass  windows  in  the  cathe- 
dral, perhaps  among  the  finest  specimens  of  the  art  now 
existing.  The  engravers  of  Holland  have  been  among  the 
first  in  the  world ;  and  the  elaborate  pulpit  in  the  New 
Church*  at  Amsterdam  to  this  day  attests  the  eminence 

*  This  building,  though  known  as  the  "  New  Church,"  is  ro«re  than  four  centuries  old 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  DUTCH.  461 

of  her  carvers  in  wood.     The  invention  of  the  highest  of  ch.  xm. 
all  the  arts — that  of  printing — is  confidently  claimed  for 
Lawrence  John  Coster,  a  native  of  Haerlem.* 

The  Dutch  were   eminently  a  plain-spoken,  industri- character 
ous,  frugal,  charitable,  well-educated,  and  moral  people,  uutcu. 
Straight-forward  simplicity  and  boldness  of  speech  were  al- 
ways their  peculiar  characteristics.     Their  blunt  frankness  Frankness 
constantly  drew  upon  them  the  satire  of  the  rest  of  Eu- 
rope.    In  the  meanness  of  his  sycophancy  to  an  ungrate- 
ful king,  the  bitterest  couplet  that  Dryden  could  write 
about  them  was 

"  Well  may  they  boast  themselves  an  ancient  nation  ; 
For  they  were  bred  ere  manners  were  in  fashion." 

Party  spirit  ran  high  in  Holland,  as  it  ever  will  run  high  Party 
in  countries  where  the  expression  of  opinion  is  unrestrain- 
ed by  arbitrary  laws  and  sectarian  despotism.  From  the 
time  of  the  famous  factions  of  the  "  Hoeks"  and  the  "  Kab- 
beljaus,"t  the  country  was  never  free  from  political  con- 
tentions. But  these  disagreements,  though  sometimes 
pushed  into  popular  excesses,  so  far  from  retarding,  stead- 
ily accelerated  the  cause  of  civil  liberty,  by  interesting 
the  minds  of  the  masses  of  the  people.  The  intelligent 
Temple,  travelling,  incognito,  to  the  Hague,  in  1667,  re- 
marked, that  the  chief  pleasure  he  had,  was  "  to  observe 
the  strange  freedom  that  all  men  took,  in  boats,  and  inns, 
and  all  other  common  places,  of  talking  openly  whatever 
they  thought  upon  all  public  affairs."! 

To  proverbial  industry,  the  Dutch  united  habits  of  thrift  Fcononr 
and  economy.     These   habits,  in  connection  with  therity. 
large  commercial  resources,  enabled  them  to  sustain  with 

It  was  founded  in  1408.    The  "Oude  Kerk,"  or  Cathedral  of  Saint  Nicholas   was-  mi   i 
before  the  year  1300.  *  Davies,  ii.,  665-669  ;  McCullagh,  ii.,  ahT-JK '. 

t  These  whimsical  names  are  said  to  have  originated,  about  the  year  1346,  in  a  uis^uts 
at  a  feast,  whether  the  codfish  (Kabbeljau)  took  the  hook,  or  the  hook  took  the  coilli^li. 
Graver  history,  however,  alleges  that  these  household  words  among  the  Diitcti  ivHv 
marked  their  independent  spirit.  The  nobles  who  attempted  oppression  were  i;i)iii|Mro.l 
to  the  codfish,  which  devours  the  smaller  fry  ;  while  the  people  were  likened  to  the  iionV, 
because,  though  apparently  insignificant,  it  can  master  the  all-devouring  cod.  Whatever 
may  have  been  their  actual  origin,  these  names  continued,  for  nearly  two  centuries,  to 
distinguish  those  rival  parties,  the  feuds  of  which,  while  they  temporarily  djstraolcd  Hol- 
land, gave  the  Dutch  that  habit  of  free  thought  and  action  which  has  always  characti;ri/.eJ 
the  nation.  t  Temple's  Works,  i.,  abij. 


462        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIII.  ease  the  enormous  public  expenses,  which  in  some  years 
amounted  to  three  times  the  value  of  the  whole  produce 
■  of  the  land.*  The  direct  taxes  and  excises,  which  con- 
stituted the  chief  revenues  of  Holland,  were  willingly  paid, 
because  there  was  no  suspicion  that  they  were  misapplied. 
"  No  great  riches,"  says  Temple,  "  are  seen  to  enter  by 
public  payments  into  private  purses,  either  to  raise  fami- 
lies, or  to  feed  the  prodigal  expenses  of  vain,  extravagant, 
and  luxurious  men ;  but  all  public  moneys  are  applied  to 
the  safety,  greatness,  or  honor  of  the  state."!  Among 
Hollanders,  it  was  always  a  cardinal  principle  to  live  with- 
in one's  income.  "  Every  man  spent  less  than  he  had 
coming  in,  be  that  what  it  would  ;  and  he  would  be 
thought  to  have  lived  a  year  to  no  purpose  who  had  not 
realized  a  sum  to  lay  by  at  the  end  of  it."l 

Yet,  with  all  their  economy  and  thrift,  the  Dutch  were 
neither  mean  nor  sordid.     Their  houses  were  richly  fur- 
nished with  pictures,  and  fine  linen,  and  carved  work,  and 
plate  ;  and  an  overflowing  hospitality  always  distinguish- 
Hospitaiity  gd  their  kind-hearted  and  liberal  inhabitants.     Their  be- 

aiiu  benev- 
olence,      ncvolence  was   expansive ;    among   civilized   nations  the 

Dutch  early  obtained  celebrity  for  their  kindness  to  the 
poor.     The  wealth  which  their  industry  gained  was  lib- 
erally expended  in  acts  of  humanity  and  charity.     The 
thrifty  habits  of  the  working  classes  generally  enabled 
them  to  support  themselves   in  independence.     But  the 
sick,  and  aged,  and  poor,  were  always  sure  of  finding  com- 
fortable asylums  provided  for  them  by  the  large  benevo- 
lence of  their  more  opulent  countrymen.     The  orphan  was 
protected  and  reared,  and  the  soldiers  and  the  sailors,  who 
won  the  laurels  of  Holland,  were  never  forgotten, 
bbriy  es         Neither  the  perils  of  war,  nor  the  busy  pursuit  of  gain, 
ment  of      nor  the  excitement  of  political  strife,  ever  caused  the  Dutch 
sehoois._    to  neglect  the  duty  of  educating  their  offspring  to  enjoy 
looo    ^i^j^^.  f].gg(jofn  foj.  which  their  fathers  had  fought.     Schools 
were  every  where  provided,  at  the  public  expense,  with 
rood  schoolmasters,  to  instruct  the  children  of  all  classes 

*  IIol.  Mer.,  1685,  p.  107.  t  Observations,  136.  t  Ibid.,  p.  158 


MORAL  QUALITIES  OF  THE  DUTCH.  463 

in  the  usual  branches  of  education;  and  the  consistories  of  ch.  xni. 
the  churches  took  zealous  care  to  have  their  youth  thor- 
oughly  taught  the  Catechism  and  the  Articles  of  Religion.* 
The  purity  of  morals  and  decorum  of  manners,  for 
which  the  Dutch  have  always  been  conspicuous,  may, 
perhaps,  be  most  justly  ascribed  to  the  happy  influence 
of  their  women.      The   empire  which  the   sex  obtained  influence  or 

1  •    1       1      •     1  ^^^  Dutch 

was  no  greater  than  that  which  their  beauty,  good  sense,  women, 
virtue,  and  devotion  well  entitled  them  to  hold.t  They 
mingled  in  all  the  active  affairs  of  life,  and  were  always 
consulted  with  deferential  respect.  Their  habits  of  busi- 
ness enabled  them  to  manage,  with  skill  and  advantage, 
the  interests  which  their  husbands  confidently  intrusted 
to  their  care.  They  loved  their  homes  and  their  firesides, 
but  they  loved  their  country  more.  Through  all  their  toils 
and  struggles,  the  calm  fortitude  of  the  men  of  Holland 
was  nobly  encouraged  and  sustained  by  the  earnest  and 
undaunted  spirit  of  their  mothers  and  wives.l 

Of  all  the  moral  qualities  which  distinguished  the  Dutch,  iionesty  of 

1  •    1       1      •  •  j^-  •      i      1  .,     the  Dutch. 

and  to  which  their  prosperity  as  a  nation  is  to  be  attrib- 
uted, perhaps  the  most  remarkable  was  their  honesty.  In 
their  darkest  hour  of  trial,  none  doubted  their  national 
credit.  The  interest  on  their  loans  was  punctually  paid. 
'I  heir  word  was  always  faithfully  kept,  and  the  spirit  of 
commerce,  "  honoring  the  people  of  whom  it  had  honor," 
won  for  them  the  confidence  of  the  world.  The  very  year 
the  truce  with  Spain  was  signed,  the  Bank  of  Amsterdam 
was  established  on  the  basis  of  so  high  a  credit  as,  by  de- 
grees, to  attract  to  its  coffers  a  large  portion  of  the  wealth 
of  Europe.  The  Dutch  soon  became  the  cashiers  of  the 
Old  World  ;  and  the  nation,  which  had  been  trained  to  la- 
bor and  to  liberty  in  the  same  school  of  experience,  gath- 
ered the  substantial  rewards  of  integrity.  Their  high- 
minded  and  punctilious  honesty,  which  "  shamed  out  of 
countenance  the  poor  prejudices  of  their  age,"§  became  a 
proverb  abroad,  as  their  commerce  expanded  over  every 

*  Davies,  ii.,  202  ;  Decrees  of  Synod  of  1586,  art.  17-19.    The  states  of  Friesland  es 
ahlished  the  College  of  Franeker,  in  1585,  upon  the  free  principle. 
t  Beaumarchais,  Let.  Pur  IIol.,  25.  t  Daries,  i.,  487  ;  iii.,  381,  (>  Vcrplanck. 


464        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIII.  sea,  and  wealth  flowed  back  upon  them  in  a  ceaseless 
tide.  At  home,  their  counsels,  guided  by  good  faith  and 
'  mutual  confidence,  bound  all  ranks  together  by  the  stron- 
gest ties,  and  secured  their  well-deserved  prosperity. 
Firmness  With  integrity,  the  Dutch  possessed  the  no  less  striking 
characteristic  of  firmness.  Nature  early  taught  them  that 
the  very  existence  of  their  country  depended  on  their  sleep- 
less vigilance  and  ceaseless  toil ;  and  from  sire  to  son  the 
hereditary  lesson  was  constantly  repeated.  The  dikes 
which  kept  the  ocean  off"  their  swampy  soil  were  not  more 
firm  than  the  will  of  the  men  who  built  them,  and  of  the 
posterity  which  kept  them  in  repair.  They  calmly  meas- 
ured their  strength  against  their  task,  and  what  they  calm- 
ly undertook  they  as  resolutely  accomplished.  And  they 
were  as  modest  as  they  were  undaunted.  In  prosperity 
and  in  adversity,  in  sunshine  and  in  storm,  they  pursued 
their  purposes  with  steadfast  constancy ;  and  animated  by 
a  determination  which  no  obstacles  could  discourage  and 
no  dangers  dismay,  "  they  acquired  power  in  the  struggle 
for  existence,  and  wealth  under  the  weight  of  taxation."* 
tncorrupti  Houcst  and  firm,  the  Dutch  were  universally  patriotic 
ism.  and  incorruptible.  Their  country  was  identified  with 
themselves  ;  her  glory,  her  honor,  her  greatness  was  their 
own.  An  ardent  love  of  that  country  was  one  of  their  most 
distinctive  traits.  "The  Fatherland"  —  that  delightful 
word — always  awakened  the  most  dear  and  cherished 
associations,  the  most  tender  and  sacred  feelings.  And 
thus  the  Dutch,  loving  their  own  land  above  all  other  lands, 
were  universally  incorruptible.  During  all  the  long  war 
with  Spain,  not  a  solitary  traitor  was  found  to  barter  his 
country  for  gold ;  and  the  most  successful  among  the  ad- 
mirals of  Holland  added  enormous  wealth  to  her  treasury 
without  soliciting  the  smallest  portion  for  his  own  reward.t 
Such  was  the  Batavian  Republic,  and  such  were  the 
people  who  made  their  Fatherland  prosperous,  great,  and 
respected.  The  descendants  of  such  an  ancestry  laid  the 
foundations  of  New  York. 

*  Gouverneur  Morris.  t  Daries,  ii.,  657  ;  ante,  p.  184. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GExXERAL.  465 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
1647-1648. 
Well  misrht  Peter  Stuvvesant  describe  New  Nether- 


land  as  in  a  "low  condition"  on  his  arrival.     Excepting    ^ntj 
the  Long  Island  settlements,  scarcely  fifty  bouweries  could  com- 
be counted ;  and  the  whole  province  could  not  furnish,  at  of  stioVe" 
the  utmost,  more  than  three  hundred  men  capable  of  bear-  minis%V 
ing  arms.     The  savages  were  still  brooding  over  the  loss 
of  sixteen  hundred  of  their  people.     Disorder  and  discon- 
tent prevailed  among  the  commonalty  ;  the  public  revenue 
was  in  arrear,  and  smuggling  had  almost  ruined  legiti- 
mate trade  ;  conflicting  claims  of  jurisdiction  were  to  be 
settled  with  the  colonial  patroons  ;  and  jealous  neighbors 
all  around  threatened  the  actual  dismemberment  of  the 
province.     Protests  had  been  of  no  avail ;  and  the  deci- 
mated population,  which  had  hardly  been  able  to  protect 
itself  against  the  irritated  savages,  could  offer  but  a  feeble 
resistance  to  the  progress   of  European   encroachment.* 
Under  such  embarrassing  circumstances,  the  last  director 
general  of  New  Netherland  began  his  eventful  government,  a:  May. 

The  arrival  of  Kieft's  successor  was  joyfully  hailed  by 
the  people  as  their  deliverance  from  a  terrible  evil.  But  stuyve- 
the  new  director's  supercilious  bearing  soon  indicated  the  haughti- 
character  of  his  future  government.  His  first  coming 
"  was  like  a  peacock's,  with  great  state  and  pomp."  Some 
of  the  principal  inhabitants  going  to  welcome  him,  were  left 
to  wait,  "for  several  hours,  bareheaded,"  while  Stuyvesant 
himself  remained  covered,  "as  if  he  was  the  Czar  of  Mus- 
covy." When  he  took  the  direction  from  his  predecessor, 
the  whole  community  was  called  together  to  witness  the 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  xi.,  213  ;  Breeden  Raedt,  19  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  i.,  689  ;  iv.,  105. 


ness. 


Occur 
reiices  at 
liis  inaugu 
rutioi:. 


466  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIV.  ceremony.     Kieft  began  by  thanking  the  people  for  their 
fidelity  to  him,  "which  he  much  exaggerated,  in  hopes 
^^yj.        that  the  commonalty  would  unanimously  have  thanked 
him."     But  Kuyter  and  Melyn,  both  members  of  the  board 
of  "  Eight  Men,"  and  several  others,  spoke  out  boldly  that 
"  they  would  not  thank  him,  as  they  had  no  reason  to  do 
so."    Stuyvesant  "under  the  blue  heavens  loudly  declared 
that  every  one  should  have  justice  done  to  him."     The  as- 
surance gladdened  the  commonalty ;  nevertheless,  their  di- 
rector's haughty  carriage  "  caused  some  to  think  that  he 
would  not  be  a  father."* 
organi7.a-       "Wliatcvcr  Stuyvcsant  did,  he  did  vigorously.     His  first 
council,     care  was  to  organize  his  council,  which  consisted  of  Van 
Dincklagen,  the  vice-director.  Van  Dyck,  the  fiscal,  Com- 
missary Keyser,  and  Captain  Bryan  Newton,  besides  the 
experienced  La  Montagne,  who  was  retained  as  a  coun- 
selor, and  Van  Tienhoven  as  provincial  secretary.    Paulus 
Leendertsen  van  der  G-rist  was  appointed  "equipage  mas- 
ter ;"  and  Baxter,  who  had  served  as  English  secretary 
28  June,     siucc  1642,  was  continued  in  that  post,  as  none  of  the  com- 
pany's officers  "could  tolerably  read  or  write  the  English 
language." 
31  May.  Proclamations  were  immediately  issued  with  a  zeal  and 

uratio*ns!°  rapidity  which  promised  to  work  a  "thorough  reforma- 
tion."   Sabbath-breaking,  brawling,  and  drunkenness  were 
forbidden.    Publicans  were  restrained  from  selling  liquors, 
except  to  travellers,  before  two  o'clock  on  Sundays,  "when 
there  is  no  preaching,"  and  after  nine  o'clock  in  the  even- 
1  July.       ing.     To  the  savages  no  liquor  was  to  be  sold  at  any 
time.     The  revenue,  which  had  been  greatly  defrauded  by 
the  smuggling  of  furs  to  New  England  and  Virginia,  for 
shipment  thence  to  England,  and  by  the  introduction  of 
foreign  merchandise  in  vessels  which  ran  past  Fort  Am- 
sterdam during  the  night,  was  protected  by  stringent  reg- 
t  July.       ulations,  which  soon  excited  a  violent  opposition.     All  ves- 
^^evenue     ^^^^  were  required  to  anchor  under  the  guns  of  the  fort, 

*  Vertoogh  van  N.  N.,  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  :i    308  ;  Breeden  Kaedt,  27,  26  ;  Doc. 
Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  108,  109;  ante,  p.  433 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  4(57 

near  the  "  hand-board,"  which  was  erected  on  the  water-  ch.  xiv 
side.     Further  to  replenish  the  treasury,  an  excise  duty 
was  now,  for  the  first  time,  levied  on  wines  and  liquors,  wineex- 
The  people,  who  had  looked  for  the  abolition  of  Kieft's  ob-  *^'^^- 
noxious  beer-excise,  murmured  at  the  new  imposition.    It 
was  "like  the  crowning  of  Rehoboam;"  if  their  yoke  was 
heavy  under  Kieft,  it  was  still  heavier  under  Stuyvesant. 
The  export  duties  on  peltries  were  increased  and  regula- 
ted.    The  outstanding  tenths  due  from  the  impoverished  23  ju^ 
farmers  were  called  in ;  but  a  year's  grace  for  the  pay- 
ment was  allowed  them,  in  consideration  of  their  losses  by 
the  war.     Still  further  to  aid  the  revenue,  two  of  the  com- 
pany's yachts  were  ordered  to  cruise  in  the  West  Indies, 
and  capture,  if  possible,  some  of  the  rich  galleons  return- 
ing to  Spain.     The  Court  of  Justice  was  also  organized  by  court  01 
the  appointment  of  Van  Dincklagen  as  presiding  judge  ; 
but  the  director  required  that  his  opinion  should  be  asked 
in  all  important  cases,  and  reserved  the  right  to  preside  in 
person  whenever  he  should  think  fit.     The  municipal  af- 
fairs of  Manhattan  were  also  attended  to.     At  this  time 
its  aspect  was  unattractive  ;  fences  were  straggling  ;  the 
public  ways  crooked,  and  many  of  the  houses  encroached 
on  the  lines  of  the  streets.    Proprietors  of  vacant  lots  were,  25  .luiy. 
therefore,  directed  to  improve  them  \vithin  nine  months ;  reg'uiat'ilns 
and  Van  Dincklagen,  Van  der  Grist,  and  Van  Tienhoven  Amst'er- 
were  appointed  the  first  "  surveyors  of  buildings,"  to  reg- 
ulate the  erection  of  new  houses  "  within  or  around  the 
city  of  New  Amsterdam."* 

Stuyvesant,  who  was  a  devout  member  of  the  Reform- 
ed Church  of  the  Fatherland,  and  firmly  attached  to  its 
doctrines  and  discipline,  soon  became  a  member  of  the  church  m 

^  '  Fort  Am- 

consistory  of  the  church  at  Fort  Amsterdam.     The  build-  s^rdam. 
ing  was  still  unfinished  ;  and  the  director,  as  an  elder  and 
church-master,  in  association  with  Jan  Jansen  Dam  and 
another  colleague,  undertook  to  complete  the  work  in  the 
course  of  the  next  winter.     Bogardus,  whose  difficulties 

*  Alb.  Rec,  vil.,  3-61,  290-297  ;  New  Amsterdam  Records,  i.,  1-7  ;  Vertoogh,  ut  sup., 
295,  296,  304-308,  O'Call.,  ii.,  21-24;  Dunlap,  ii.,  App.  xxiv.,  xxv. ;  ante,  p.  394  ;  App. 
Note  Q. 


468        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIV.  with  Kieft  had  produced  disaffection  in  the  congregation, 

~~~~       and  had  become  the  subject  of  remark  in  the  Classis  of 

1  n4-7 
22  July.     Amsterdam,  now  resigned  his  charge,  with  a  view  of  pro- 
ceeding to  Holland  to  meet  his  ecclesiastical  superiors. 
Bogardus    Johaunes  Backerus,  formerly  the  clergyman  at  Cura^oa, 
by  Backe-  and  who  had  accompanied  Stuyvesant  to  New  Netherland, 
was  installed  as  the  successor  of  Bogardus,  at  a  yearly 
salary  of  fourteen  hundred  guilders.* 
Temper  of       Tlic  inherent  sentiment  of  popular  freedom,  which  had 
and  of  their  exhibited  its  power  during  Kieft's  unquiet  government, 
moved  the  commonalty  throughout  Stuyvesant's  more  ar- 
bitrary administration.     His  military  training  made  him 
imperious  in  his  ideas  of  government.     He  looked  upon 
himself  as  almost  supreme  in  the  far-off  province.    All  at- 
tempts of  the  people  to  limit  and  restrain  the  abuse  of  his 
delegated  authority  he  resisted  with  characteristic  vigor 
and  resolution.     On  the  other  hand,  the  colonists  were  con- 
stantly endeavoring  to  obtain  for  themselves  the  franchises 
and  freedoms  of  their  Fatherland.    Affectionately  loyal  to 
the  government  of  their  native  country,  they  felt  that  a 
participation  in  the  liberties  which  their  brethren  enjoyed 
in  Holland  was  their  own  birth-right  in  New  Netherland. 
Kieft's  offi-      The  contest  between  the  prerogative  of  the  provincial 
duct  ar-     govcmment  and  the  popular  sentiment  of  the  commonalty 
was  reopened  soon  after  Stuyvesant  was  installed  ;  and 
Kieft's  reckless  administration  was  made  the  subject  of  a 
formal  complaint  to  his  successor.     Kuyter  and  Melyn, 
who  had  openly  refused  to  join  in  a  vote  of  thanks  to  their 
late  director,  now  petitioned  that  the  members  of  his  coun- 
cil should  be  examined  on  searching  interrogatories,  which 
embraced  the  whole  provincial  policy  from  the  imposition 
of  the  Indian  tribute  in  1639.     The  evidence  thus  obtain- 
ed they  proposed  to  use  with  effect  in  Holland. 
stuyvesant      Stuyvcsaut  iustautly  took  the  alarm.     If  the  adminis- 
Kieft.  '     tration  of  Kieft  were  now  to  be  judged  at  the  demand  of 
the  people,  his  own  acts  might  have  to  pass  the  same  or- 

*  Corr.  01.  Amst. ;  Alb.  Rec.,  vii.,  55 ;  Rev.  Dr.  De  Witt,  in  Proc.  N.  Y.  H.  S.,  1844, 
60,  61,  "4  ;  Breeden  Raedt,  ut  sup. ;  Moulton's  N.  Y.  in  1673,  19  ;  Vertoogh  vaD  N  N.. 
V09i  aVe,  p.  418. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  469 

deal.  The  precedent  would  be  dangerous  ;  the  preroga-  ch.  xiv. 
tive  of  the  directorship  must  be  sustained.  He  therefore 
"  chose  the  side  of  Kieft ;"  and  looked  upon  Kuyter  and 
Melyn,  not  as  members  of  the  former  board  of  Eight  Men, 
but  simply  as  "  private  persons."  Convening  a  special 
council,  Stuyvesant,  without  waiting  for  the  advice  of  his 
associates,  announced  his  authoritative  opinion.  The  pe- 14  June 
titioners  had  not  shown  that  they  were  "  solicited  by  the 
citizens  at  large"  to  propose  the  examination  of  the  late 
director  and  his  council,  by  whom  they  had  been  consid- 
ered "  disturbers  of  the  public  peace  and  tranquillity." 
"  If  this  point  be  conceded,  will  not  these  cunning  fellows, 
in  order  to  usurp  over  us  a  more  unlimited  power,  claim 
and  assvime,  in  consequence,  even  greater  authority  against 
ourselves  and  our  commission,  should  it  happen  that  our 
administration  may  not  square  in  every  respect  with  their 
whims  ?"  The  officers  of  the  provincial  government  should 
not  be  obliged  to  disclose  the  secret  instructions  of  the 
West  India  Company  on  the  demand  of  two  private  indi- 
viduals. In  the  opinion  of  the  director,  "  it  was  treason 
to  petition  against  one's  magistrates,  whether  there  was 
cause  or  not."  Stuyvesant's  decided  tone  swayed  the  compiaim, 
opinions  of  his  compliant  council,  and  the  petition  of  the 
two  "  malignant  subjects"  was  rejected. 

It  was  only  natural  that  the  unsuccessful  petitioners 
should  pay  the  penalty  of  their  temerity.  Instead  of  Kieft 
and  his  council,  Kuyter  and  Melyn  were  now  ordered  to 
be  examined  as  to  the  origin  of  the  Indian  war  ;  and  they 
were  required  to  name  its  authors,  and  state  whether  their 
own  demand  for  an  investigation  had  been  authorized  by 
the  home  or  provincial  governments,  or  by  the  commonalty 
at  large.  If  so,  Kieft's  instructions  and  dispatches  might 
be  communicated  to  them ;  if  not,  the  accused  must  be 
sent  to  Holland  with  the  recalled  director,  whom  they  had 
inculpated,  to  make  good  their  complaints  before  the  States 
General. 

This  decision  was  a  triumph  for  Kieft.  Finding  that 
his  successor  was  alreaJy  prepossessed  against  Kuyter  and 


470  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

On.  XIV.  Melyn,  lie  determined  to  gratify  his  personal  revenge,  and 

accused  them  before  Stuy vesant  of  being  the  authors  of 
1647 
18  June,     the  memorial  of  the  28th  of  October,  1644,  which  the  Eight 

MeiynVc-*^  Mcu  had  addrcsscd  to  the  College  of  the  XIX.,  a  copy  of 
Kieff.''^    which  the  directors  had  sent  to  him,  "that  he  might  see 
his  impeachment,  and  purge  himself;  but  without  any 
authority  to  molest  the  signers  of  the  letter  on  that  ac- 
count."    That  letter,  he  now  charged,  was  false  and  ca- 
lumnious, and  prepared  and  dispatched  clandestinely ;  and 
he  alleged  that  the  majority  of  its  signers  had  been  ca- 
joled into  statements  tending  to  bring  their  magistrates 
into  contempt.     The  authors  should  be  compelled  to  pro- 
duce copies  of  all  their  letters  to  the  West  India  Company, 
and  should  be  banished  "  as  pestilent  and  seditious  per- 
sons."    Kieft's  application  was  granted,  and  Kuyter  and 
Melyn  were  ordered  to  answer  in  forty-eight  hours. 
•22  June.          Li  their  defense,  the  accused  produced  evidence  to  sus- 
Kuyter  and  tain  their  charges  against  Kie ft,  toward  whom  they  de- 

M  6l  V"  n . 

clared  they  had  no  vindictive  feelings.  In  the  heat  of  war 
they  had  indeed  complained  to  the  West  India  Company, 
"but  not  to  strangers,  nor  to  the  enemies  of  the  United 
Provinces."  Between  forty  and  fifty  bouweries  had  been 
destroyed  during  the  hostilities  with  the  Indians,  and  it 
was  only  right  that  a  searching  inquiry  should  now  be 
made.  They  had  used  no  deception  toward  any  of  the 
Eight  Men,  or  any  of  the  commonalty.  They  were  will- 
ing to  go  to  Holland,  not  as  "pestilent  and  seditious"  per- 
sons, but  as  good  patriots,  who  by  the  war  had  lost  all  that 
they  had  possessed  in  New  Netherland.  The  four  surviv- 
ors of  the  Eight  Men,  who  had  jointly  signed  the  letters, 
should  nevertheless  accompany  them,  to  verify  their  com- 
plaints before  the  States  General. 
4  July.  In  Stuyvesant's  judgment,  the  frank  answers  of  the  ac- 

dictm'ent  ofcuscd  Only  aggravated  their  offense ;  and  Fiscal  Van  Dyck 
cused.       ^vas  ordered  to  prosecute  them  vigorously.     But  the  indict- 
ment which  he  prepared  was  thought  so  imperfect,  that  the 
director  and  council  determined  to  act  as  both  prosecutors 
i:  July,      and  judges.     Melyn  was  accordingly  charged  with  rebell 


1647 


PETER   STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  47I 

ious  conduct ;  with  having  endeavored  to  entice  the  com-  ch.  xiv. 
pany's  servants  away  from  their  employment ;  and  with ' 
having  deprived  the  Indians,  before  the  war,  of  a  part  of 
their  lands.  Kuyter  was  accused  of  counseling  treachery 
toward  the  savages ;  of  urging  the  mortgage  of  Manhat- 
tan to  the  English;  and  of  having  threatened  Kieft  with 
personal  violence,  when  he  should  "take  off  the  coat  with 
which  he  had  been  bedecked  by  the  Lords  his  Masters." 
Both  Melyn  and  Kuyter  were  charged  with  having  fraud- 
ulently procured  the  signatures  of  the  Eight  Men  to  the 
"  calumnious  and  scandalous"  letter  of  the  twenty-eighth 
of  October,  1644,  which  it  was  also  alleged  the  common- 
alty had  not  authorized  them  to  write. 

These  charges  were  fully  answered  by  the  accused ;  and  16  Juiy. 
Kuyter  for  himself  maintained  that,  as  a  member  of  the  Kuyter^nd 
board  of  Eight  Men,  he  had,  in  good  faith,  advised  the    '^^"' 
pledging  of  Manhattan  to  the  English,  as  a  measure  of 
necessity.    In  a  few  days  the  prejudged  case  was  decided, 
and  sentence  pronounced.     Stuyvesant  wished  Melyn  to 
be  punished  with  death,  and  the  confiscation  of  his  prop- 
erty; and  Kuyter  to  be  subjected  to  an  "arbitrary  correc- 
tion," and  pay  a  fine  of  three  hundred  guilders.     But  the  25  Juiy. 
majority  of  the  council  modified  the  director's  severe  opin- 
ion ;  and  Melyn  was  sentenced  to  seven  years'  banish-  Their  con- 
ment,  to  pay  a  fine  of  three  hundred  guilders,  and  "to  for- lemence" 
feit  all  benefits  derived  from  the  company ;"  while  Kuyter 
was  sentenced  to  three  years'  banishment,  and  to  pay  a 
fine  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  guilders.     One  third  of  both 
fines  was  to  be  given  to  the  poor,  one  third  to  the  Church, 
and  one  third  to  the  fiscal.     It  was  alleged  that  Melyn 
was  accused  more  bitterly,  and  punished  more  severely 
than  Kuyter,  "  because  Kieft  had  formerly  flattered  him- 
self that  he  should  have  a  part  with  him  in  Staten  Island, 
and  finding  himself  deceived,  he  had  been  obliged  to  make 
other  conditions  with  other  persons."* 

The  right  of  appeal  to  the  Fatherland,  which  Kieft  had 

'  Alb.  Roc,  vii.,  9-17,  34-67 ;  IIol.  Doc,  iii.,  184-205  ;  v.,  3\  ;  Brceden  Raedt,  28,  29; 
O'Call.,  ii.,  24-34  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  V.,  iv.,  109,  110;  Vertoogh,  308;  ante,  p.  397-400,  416. 


472  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIV.  denied  to  Doughty  and  to  Van  Hardenburg,  was  now  again 
openly  denied  by  Stuyvesant.    "  If  I  were  persuaded,"  said 
Right  of '  th®  director,  addressing  Melyn,  "that  you  would  divulge 
nfidto*^^'  o"'*  sentence,  or  bring  it  before  their  High  Mightinesses,  I 
^ipi.^n.      would  have  you  hanged  at  once  on  the  highest  tree  in  New 
Netherland."     Not  long  afterward,  upon  leaving  the  Par- 
sonage house,  where  he  had  been  attending  a  meeting  of 
Van  Tiar-    the  consistory,  Stuyvesant  interrupting  Van  Hardenburg, 
who  was  relating  Kieft's  proceedings  in  his  case,  openly 
declared,  "If  any  one,  during  my  administration,  shall  ap- 
peal, I  will  make  him  a  foot  shorter,  and  send  the  pieces 
Doughty,    to  Holland,  and  let  him  appeal  in  that  way."     Doughty, 
too,  was  again  made  to  feel  the  abuse  of  provincial  au- 
thority.     His  petition  to  be  allowed  to  return  to  Europe 
was  at  first  denied,  and  he  was  "threatened  with  this  and 
that."     He  was  finally  permitted  to  depart,  "  provided  he 
gave  a  promise  under  his  hand  that  he  would  not,  in  any 
place  to  which  he  might  come,  speak  or  complain  of  what 
had  befallen  him,  here  in  New  Netherland,  from  Directors 
Kieft  or  Stuyvesant."* 
16  August.       Elated  with  his  full  measure  of  personal  revenge,  Kieft 
barks  for    embarked  for  Holland  a  few  weeks  afterward  in  the  ship 

Holland.  .  .  .,,.  .  -,  •  ^         r 

rrmcess,  carrying  with  him  specimens  ot  the  mmerals  oi 
New  Netherland,  and  "  a  fortune,"  which  his  enemies  es- 
timated at  four  hundred  thousand  guilders.  Domine  Bo- 
gardus,  and  Van  der  Huygens,  the  late  fiscal,  were  his 
fellow-passengers  in  the  richly-laden  ship,  on  board  which 
Kuyter  and  Melyn  were  also  brought  "  like  criminals." 
But  the  "man  of  blood"  never  revisited  the  Fatherland. 
Within  four  years,  De  Vries's  parting  malediction  was  ter- 
ribly fulfilled.  The  Princess,  navigated  by  mistake  into 
27  Sept.  the  Bristol  Channel,  struck  upon  a  rock,  and  was  wrecked 
.pwrec  .  ^^  ^^^  rugged  coast  of  Wales.  Seeing  death  at  hand, 
Kieft's  conscience  smote  him,  and  turning  toward  Kuyter 
and  Melyn,  he  said,  "  Friends,  I  have  been  unjust  toward 
you — can  you  forgive  me  ?"  Toward  morning,  the  ship 
went  to  pieces.    Kieft,  and  "  eighty  other  persons,"  includ- 

*  Vertoogh,  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  309,  310  ;  Dreeden  Raedt,  30 ;  ante,  p.  4P 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  47;^ 

ing  Bogardus,  Van  der  Huygens,  and  a  son  of  Melyn,  were  ch.  xiv. 
drowned.    Of  all  on  board,  only  twenty  were  saved.    Kuy- 
ter,  clinging  to  a  part  of  the  wreck  on  which  stood  a  can-  ^j^gg  i^^j 
non,  was  thrown  on  shore  "  to  the  great  astonishment  of 
the  English,  who  crowded  the  strand  by  thousands,  and 
who  set  up  the  piece  of  ordnance  as  a  lasting  memorial." 
Melyn,  floating  on  his  back,  was  driven  on  a  sand-bank,  Escape  of 
from  which  he  reached  the  main  land  in  safety.     As  both  Meij  n. 
Kuy  ter  and  Melyn  "were  more  concerned  for  their  papers 
than  for  any  thing  else,"  they  caused  them  to  be  dragged 
for ;  and  on  the  third  day,  Kuyter  succeeded  in  recover- 
ing a  small  box  of  them,  which  he  carried  to  Holland. 
Kieft's  retributive  fate  produced  no  sympathy  in  the  prov- 
ince he  had  misgoverned ;  and  when  intelligence  of  the 
sad  calamity  reached  New  England,  it  was  considered  to 
be  "an  observable  hand  of  Grod  against  the  Dutch  at  New 
Netherland,"  and  a  special  mark  of  the  Lord's  "  favor  to 
his  poor  people  here,  and  displeasure  toward  such  as  have 
opposed  and  injured  them."* 

The  grand  principle  of  "  taxation  only  by*  consent," 
which  the  Fatherland  had  maintained  since  1477,  was 
now  to  be  recognized,  to  a  limited  extent,  by  the  provin- 
cial government  of  New  Netherland.     According  to  his  in- 
structions, the  director  was  bound  to  "  use  dispatch  in  the 
repairs  of  Fort  Amsterdam  ;"  and  as  the  company's  rev- 
enue was  embarrassed,  the  colonists  themselves  were  to  be 
"  induced  to  aid  in  the  work."     Trouble,  too,  was  appre- 
hended with  the  neighboring  savage  tribes,  whose  prom- 
ised presents  remained  in  arrear.    But  the  provincial  treas- 
ury was  "  actually  unprovided  with  money  or  goods,"  and  Popular 
the  people  were  unwilling  to  be  taxed  without  their  own  tToTde-"'* 
consent.     In  this  exigency,  Stuyvesant,  distrusting  "  the  26''.\ugust 
wavering  multitude,  ready  to  censure  him  if  war  should 
break  out,"t  demanded  the  advice  of  his  council. 

Necessity  produced  concession,  and  prerogative  yielded 
to   popular  rights.     The   council  recommended  that  the 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  1,  4,  11  ;  Breeden  Raedt,  30,  31  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  Ill,  112;  Van 
der  Donck's  N.  N.,  p.  30,  and  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  162;  Winthrop,  ii.,  316;  D« 
Vrie«,  183  ;  ante,  p.  266,  371.  t  Alb.  Rec,  vii.,  73  ;  ante,  p.  192,  437. 


474        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIV.  principle  of  representation  should  be  conceded  to  the  peo- 
pie.     Stuyvesant  assented ;  and  an  election  was  ordered 

Concession**^  bc  held,  at  which  the  inhabitants  of  Manhattan,  Breuck- 

sanl'"^^*^  elen,  Amersfoort,  and  Pavonia  chose  eighteen  "of  the  most 
notable,  reasonable,  honest,  and  respectable"  persons  among 
themselves ;  from  whom,  "as  is  customary  in  the  Father- 
land," the  director  and  council  were  to  select  Nine  Men, 
to  advise  and  assist,  when  called  upon,  in  promoting  the 
welfare  of  the  province  at  large. 

In  a  few  days,  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  Nine  Men 
were  defined  in  a  proclamation  by  the  council.  Stuyve- 
sant was  reluctant  to  yield  at  all  to  the  people  ;  the  con- 
cessions to  which  he  finally  assented  were  jealously  lim- 
ited and  guarded.  Yet  the  cause  of  popular  rights  gained 
largely.  Under  Kieft,  the  Twelve  Men,  and  afterward  the 
Eight  Men,  had  possessed  scarcely  any  influence,  and  had 
been  treated  with  scarcely  any  respect.  Under  Stuyve- 
sant, the  Nine  Men  were  to  form  an  important  element  in 
the  provincial  administration.     The  proclamation,  which 

25  Sept.  may,  perhaps,  be  regarded  as  in  some  sort  a  charter  of 
popular  rights,  while  it  declared  that  nothing  was  more 
desirable  than  that  New  Netherland,  "  and  principally 
New  Amsterdam,  our  capital  and  residence,  might  con- 
tinue and  increase  in  good  order,  justice,  police,  popula- 
tion, prosperity,  and  mutual  harmony,  and  be  provided 
with  strong  fortifications,  a  church,  a  school,  trading-place, 
harbor,  and  similar  highly  necessary  public  edifices  and 
improvements,"  at  the  same  time  avowed  the  desire  of  the 
council  to  obtain  the  voluntary  assistance  of  the  whole 
commonalty,  "as  nothing  is  better  adapted  to  promote 
their  own  welfare  and  comfort,  and  as  such  is  required  in 
every  well-regulated  government."  As  it  was  difficult  "to 
cover  so  many  heads  with  a  single  cap,  or  to  reduce  so 
many  opinions  into  one,"  it  had  therefore  been  proposed  to 

The  Nine  the  people  to  elect  eighteen  persons,  nine  of  whom  should 
be  selected,  to  confer  with  the  director  and  council  "  as 
their  tribunes,  on  all  means  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the 
commonalty,  as  well  as  that  of  the  country."     The  Nine 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  475 

Men  who  had  been  chosen  from  the  double  popular  nom-  ch.  xiv. 
ination  were,  "  as  good  and  faithful  interlocutors  and  trust-  ~~~ 
ees  of  the  commonalty,"  to  exert  themselves  "  to  promote  .p^gj^  jj„; 
the  honor  of  Grod,  and  the  welfare  of  our  dear  Fatherland,  "'^'*' 
to  the  best  advantage  of  the  company,  and  the  prosperity 
of  our  good  citizens  ;  to  the  preservation  of  the  pure  Re- 
formed religion,  as  it  is  here,  and  in  the  churches  of  the 
Netherlands,  inculcated."  They  were  not  to  "  assist  at 
any  private  conventicles  or  meetings,"  and  they  were  to 
meet  only  when  convened,  "  in  a  legitimate  manner." 
After  consulting  Together  upon  the  propositions  of  the  di- 
rector and  council,  they  might  then  "  bring  forward  their 
advice."  The  director,  as  one  of  the  council,  might  at 
any  time  attend  the  meetings  and  act  as  president.  Three 
of  the  Nine  Men,  in  rotation,  were  to  have  seats  at  the 
council  once  in  each  week,  "  on  the  usual  court-day,"  to 
whom,  as  arbitrators,  civil  cases  might  be  referred.  By 
their  award  the  parties  were  to  be  bound ;  though  an  ap- 
peal might  be  made  to  the  colonial  council  upon  the  pay- 
ment of  one  pound  Flemish.  "  The  number  of  nine  chosen 
men  shall  continue  until  lawfully  repealed,  provided  that  Term  of  of 
annually  six  leave  their  seats,  and  from  the  most  notable 
citizens  again  twelve  be  nominated,  who,  with  the  nine 
assembled,  shall  be  communicated  to  Us,  without  Our  be- 
ing required  to  call  in  future  the  whole  commonalty  to- 
gether. This  meeting  shall  take  place,  after  next  New 
Year's  day,  on  the  last  of  December  annually." 

Thus  jealously  did  Stuyvesant  hedge  the  meagre  priv- 
ileges he  was  forced  to  concede  to  the  people.  In  the  first 
election  alone  was  the  voice  of  the  "  wavering  multitude" 
to  be  expressed ;  the  Nine  Men  were  to  nominate  their 
own  successors.  The  popular  tribunes  selected  by  the 
director,  and  who  were  immediately  sworn  "to  conduct o:«h of oi 
themselves  reasonably,  and  be  faithful  to  their  instruc- 
tions," were  Augustine  Heermans,  Arnoldus  van  Harden- 
burg,  and  Govert  Loockermans,  from  among  the  mer- 
chants ;  Jan  Jansen  Dam,  Jacob  Wolfertsen  van  Couwen- 
hoven,  and  Hendrick  Hendricksen  Kip,  from  the  citizens ; 


47(5  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIV.  and   Michael  Jansen,  Jan   Evertsen  Bout,  and  Thomas 

Hall,  from  the  farmers.*' 
stuyve-  *        '^^^  Nine  Men  were  soon  summoned  to  deliberate.     The 
communl-'  ^ort  was  dilapidated  ;  the  houses  in  New  Amsterdam  were 
the'Nine     chiefly  built  of  wood,  and  thatched  with  straw ;  and  no 
***"•         school  had  been  kept  for  three  months,  owing  to  the  want  of 
a  proper  school-house.     Confined  to  his  room  by  an  epidem- 
ical influenza,  which  raged  "  through  the  country,  among 
Indians  and  English,  French  and  Dutch,"  Stuyvesant  was 
15  Nov.     obliged  to  communicate  his  views  to  the  meeting  in  writ- 
ing.    For  their  own  security,  the  people  should  repair  the 
fort.     The  company,  however,  would  defray  a  part  of  the 
expenses  of  education,  and  would  continue  their  assistance 
"  to  promote  the  glorious  work  ;"  while  temporary  accom- 
modation for  a  school  and  schoolmaster  would  be  provided 
in  one  of  the  government  houses.    The  church  which  Kieft 
had  commenced  in  1642,  should  be  promptly  completed ; 
and  proper  municipal  regulations  should  be  adopted  for 
the  prevention  of  fires. 
Action  of        Most  of  these  propositions  were  approved  by  the  Nine 
utn.  '"^     Men,    and    arrangements   were    made    for  finishing   the 
church  and  reorganizing  the  public  school.     For  these  pur- 
poses the  commonalty  were  willing  to  tax  themselves. 
But  the  suggestion  respecting  contributions  for  the  repair 
of  Fort  Amsterdam  was  promptly  rejected.     The  company 
had  distinctly  bound  itself  by  the  charter  of  1629,  "  to 
finish  the  fort  on  the  island  of  the  Manhattes,  and  put  it 
■     in  a  posture  of  defense  without  delay."     As  the  common- 
alty was  obliged  to  pay  customs  duties,  excises,  and  tolls 
at  the  company's  mill,  the  expenses  of  maintaining  the 

*  Alb.  Rec.  vii.,  T2-84  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  36-39.  Ileermans,  a  Bohemian  by  birth,  came  out 
under  the  patronage  of  the  Chamber  at  Enckhuysen,  as  agent  of  the  mercantile  house  of 
Gabry  of  Amsterdam  ;  Van  Hardenburg  emigrated  to  New  Netherland  in  1644,  and  was 
fined  by  Kieft,  in  1646,  for  attempting  to  appeal  from  one  of  his  decisions  ;  Loockermans, 
w  ho  was  a  brother-in-law  of  OloffStevensen  van  Cortlandt,  and  .lacob  van  Couwenhovcn, 
came  out  with  Van  Twiller  in  1633  ;  Dam  was  one  of  the  "Twelve  Men"  who  instigated 
Kieft  to  attack  the  savages  ;  Van  Couwenhoven  came  out  with  his  brother-in-law  Loock- 
ermans in  1633  ;  Kip  was  a  burgher,  who  in  1643  had  advised  the  deposition  of  Kieft, 
and  afterward  opposed  his  treaty  of  164.^  ;  Michael  .lanscn  emigrated  to  Rensstlaerswyck 
in  1636,  whcnc  he  rTnov^d  to  Mnnhiit  iii  ;  .Ian  Evertsen  Bout  was  Pauw's  superintend- 
ent at  Pr.oi  I  in  16 11,  and  on'!oft!i:  Hiu'lit  M^n  in  16  J3;  Thomas  Hall,  the  only  English- 
man in  thj  board,  was  ulso  one  of  the  bo  ird  ofE  ght  Men.    .4n(f,  p,  3IT,30:),4('9,  453,454.  . 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  477 

fortifications  should  be  paid  out  of  the  company's  revenue  ch.  xiv. 
from  these  sources.*  "TtTt" 

While  the  director  was  thus  engaged,  his  attention  was 
called  to  a  new  effort  to  dismember  the  company's  Amer- 
ican territory.     Lord  Stirling  dying  the  year  after  the  un- 
successful attempt  of  Farrett,  his  agent,  to  take  possession 
of  the  western  portion  of  Long  Island,  his  widow  determ- 
ined to  maintain  her  title,  and  accordingly  gave  a  power 
of  attorney  to  Andrew  Forrester,  a  Scotchman,  with  which 
she  sent  him  to  America.     On  his  arrival  at  Vlissingen,  September. 
Forrester  boldly  announced  himself  to  the  English  settlers 
there  and  at  Heemstede  as  Governor  of  Long  Island,  un- 
der the   Dowager  Countess  of  Stirling.     The  Schout  of 
Vlissingen  sent  intelligence  of  these  proceedings  to  Stuy- 
vesant ;  and,  the  day  after,  Forrester  himself  visited  Man- 
hattan.    He  had  come,  he  said,  to  see  the  Dutch  director's 
commission ;  if  that  were  better  than  his,  he  would  give 
way  ;  if  not,  Stuyvesant  must  yield  to  him.     The  direct-  Arrest  01 
or,  surprised  at  Forrester's  "very  consequential"  airs,  or-ung's 
dered  him  to  be  arrested  and  examined  before  the  council,  2?  sept. 
where  he  stated  that  he  was  a  native  of  Dundee,  and  pro-  28  Sept. 
duced  a  parchment  with  a  mutilated  seal,  and  Lady  Stir- 
ling's power  of  attorney.     But  Stuyvesant  promptly  reject- 
ed the  insufficient  claims  of  "  this  pretended  governor." 
Copies  of  his  papers  were  taken,  and  the  agent  himself  was  Forrosier 
sent  on  board  the  Falconer,  to  be  conveyed  to  Holland,  land 
where  he  might  defend  himself  if  he  could.     But  the  ship 
put  into  an  English  port,  and  Forrester  escaping,  "  never 
troubled  the  captain  afterward." 

By  the  same  vessel  was  sent  Picquet,  a  Frenchman,  who  case  o 
had  been  sentenced  to  banishment  from  New  Netherland,  4 October. 
and  eighteen  years'  confinement  in  the  "rasp-house"  at 
Amsterdam,  for  threatening  to  shoot  the  director  and  fis- 
cal.    The  convict  escaped  ashore  in  England ;  but  the   1648. 
Amsterdam  Chamber  hastened  to  admonish  Stuyvesant     ^^  ' 
that  he  had  exceeded  his  authority  in  sentencing  a  pris- 
oner to  punishment  in  Holland.     The  magistrates  of  the 

*  Alb.  Kec,  vii.,  106-116  ;  Winthrop,  ii.,  310  ,  O'Call.,  ii.,  41,  42  ;  ante,  p.  196. 


478  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIV.  Fatherland  would  hardly  "deem  themselves  justifiable"  in 
executing  a  provincial  sentence.    "  We  would  advise  you," 
*  added  the  directors,  "to  punish,  after  due  inquiry,  all  de- 
linquents  in  the  country  in  which  they  are  condemned."* 
corrc-  Soon  after  his  inauguration,  Stuyvesant  addressed  court- 

with  New  eous  letters  to  the  governors  of  the  neighboring  colonies, 
announcing  his  arrival,  and  expressing  his  feelings  of  am- 
esjunn.     ity.     In  writing  to  Winthrop,  he  distinctly  asserted  "the 
indubiate  right"  of  the  Dutch  to  all  the  territory  between 
the  Connecticut  and  the  Delaware ;  and  suggested  an  in- 
terview for  the  purpose  of  arranging  all  differences.     This 
letter  Winthrop  immediately  communicated  to  the  com- 
missioners then  sitting  at  Boston.     Some  of  the  members 
advised  that  Stuyvesant's  proposition  should  be  accepted, 
and  a  "visit  at  his  own  home,"  or  a  meeting  at  any  of  the 
New  England  towns,  be  tendered.     But  the  Connecticut 
commissioners  "thought  otherwise,  supposing  it  would  be 
more  to  their  advantage  to  stand  upon  terms  of  distance." 
17  August.  Winthrop,  therefore,  merely  replied  that  a  meeting  would 
be  given  "  in  proper  time  and  place."     The  commission- 
ers on  their  part  also  joined  in   a  letter,  remonstrating 
against  the  "  dangerous  liberty"  the  Dutch  traders  were 
in  the  habit  of  taking,  in  selling  guns  and  ammunition  not 
only  at  Fort  Orange,  but  along  the  coasts  of  Long  Island 
Sound  ;  complaining  of  the  high  recognitions  imposed  in 
New  Netherland  upon  imports  and  exports,  and  request- 
ing to  be  informed  of  their  precise  nature,  so  that  the  New 
England  merchants  "might  steer  a  course  accordingly."! 
Customs'        The  colonial  duties  which  the  West  India  Company  ex- 
New  Neth-  acted  were  injuriously  high,  and  in  Stuyvesant  himself 
they  had  a  faithful  agent  in  executing  their  system  of  ex- 
clusion and  selfishness.     An  opportunity  soon  occurred  to 
17  Sept.     test  the  zeal  of  the  new  director.     Secretary  Van  Tienho- 
iiiegliiy  '^  ven,  accidentally  visiting  New  Haven,  found  lying  at  an- 
NewHa-   chor  an  Amsterdam  ship,  the  Saint  Beninio,  which  had 
been  trading  there  for  a  month  without  the  license  of  the 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  2-5;  vii.,  85-88,  95;  Vertoogh,  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  275,  322; 
O'Call.,  ii.,  46,  47 ;  ante,  p.  298,  299. 
t  MS.  Letters,  Alb.,  i.,  1-4  ;  Winthrop,  ii.,  314  ;  Hazard,  ii.,  97,  98. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  479 

"West  India  Company.     Meeting  the  Secretary  of  New  ch.  xiv. 

Netherland,  Westerhouse  and  Groedenhuysen,  two  of  the 

•  .    .  1647 

owners  of  the  cargo,  applied  for  permission  to  trade  at  Man- 
hattan, upon  the  payment  of  the  usual  duties.  Van  Tien- 
hoven,  on  his  return,  reported  the  circumstances  to  Stuy- 
vesant,  and  the  desired  permit  was  sent  to  New  Haven. 
A  few  days  afterward,  Goedenhuysen,  arriving  at  Man- 
hattan, informed  Stuyvesant  that  the  ship  was  about  to 
sail  from  New  Haven  directly  to  Virginia  ;  but  he  neither 
produced  his  manifest,  nor  offered  to  pay  any  duties.  The 
case,  which  from  the  first  had  been  an  infringement  of 
the  charter  of  the  West  India  Company,  now  assumed  the 
aspect  of  an  open  violation  of  the  colonial  revenue  laws ; 
and  Stuyvesant  determined  to  seize  the  ship  as  she  lay  at 
anchor  in  New  Haven  harbor,  which  he  considered  to  be 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  New  Netherland.  A  short  time 
before  he  had  sold  one  of  the  company's  vessels  to  some 
merchants  of  New  Haven,  and  agreed  to  deliver  it  to  them 
at  that  place.  On  board  this  vessel  he  embarked  a  com-  seized  by 
pany  of  soldiers,  with  instructions  to  capture  the  Saint  sanrand 
Beninio.  The  stratagem  was  successful.  The  smuggler  Manhattan. 
was  seized  in  New  Haven  harbor,  "on  the  Lord's  day,"  n  October, 
and  with  a  fair  wind  was  soon  brought  to  Manhattan,  and 
confiscated.* 

This  bold  movement,  which  was  executed  so  adroitly  Excite- 
that  the  New  Haven  people  had  no  time  to  interfere,  nat-  New  na- 
urally  produced  a   great  excitement  there.     Stuyvesant  ^^"' 
had  accompanied  his  proceeding  with  a  letter  to  the  New 
Haven  authorities,  in  which  he  claimed  all  the  regions 
from  Cape  Hinlopen  to  Cape  Cod  as  a  part  of  the  territory 
of  New  Netherland,  and  asserted  his  right  to  levy  duties 
upon  all  Dutch  vessels  trading  at  New  Haven.     Eaton 
immediately  protested  against  the  Dutch  director  as  a  dis- 18  October, 
turber  of  the  peace,  by  "  making  unjust  claims  to  our 
lands  and  plantations,  to  our  havens  and  rivers,  and  by 
taking  a  ship  out  of  our  harbor  without  our  license."    An- 
other cause  of  embarrassment  had  meanwhile  occurred. 

*  Alb.  Roc,  iii.,  315  i  vii.,  70-79,  95-102 ;  Winthrop,  ii.,  314  ;  Hazard,  ii.,  101-103. 


4S0        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIV.  Three  of  the  "West  India  Company's  servants  had  fled  from 
~7TI~ Manhattan  to  New  Haven,  where,  "being  pursued,"  they 
Retaliatory  ^^^^'  apprehended  and  imprisoned.     The  provision  in  the 
measures,  ^rtj^es  of  Union  between  the  New  England  colonies  of 
1643,  for  the  mutual  delivery  of  fugitives  from  justice  or 
servitude,  had  been  virtually  extended  to  New  Nether- 
land,*  and  Eaton  had  agreed  to  surrender  the  prisoners. 
But  as  Stuyvesant  now  so  boldly  asserted  a  claim  of  ju- 
risdiction over  New  Haven,  the  delivery  of  the  fugitives 
might  be  interpreted  "  as  done  in  a  way  of  subordination," 
and  it  was  therefore  "  not  thought  fit  to  send  them."    This 
Advice  of  decision  was  communicated  to  the  Massachusetts  govern- 
sens^^^    ment,  and  their  advice  requested.     The  General  Court 
wrote  at  once  to  the  New  Haven  authorities,  that  they 
"  might  deliver  the  fugitives  without  prejudice  to  their 
right  or  reputation."     Eaton,  however,  rejecting  the  ad- 
vice of  Massachusetts,  detained  the  runaways,  and  took 
15  Nov.      them  into  the  public  service.     The  Commissary  of  Fort 
Amsterdam  arrived  soon  afterward  at  New  Haven,  with  a 
letter  from  Stuyvesant,  justifying  his  seizure  of  the  ship, 
and  entreating  that  the  fugitives  might  be  delivered  to 
25  Nov.      him.     But  Eaton  declined,  and  sent  back  a  sharp  renlv. 

Eaton's  let-  .  •        i       i  r         I    . 

terto  stiiy-  "  1  ou  liavc  imooscd  an  excessive  high  custom  for  all  goods 

vftsant.  ......  . 

sold  within  your  jurisdiction,  with  seizures  for  omissions 
or  misentries ;  our  vessels  must  anchor  under  your  erect- 
ed hand,  a  place  very  inconvenient ;  and,  as  if  you  meant 
to  shut  up  the  passage  by  the  Manhattans,  or  by  insuffer- 
able burthens  to  weary  the  English  out  of  trade,  you  be- 
gin to  take  recognitions  upon  goods  traded  elsewhere,  and 
in  their  return  passing  only  by  the  Manhattans,"  The 
post  on  the  Paugussett  had  been  threatened  by  the  Dutch, 
and  slanders  against  the  English  had  been  circulated 
among  the  savages.  "I  doubt  not  but  we  may  retaliate," 
added  Eaton,  who,  referring  to  the  "sending  Captain  For- 
rester to  Holland,"  suggested,  in  closing  his  letter,  that 
the  English  colonies  might  hereafter  have  occasion  "to 
write  after  the  same  copy." 

*  IIol.  Doc,  v.,  360  ;  ii.,  .N.  Y.  U.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  335. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  481 

Indignant  at  Eaton's  "unjust  charges,"  Stuyvesant  de-  ch.  xiv. 
clined  replying  to  his  lecturing  letter,  but  sent  a  full  vin-      '~^ 
dication  of  his  own  conduct  and  administration  to  Good- jg^g^ '" 
year,  the  deputy  governor  of  New  Haven.     Eaton's  letter  g^"-;^^;,^. 
was  "  but  as  an  aggravating  of  former  passages  to  the  worst  '*''==»''°"- 
sense,"  said  the  irritated  director;  "ripping  up,  as  he  con- 
ceives, all  my  faults,  as  if  I  were  a  school-boy,  and  not  one 
of  like  degree  with  himself."     "With  regard  to  the  recog- 
nitions exacted  at  Manhattan,  "every  state  hath  power  to 
make  what  laws  and  impose  what  customs  in  its  own  pre- 
cincts it  shall  think  convenient,  without  being  regulated 
or  prescribed  by  others ;  yet,  notwithstanding  we  have 
been  so  favorable  to  your  countrymen  trading  here  that 
they  pay  eight  per  cent,  less  than  our  own."     As  Eaton 
was  "  so  full  of  his  retaliation,  he  must,  according  to  his 
own  words  and  practice,  give  us  leave  to  give  liberty  to 
any  that  shall  elope  from  your  jurisdiction  to  remain  un- 
der our  protection  until  our  fugitives  are  delivered."* 

The  threatened  measure  was  promptly  executed.     A  5  Dec. 
proclamation  was  issued,  reciting  the  provocations  which  sant-rrV 
the  director  had  received  from  Eaton,  and  declaring  that  jTroceedu 
"  if  any  person,  noble  or  ignoble,  freeman  or  slave,  debtor '"°^' 
or  creditor,  yea,  to  the  lowest  prisoner  included,  run  away 
from  the  colony  of  New  Haven,  or  seek  refuge  in  our  lim- 
its, he  shall  remain  free,  under  our  protection,  on  taking 
the  oath  of  allegiance."! 

This  unwise  step  placed  Stuyvesant  in  a  false  position, 
both  at  home  and  abroad.  The  New  Netherland  colonists 
objected  to  it  as  tending  to  convert  the  province  into  a  ref- 
uge for  vagabonds  from  the  neighboring  English  settle-* 
ments,  who  would  not  be  a  desirable  addition  to  their  pop- 
ulation. This  view,  however,  did  not  impress  the  director 
as  strongly  as  the  apprehension  that  his  proclamation 
might  "  embitter"  the  other  English  colonies  against  the 
Dutch.  He  therefore  wrote  to  the  governors  of  Massachu- 
setts and  Virginia,  "  blaming  the  practice  in  general,  but 
excusing  it  in  this  particular  case"  as  a  measure  of  neces- 

*  Stuyvesant  Letters,  Alb.,  i.,  4-9.  t  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  18  ;  vii.,  Ul,  112. 

TIh 


482  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch  XIV.  sity,  and  which  had  reference  to  New  Haven  alone.  The 
following  spring,  finding  that  his  unwise  policy  produced 

March  '  ^°  S^^'^  result,  "he  wrote  privately  to  the  fugitives,"  offer- 
ing them  pardon  and  satisfaction  if  they  would  return  to 
New  Amsterdam.  Stuyvesant's  offer,  backed  by  letters 
from  Domine  Backerus,  was  gladly  embraced,  and  the  run- 
aways "made  an  escape  and  returned  home."  Eaton  be- 
ing thus  signally  foiled,  the  obnoxious  proclamation  was 
revoked.* 

1647.  Almost  as  soon  as  Stuyvesant  landed  at  Manhattan,  he 
was  informed  of  the  injurious  behavior  of  Printz,  and  a 

South  Riv-  pQ^j-^gj.  -yyas  promptly  dispatched  to  the  South  River  with 
17  August,  a  protest  against  the  Swedish  governor.  Soon  afterward, 
28 Sept.  the  director  and  council  "having  considered  the  abilities 
appointed  of  Andrics  Hudde,"  confirmed  him  in  office  as  commissary 
commissa-  ^^  j,^^^  Nassau.     In  the  beginning  of  the  next  year,  a 

1648.  Swedish  bark,  going  up  the  river,  passed  the  Dutch  post 
Insults  of  without  stopping  or  displaying  her  colors,  was  fired  at, 
Swedes,     and,  on  returning,  her  master  was  required  to  explain  his 

conduct.     But  the  schipper  only  boasted  that  he  acted  so 
to  insult  the  Dutch  commander,  and  would  "certainly  do 
4  April,      so  in  future."    Some  of  the  Passayunk  sachems  now  came 
to  Fort  Nassau  with  intelligence  that  the  Swedes  had  col- 
lected a  great  quantity  of  logs  for  a  new  fort  on  the  Schuyl- 
kill, where  they  had  already  constructed  some  buildings. 
By  this  means  they  hoped  to  cut  off  the  Dutch  from  all 
access  to  "  the  large  woods,"  and  secure  to  themselves  a 
trade  with  the  Minquas,  which  would  yield  some  thirty  or 
Thesav-    forty  thousand  beaver  skins  annually.     "  Why  do  you  not 
theDutdi^  build  on  the  Schuylkill  yourselves  ?"  demanded  the  sa- 
ihe  schu°"-  chems ;   and  Hudde,  feeling  that  without  the  trade  with 
the  inland  Minquas,  the  possession  of  the   South  River 
"  would  deserve  very  little  consideration,"  determined  to 
follow  the  suggestion  of  the  friendly  savages. 

Preparations    were    immediately    made   to  build,  and 
2T  Apru.     Hudde  went  to  the  Schuylkill  "  with  the  most  necessar}' 

*  Winthrop,  ii.,  315 ;  IIol.  Doc,  v.,  18,  43  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  48-57  ;  Vertoogh,  in  ii.,  N.  \ 
H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  313,  335. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  483 

timber."     The  sachems  themselves  warned  the  intruding  cu.  xiv. 
.Swedes  to  depart,  and  told  them  that  they  had  already      TT"" 
ceded  the  spot  to  the  Dutch,  who,  moreover,  "  should  build 
there."     Two  of  the  principal  chiefs  then  "planted  there, 
with  their  own  hands,  the  colors  of  the  Prince  of  Orange," 
and  asked  Hudde  to  fire  a  gun  three  times  "  as  a  mark 
that  he  had  taken  possession."     This  was  done  ;  and  the 
first  house  in  the  new  Dutch  Fort  "  Beversrede"  was  raised  versrejo 
in  the  presence  of  the  sachems.* 

Toward  evening,  Huygens,  the  Swedish  commissary,  interfer- 
arrived  at  Fort  Beversrede,  with  seven  or  eight  men,  and  swedes. 
demanded  by  whose  authority  Hudde  was  raising  the 
building.  "  By  order  of  my  masters,  and  with  the  previ- 
ous consent  of  the  savages,"  replied  the  Dutch  commissary. 
The  sachems  now  interposed.  "  We  shall  grant  this  land  Reproved 
to  the  Dutch,  who  will  settle  here ;  but  by  whose  orders  ages. 
do  the  Swedes  erect  buildings  here  ?"  said  they  to  Huy- 
gens. "Is  it  not  enough  that  the  Swedes  are  already  in 
possession  of  Matinnekonk,  the  Schviylkill,  Kinsessing,  Ka- 
kanken,  Upland,  and  other  places,  all  of  which  they  have 
stolen  from  us  ?  About  ten  or  eleven  years  ago,  Minuit 
had  no  more  than  six  small  tracts  of  land  upon  Paghagh- 
king,  which  he  bought  to  plant  there  some  tobacco,  of 
which  we  were  to  enjoy  half  the  produce.  You  would  be 
greatly  surprised  if  we  were  to  come  to  you  and  purchase 
land,  and  then  take  the  land  adjoining  it,  as  you  have 
done  on  the  river  here,  and  yet  continue  to  do.  You  would 
even  prescribe  laws  to  us,  who  are  the  original  and  natu- 
ral proprietors  of  the  land,  as  if  we  might  not  do  with  our 
own  what  we  wish.  The  Swedes  have  only  lately  arrived 
on  the  river,  yet  they  have  already  taken  so  much  land 
from  us,  which  they  have  actually  settled ;  while  the  Dutch 
have  never  taken  from  us  any  land,  although  they  have 
dwelt  here  and  conversed  with  us  more  than  thirty  years." 

With  this  admonition  from  the  savages,  Huygens  ami 
his  party  retired,  and  Hudde  continued  his  "  commenc^cd 

'  Alb.  Rec.iii.,  258  ;  vii.,  80  ;  xvii.,  268,  321  ;  Iluddc's  Report,  43G-439  ;  O'Call,,  ii  ,  80; 
llajard,  Ann.  Pcnn.,  91-99, 115  ;  ante,  232,  420. 


484        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIV.  work."  "While  he  was  thus  engaged,  Mounce  Kling,  the 
Swedish  lieutenant  of  the  fort  on  the  Schuylkill,  arrived 

jjay  ""'  "with  twenty-four  men,  fully  armed  with  charged  mus- 
kets, and  bearing  maces,  marching  in  ranks."  To  his  de- 
mand whether  the  Dutch  intended  to  proceed  with  their 
fort,  Hudde  promptly  replied,  "What  is  commenced  must 

Damages    be  finished."     Upon  this,  the  Swedish  soldiers  were  or- 

the  dered  to  cut  down  every  tree  near  the  house.     The  order 

was  soon  executed ;  and  even  the  fruit  trees  which  Hudde 
had  planted  were  destroyed.* 

iG  May.  Campauius,  who  had  accompanied  Printz  to  New  Swe- 

Campanius  ■,  ^         i    •  •  ^      r  i  i    ^ 

returns  to  dcn  as  chaplam  six  years  beiore,  now  returned  home. 
His  desire  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  savages  induced 
him  to  study  their  language ;  and  he  has  the  honor  of  hav- 
ing been  the  first  missionary  among  the  Indians  of  Dela- 
ware and  Pennsylvania.  After  his  return  to  Sweden,  he 
completed  the  translation,  which  he  had  begun  at  Tinni- 
cum,  of  Luther's  Catechism  into  the  Lenni-Lenape  tongue, 
in  which,  accommodating  the  Lord's  Prayer  to  the  circum- 
stances of  the  savages,  he  interpreted  the  petition  for 
"daily  bread"  into  a  supplication  for  "a  plentiful  supply 
of  venison  and  corn."t 

piowden        About  tlic  samo  time.  Sir  Edmund  Plowden,  the  titular 

Manhattan,  carl  palatine  of  New  Albion,  whose  pretensions  had  been 
^^'  derided  by  Kieft  in  1643,  paid  a  second  visit  to  Manhat- 
tan. He  had  now  been  "  about  seven  years"  in  Virginia, 
where  he  lost  all  the  property  he  had  brought  over.  Plow- 
den's  absurd  claim  seems  to  have  been  treated  as  con- 
temptuously by  Stuyvesant  as  it  had  been  by  Kieft ;  and 

H  June,  the  bankrupt  earl  palatine  went  to  Boston,  on  his  way  "  to 
England  for  supply,  intending  to  return  and  plant  Dela- 
ware, if  he  could  get  sufficient  strength  to  dispossess  the 

*  Hudde's  Report,  439,  440;  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  100,  101. 

t  Campaniu8,  Preface,  72 ;  Records  of  Swedes'  Church  ;  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  101. 
102.  The  translated  Catechism,  a  copy  of  which  is  in  the  library  of  the  Am  Phil.  So"A- 
ety,  was  printed  in  Delaware  and  Swedish  at  Stockholm,  in  1696.  Campanius  died  on 
the  17th  of  September,  16S3.  In  1702,  his  grandson,  who  had  never  been  in  America, 
published  the  "  Description  of  New  Sweden,"  now  generally  quoted  as  "  Campanius.' 
A  translation  of  this  work,  by  Mr.  Du  Ponceau,  of  Philadelphia,  was  issued  by  the  Penn- 
sylvania Historical  Society  in  1834. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  435 

Swedes."  But  his  purpose  was  never  executed  ;  though,  ch.  xi\ 
upon  reaching  London,  he  seems  to  have  puhlished  a  ro-  ~~ 

raantio  pamphlet — "  Description  of  the  Province  of  New  p["^^"|^j; " 
Albion" — under  the  fabulous  name  of  "Beauchamp  Plan- ^^[.'fQ,^*^^'' 
tagenet."* 

In  the  mean  time,  the  West  India  Company  had  ex-  4  .\prii 
pressed  their  dissatisfaction  that  the  limits  between  the 
Swedes,  the  English,  and  the  Dutch  were  still  unsettled. 
Stuyvesant  accordingly  dispatched  Van  Dincklagen  and  vanHixk- 
La  Montague  to  the  South  River,  with  instructions  to  pro-  La  Mon'-' 
cure  a  formal  confirmation  of  the  lands  which  had  beentoihesomii 
previously  purchased  of  the  savages.     Three   days  after ".lune 
their  arrival  at  Fort  Nassau,  the  commissioners  proceeded 
to  Fort  Bevi-rsrede,  and  invited  to  a  conference  the  native 
chiefs  and  "  rulers  over  the  territories  and  lands  lying  on 
and  around  the  Schuylkill,  called  Armenveruis."     Their  10  .Tune, 
former  sale  to  Arendt  Corssen,  of  "the  Schuylkill  and  ad- the scnuyi- 
jommg  lands,"  was  now  irrevocably  confirmed ;  and  of  all  firmed. 
this  territory  the  Dutch  officers  "took  a  public  and  lawful 
possession."! 

The  commissioners  then  sailed  to  Tinnicum  "with  a  be-  interview 
coming  suite,"  and  solemnly  protested  against  the  injuri-  Printz. 
ous  acts  of  the  Swedish  governor.     Nevertheless,  Printz 
continued  his  vexatious  conduct.    Hans  Jacobsen,  attempt-  2  .tu:;.  . 
ing  to  establish  himself  on  the  Schuylkill,  was  stopped^  and  aimoy- 
threatened  "that  if  he  came  there  again  and  dared  to  the 
build,  he  should  carry  off  with  him  a  good  drubbing."    A  o  ,iu:y  *^ 
few  days  afterward,  Thomas  Broen  was  treated  in  a  sim- 
ilar manner  at  "  New  Holm." 

The  next  autumn  Hudde  visited  Manhattan,  at  Stuyve-  s  sep'. 
sant's  summons,  and  made  a  report  on  the  situation  of  af-  por:' 
fairs  on  the  South  River,  with  suggestions  for  their  im- 
provement.    Not  long  afterward,  the  director  received  in-  25  ?c;,t 
telligence  of  new  provocations  of  the  Swedes.     Printz  had 

♦  Winthrop,  ii.,  325  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  279,  323-326 ;  ante,  p.  381,  382  ;  Appendix, 
note  E.  Planta^^cnet's  "  Description"  has  been  reprinted  by  Mr.  Force,  in  his  Collection 
of  Tracts,  vol.  ii. 

t  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  5;  Iludde's  Report,  440;  IIol.  Doc,  viii.,  55;  O'Call.,  ii.,  81  ;  ILuard, 
Ann.  Penn.,  102  ;  ante,  p.  232. 


486        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

i;h.  XIV.  built  a  large  house,  thirty  feet  long  and  twenty  wide,  in 
front  of  Fort  Beversrede,  and  within  twelve  feet  of  its 


16  Sept  '  g^^^j  ^o  ^^^^  ^^  could  now  be  scarcely  seen  from  the  river. 
The  inland  savages,  too,  were  dissatisfied  that  the  river 
was  not  "  always  crowded"  with  Dutch  cargoes  ;  for  the 
Swedes  had  but  few.  The  commissariat  of  the  company 
was  "in  want  of  every  necessary  article,"  and  there  were 
now  only  six  able-bodied  men  on  the  South  River  to  gar- 
rison the  two  Dutch  forts.* 

Settlement       It  was  therefore  determined  to  commence  the  coloniza- 

at  Passa-  tiou  of  Passayuuk  ;  and  patents  were  granted  to  Simon 
Root  and  other  freemen,  to  settle  and  build  on  the  Schuyl- 
kill, at  "the  Mast-maker's  Point."     With  these  patentees, 

18  October.  Hudde  retumcd  to  Fort  Nassau.  Preparations  were  im- 
mediately made  for  building  in  the  neighborhood  of  Fort 
Beversrede  ;  and  the  palisades  around  that  post  which  the 

4  Nov.       Swedes  had  torn  down  were  replaced.     The  work  had 

scarcely  been  repaired,  before  it  was  destroyed  a  second 
Interrupted  time  by  the  Swedes.  The  same  day,  the  Swedish  lieu- 
swedes.  tcuaut,  Swcu  Schutc,  goiiig  to  Mast-maker's  Point,  where 
Root  was  beginning  to  raise  a  house,'  forbade  him  to  pro- 
ceed. At  the  intercession  of  Adriaen  van  Tienhoven,  the 
clerk  of  the  court  on  the  South  River,  and  Alexander  Boy- 
er,  the  deputy  commissary,  Schute  "  relented"  until  they 
could  send  to  Fort  Nassau  and  obtain  Hudde's  further  or- 

5  Nov.       ders.     These  were  sent  the  same  night ;  and  at  sunrise 

the  next  morning  Schute  warned  the  Dutch  officers  that 
he  had  also  received  "  positive  orders"  from  Printz  to  de- 
stroy what  they  had  built.  Ordering  his  men  to  draw 
their  swords,  he  marched  to  Mast-maker's  Point,  followed 
by  the  Dutch.  In  spite  of  all  protests,  and  the  exhibition 
of  Stuyvesant's  instructions,  the  Swedes  presently  destroy- 
ed Root's  building,  "  using  their  swords  in  lieu  of  axes." 
7  Nov.  Hudde,  not  having  "  any  other  arms  than  paper,"  again 

tiie  Dutch,  protested  against  this  "  destruction  of  mutual  harmony  and 
friendship."    Van  Tienhoven  also  wrote  to  Stuyvesant,  de- 

'  Alb.  Rec.,  v.,  71 ;  .xvii.,  26S  ;  Hoi.  Doc.,  viii.,  32-35 ;  Iludde's  Report,  440    441  ;  S 
Hazard,  78,  102-104. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  487 

tailing  the  injurious  conduct  of  the  Swedish  officers,  and  ch.  xiv. 
urging  him  to  examine  in  person  the  situation  of  the  South 
River,  "  because  the  Swedes  do  here  what  they  please." 
They  had  entirely  shut  out  the  garrison  at  Fort  Bevers- 
rede  from  "  the  sight  of  the  water  on  the  kill,"  and  had 
not  left  them  land  enough  "to  make  a  small  garden  in 
the  spring."  The  savages,  too,  "  continually  renew  their 
demand  for  powder  and  balls."  Commerce  was  "  nearly 
spoiled  ;"  for  the  Dutch  were  compelled  to  give  two  fath- 
oms of  white,  and  one  fathom  of  black  sewam  for  a  bea- 
ver. This  barter  was  "rather  too  much  against  them." 
Every  fathom,  it  was  found,  amounted  "  to  three  ells,"  as 
"  the  Indians  always  take  the  largest  and  tallest  among 
them  to  trade  with  us."* 

The  director,  in  the  mean  time,  had  not  neglected  mu-  Mimieipa. 
nicipal  aft'airs  at  New  Amsterdam.     Commissary  Keyser,  New  Am- 
from  the  council,  and  Thomas  Hall,  Martin  Kregier,  and 
George  Woolsey,  from  the   commonalty,  were  appointed 
"  fire-wardens,"  to  visit  and  inspect  all  the  houses  in  the  23  Januar? 
town,  "between  the  fort  and  the  Fresh  Water."     In  case 
any  house  should  be  burned  through  the  owner's  negli- 
gence, he  was  to  be  fined  twenty-five  guilders.    If  the  fire-  Fire  do- 
wardens  should  condemn  any  chimney  as  foul,  the  owner 
rvas  to  pay  a  fine  of  three  guilders,  "to  be  appropriated  to 
i;he  maintenance  of  fire-ladders,  hooks,  and  buckets,  which 
shall  be  provided  and  procured  the  first  opportunity."    Tav- 
erns were  also  regulated.     As  "almost  one  full  fourth  part 
of  the  town  of  New  Amsterdam"  had  become  "houses  for 
the  sale  of  brandy,  tobacco,  or  beer,"  it  was  ordained  that  10  March 
no  new  taverns  should  be  licensed,  except  by  the  unanimous  re^btl^d 
consent  of  the  director  and  council.     Those  already  estab- 
lished might,  however,  continue  for  four  years  longer,  upon 
condition  that  their  owners  would  abstain  from  selling  to 
the  savages,  report  all  brawls  to  the  council,  and  procure 

*  Alh.  Rec.,v.,6,  10,  11;  vii.,  206  ;  xvii.,  340-348;  IIol.  Doc,  viii.,  35,  3(5,  57,  58; 
Iludde's  Report,  441,  442  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  83  ;  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  101-108  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  11.  S. 
Coll.,  ii.,  248.  A  fathom  was  commonly  estimated  at  as  much  as  a  man  could  reach  with 
outstretched  arms.  The  Indians,  therefore,  had  good  reason  to  choose  their  '-.argest  and 
tallest"  men  to  trade  with  the  Dutch. 


488  HISTORY  OF  THE  STaTE  OF  NEW  YORK 

ch.  XIV   decent  houses,  according  to  their  ability,  "  to  adorn  the 
[        town  of  New  Amsterdam."     To  prevent  further  damage, 
no  hogs  nor  goats  were  thereafter  to  be  pastured  between 
Fort  Amsterdam  and  the  "  Fresh  Water,"  except  within 
29  Apri.     proper  inclosures.     With  the  approbation  of  Domine  Back- 
services,     erus,  the  council  also  ordained  that  "from  this  time  forth, 
in  the  afternoon  as  well  as  in  the  forenoon,  there  shall  be 
preaching  from  God's  word,  and  the  usual  exercises  of 
Christian  prayer   and  thanksgiving,"  which   all   persons 
Indians  at  Were  required  to  "  frequent  and  attend."     Notwithstand- 

Manhaltan.  .  .  ,  i     -i  ,, 

mg  every  precaution,  the  savages  were  daily  seen  "  run- 
ning about  drunk  through  the  Manhattans."     The  pla- 

13  May.  Card  agaiust  selling  them  strong  drink  was  thereforere  pub- 
lished ;  and  in  addition  to  former  penalties,  offenders  were 
now  "  to  be  arbitrarily  punished  without  any  dissimula- 
tion." Many  of  the  inhabitants  had  been  in  the  habit  of 
employing  the  Indians  as  servants,  or  work-people,  and  had 
allowed  their  wages  to  become  in  arrear.  The  Indians 
had  threatened  to  right  themselves  in  their  own  fashion  ; 

28  Sept.  and  all  persons  were  therefore  warned  to  pay  their  debts 
to  the  savages  promptly,  under  penalty  of  a  fine.     A  new 

6  October,  proclamation  forbade  the  townspeople  from  harboring  run- 
away servants,  whether  of  the  company,  "or  of  any  other 

Id  Dec.      persous  Hviug  here  or  elsewhere."     The  community  was 

Vacant  lots  "^  ■,  ^  -,,,.,,  .  it      ■  j. 

tobeim-  also  warned,  "  for  the  last  time,"  to  improve  their  vacant 
lots  in  the  town  of  New  Amsterdam.  In  default,  such  lots 
would  be  assigned  to  persons  inclined  to  improve  them, 
and  a  reasonable  compensation  Avould  be  awarded  to  the 
original  owner.* 

The  Nine        'J^hc  "Nine  Men,"  as  we  have  seen,  had  commenced 

Men  take  .  .  ,  .    .  -    , 

the  initia-  their  public  service  by  passing  upon  the  propositions  ot  the 
director.  An  occasion  soon  arose  for  them  to  take  the  in- 
itiative. The  commonalty,  anxious  for  the  prosperity  of 
the  province,  desired  to  encourage  the  immigration  of  per- 
sons who  intended  to  make  New  Netherland  their  perma- 
nent home.  Whoever  came  with  such  an  intention  was 
welcome.     Many  strangers  had  already  settled  themselves 

*  New  Amst.  Rec,  i.,  8-11,  15-19,  22-24  ;  Appendix,  Note  Q. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  489 

at  Manhattan  and  on  Long  Island  without  awakening  and  ch  xiv. 
jealousy.     But  there  were  many  besides  who  had  come         ~' 
with  other  designs ;  and  the  Nine  Men  wished  to  check 
what  seemed  a  growing  evil,    A  remonstrance  was,  there-  is  Feb. 
fore,  addressed  to  Stuy  vesant  and  his  council,  proposing  va- 
rious measures  for  remedying  the  injuries  caused  by  per- 
sons who  contributed  nothing  toward  the  advancement  of 
the  province,  but  who  merely  carried  on  a  temporary  trade 
in  furs,  which  they  procured  from  the  Indians  by  improp- 
er traffic,  and  then  smuggled  out  of  the  country  at  night. 
The  remonstrance  of  the  Nine  Men  prompted  new  proc- 
lamations, which  only  produced  embarrassment.     No  per-  lo  March. 
son  was  thereafter  to  be  allowed  to  carry  on  business  in 
New   Netherland  except  permanent  residents  who  had 
taken  the  oath  of  allegiance,  were  rated  at  from  two  to 
three   thousand   guilders   at  least,  and  who   intended  to  Residence 
"keep  fire  and  light"  in  the  province.     "  Old  residents," "^^''""^^  ' 
however,  though  not  possessing  the  full  property  qualifi- 
cation, were  allowed  trading  privileges,  provided  they  re- 
mained in  the  province,  and  used  only  the  weights  and 
measures  of  "  Old  Amsterdam,  to  which  we  owe  our  name." 
To  carry  out  this  policy,  it  was  soon  afterward  ordained  is  sepi. 
that  "  all  Scotch  merchants  and  small  dealers,  who  come  merchants 
over  from  their  own  country  with  the  intention  of  trading 
here,"  should  "  not  be  permitted  to  carry  on  any  trade  in 
the  land"  until  they  had  resided  three  years  in  the  prov- 
ince ;  and  they  were  further  required  to  build  "  a  decent 
habitable  tenement"  within  one  year  after  their  arrival. 
Strangers,  however,  might  sell  goods  from  their  vessels,  if 
they  were  properly  entered,  and  the  duty  paid  on  all  sales. 
Every  Monday  was  to  be  a  market  day,  "  as  well  for  stran- 
gers as  residents."    In  imitation  3f  one  of  the  customs  of 
the  Fatherland,  an  annual  "Kermis,"  or  fair  for  ten  days,  Kinnis ^ 

•'     '  lair. 

commencing  on  the  Monday  after  Saint  Bartholomew's 
day,  was  established,  at  which  all  persons  were  privileged 
to  sell  goods  from  their  tents.  The  trade  on  the  North  and 
South  Rivers  was  reserved  to  citizens  of  the  requisite  qual- 
ifications,  who  had  obtained  a  pass  from  the  director.    The 


490  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Ch.  XIV.  East  River,  however,  was  declared  to  be  "  free  and  open 

to  every  one,  no  matter  to  what  nation  he  may  belong." 

■  All  vessels  under  fifty  tons  were  to  anchor  between  the 

Capsey  "Hoeck,"  which  divided  the  East  from  the  North 

Hand  or     River,  and  the  "  hand,"  or  guide-board  opposite  the  "  Stadt- 

boarda.  hcrbcrg,"  which  Kieft  had  built  in  1642.  Larger  vessels 
might  anchor  as  far  eastward  as  the  "second  guide-board," 
opposite  the  "  Smit's  Vleye."  No  freight,  however,  was 
to  be  landed,  nor  were  any  boats  to  leave  the  vessels  be- 
tween sunset  and  sunrise.* 

All  these  regulations  were  strictly  enforced.  The  con- 
traband trade  in  fire-arms,  of  which  the  New  England 
commissioners  had  complainedj  was  as  severely  condemned 
by  the  commonalty ;  and  the  new  regulations  for  its  sup- 
pression met  their  warm  approbation.  All  they  desired 
was  that  they  "  should  be  executed  without  partiality." 
Cases,  however,  occurred  in  which  the  director's  action 
exposed  him  to  severe  criticism.  G-overt  Barent,  the  arm- 
orer of  Fort  Amsterdam,  Joost  Teunissen  de  Backer,  Ja- 
cob Reintsen,  Jacob  Schermerhorn,  and  his  brother,  were 

9  July.       arrested,  and  Reintsen  and  the  two  Schermerhorns  were 

Contra- 
band trade  convicted  and  sentenced  to  death  for  violating  the  proo- 

in  fire-  ■,       •       n  mi 

""Tus-  lamation  against  illicit  trade  in  fire-arms.  The  sentence, 
however,  was  commuted,  "  by  the  intervention  of  many 
good  men,"  to  the  confiscation  of  the  goods  of  the  convicts. 
Teunissen  was  released  on  bail ;  and  failing  to  receive  a 
passport  to  return  to  Holland,  he  left  New  Netherland  se- 
cretly the  next  year,  and  brought  his  case  before  the  States 
G-eneral.  Stuyvesant  was  blamed  for  undue  severity  in 
these  instances,  as  well  as  for  the  seizure  of  a  cargo  of 
goods  in  a  ship  consigned  to  G-overt  Loockermans,  one  of 
the  Nine  Men.t  But  his  conduct  seems  to  have  been  dic- 
tated by  an  earnest  desire  to  repress  the  mischievous  traf- 
fic \vhich  had  been  carried  on  so  long  with  the  savages. 
This  trade  centered  chiefly  at  Rensselaerswyck,  where 

*  Alb.  Rec,  vii.,  160-189  ;  New  Amst.  Rec,  i.,  20,  21  ;  O'Call.,  ii ,  59-62  ;  C  F  Hoff- 
man's Address,  1847,  p.  2";  ante,  p.  263- 

t  Alb.  Rec,  vii.,  240  ;  viii.,  60  ;  Ho'.  Doc,  iv.,  238,  243  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  62-C4  ;  ii.,  N.  Y. 
H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  290,  311,  312,  334,  333. 


PETER  STU  YVES  ANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  49 1 

Brandt  van  Slechtenhorst,  the  recently-appointed  commis-  ch.  xiv. 
sary  of  the  infant  patroon,  had  now  arrived.     The  new  co- 
lonial  officer,  who  was  esteemed  "  a  person  of  stubborn  and  22  March. 
headstrong  temper,"  took  an  early  opportunity  to  exhibit  ^n^^frs';'^''' 
his  devotion  to  his  feudal  chief,  and  his  insubordination  to  ry'!l["Re^ns- 
the  provincial  government.     A  proclamation  for  the  ob-^yg^'^^" 
servance  of  a  general  fast-day  throughout  New  Nether- 
land  having  been  sent  to  Beverswyck  or  Beverwyck,  for 
publication,  Van  Slechtenhorst  protested  against  it  as  an  20  Aprii. 
invasion  of  "the  right  and  authority  of  the  Lord  Patroon."  ordination. 
Stuyvesant,  whose  attention  had  already  been  called  to  the 
illicit  trade  carried  on  within  the  colonic,  therefore  de-    • 
termined  to  hasten  his  proposed  visit  there.     Embarking  juiy. 
with  a  small  escort  of  soldiers,  he  soon  afterward  reached  Brugge, 
Fort  Orange,  where  Carl  van  Brugge  was  now  the  com- ?y™t 'porV 
pany's  commissary,  in  place  of  Bogaerdt.  ""°^' 

The  arrival  of  the  commander-in-chief  was  greeted  by  stuyvesam 
salutes  from  the  artillery  of  Fort  Orange,  and  the  patroon's  orange. 
"  three  pieces  of  cannon."    Van  Slechtenhorst,  summoned 
to  answer  for  his  contempt  of  the  company's  authority,  re- 
torted by  complaining  of  Stuyvesant's  infringement  of  the 
privileges  of  the  patroon.     The  director  general  was  in  no  23  juiy. 
mood  to  trifle,  and  a  protest,  conveying  the  orders  of  the  van  siecii- 
provincial  government,  was  handed  to  the  contumacious 
colonial  officer.     He  was  directed  to  refrain  from  putting 
up  any  buildings  within  range  of  the  guns  of  Fort  Orange, 
as  they  rendered  the  post  insecure.     No  new  ordinances 
affecting  trade  or  commerce  within  the  colony  were  to  be 
made,  unless  with  the  assent  of  the  provincial  authorities. 
The  pledge  which  the  patroon  and  his  officers  exacted  from 
the  colonists,  not  to  appeal  from  their  judgments  to  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  New  Netherland,  was  held  to  be  "  a  crime ;" 
and  the  annual  return  of  all  the  affairs  of  the  colony  to  the 
director  and  council  at  Manhattan,  provided  for  in  the  char- 
ter of  privileges,  was  peremptorily  required.    In  reply,  Van  28  Juiy. 
Slechtenhorst  complained  that  the  director  had  acted  "  as  tenhorst'a 
if  he  were  the  lord  of  the  patroon's  colonic."     The  pro- 
hibition from  building  near  Fort  Orange  was  unjustifiable; 


492        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

c:h.  XIV.  for  "a  few  years  ago"  the  patroon's  trading-house  had 
stood  on  the  very  border  of  the  moat,  and,  moreover,  the 
land  all  around  was  his.     After  directing  that  the  pali- 

Fort  Or-     sades  of  the  fort  should  be  replaced  by  a  solid  stone  wall, 

repaired.^  and  after  endeavoring  to  induce  the  Mohawks  and  ether 
neighboring  savages  to  preserve  peace  among  themselves, 
with  the  Dutch,  and  with  their  "  brethren,  the  English 
and  French,"  the  provincial  commander-in-chief  returned 
to  New  Amsterdam,  saluted  on  his  departure,  as  he  had 
been  on  his  arrival,  by  all  the  artillery  at  Beverwyck. 
Notwithstanding  Stuyvesant's  orders.  Van  Slechtenhorst 

23  August,  persevered ;  and  a  new  protest  from  Manhattan  warned 
him  to  refrain  from  encroachments  on  the  precinct  of  Fort 
Orange.     The  colonial  officer  replied  by  excepting  to  the 

8  Sept.  technical  formality  of  the  director's  legal  proceedings,  and 
by  contrasting  the  practice  at  New  Amsterdam,  where 
streets  full  of  houses  clustered  around  the  fort,  with  the 
more  severe  restrictions  at  Beverwyck,  where  no  buildings 
were  thenceforth  to  be  erected  within  the  range  of  a  mus- 
ket ball  from  Fort  Orange,  Yan  Slechtenhorst  followed 
up  his  letter  by  forbidding  the  company's  commissary  to 
quarry  stone,  or  cut  timber  within  the  colonic.  At  the 
same  time,  he  persisted  in  erecting  houses  for  the  patroon 
"even  within  pistol-shot  of  Fort  Orange." 

Soldiers         Stuyvesant  promptly  dispatched  a  corporal's  guard  to 

sent  to  Fort  iii/-^-  -itt-« 

Orange.  J:<ort  Oraugc,  and  ordered  Commissary  Van  Brugge  to  de- 
molish the  prohibited  buildings,  arrest  Van  Slechtenhorst, 
and  keep  him  in  custody  until  he  produced  his  commis- 
sions and  instructions.  The  patroon's  officer  was  also 
summoned  to  appear  and  answer  at  Fort  Amsterdam ;  and 
the  importation  of  fire-arms  into  the  colonic,  without  the 
permission  of  the  "  Lords  Majors"  at  Amsterdam,  was  for- 
mally prohibited. 

The  unusual  presence  of  a  military  force  created  some 
excitement  in  the  quiet  hamlet.  The  bearing  of  the  sol- 
diers was  insolent ;  Van  Slechtenhorst  himself,  while  walk- 

21  Sept.  ing  in  the  street  with  his  deputy,  was  rather  rudely  sa- 
luted ;  the  colonists  were  offended ;  and  the  Mohawk  sav- 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  493 

ages  wondered  why  the  "  "Wooden  Leg"*  wished  to  de-  ch.  xit 
stroy  the  houses  "  which  were  to  shelter  them  in  storms  "~~~~ 
and  winter."     They  could  not  understand  the  motives  for  peeungs  oi 
the  director's  military  restrictions.     "Come  to  us  in  thefiaw^k^ 
Maquaas   country,"  said  they,  "  and   we   will  give  you 
plenty  of  land." 

Van  Brugge,  unwilling  to  proceed  to  extremities,  for- 
bore to  demolish  the  houses  or  arrest  the  patroon's  officer  ; 
but  he  executed  the  rest  of  his  duty ;  and  Van  Slechten- 
horst  refusing  to  produce  his  commission,  was  summoned  van  siech- 

1  -r<  A  1  mi  1  1  •  tenhorst 

to  appear  and  answer  at  rort  Amsterdam,      ihe  soldiers  summoned 

TIT       1  rrn  1     ^°  Manliat- 

were  now  durected  to  return  to  Manhattan,  ihe  patroon's  tan. 
representative  again  exhibited  his  loyalty  in  a  protest  20  October 
against  Stuyvesant's  infringement  of  the  privileges  of  his 
feudal  chief.  Van  Brugge's  mode  of  serving  the  summons 
had  not  technically  conformed  to  the  practice  at  home, 
and  was  not  legal.  The  patroon  was  master  on  his  own 
land,  and  his  officers  could  arrest  all  trespassers,  and  pre- 
vent the  cutting  of  timber.  It  was  a  mere  subterfuge  that 
his  buildings  interfered  with  the  safety  of  Fort  Orange, 
which  one  could  now  "  enter  or  quit  at  pleasure,  by  night 
or  by  day." 

The  provincial  government  promptly  maintained  that  23  Nov. 
their  authority  "extended  to  the  colonic  of  Rensselaers- ders ivom 
wyck,  as  well  as  to  the  other  colonies,  such  as  Heemstede,  sam. 
Vlissingen,  and  Gravensande."     The  company's  chief  of- 
ficers, Van  Brugge  and  Labbatie,  were  directed  to  proceed 
with  the  repairs  of  Fort  Orange,  and  authorized  to  take 
timber  and  quarry-stones  for  that  purpose  from  any  place 
within  the  territory  of  New  Netherland.     All  buildings 
within  gun-shot  of  the  fort  were  to  be  destroyed,  and  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  company  over  its  precinct,  and  their 
"  ancient  and  uninterrupted  use"  of  the  land  in  its  neigh- 
borhood, were  to  be  firmly  maintained.     A  fresh  citation 

*  The  savages  constantly  gave  descriptive  or  characteristic  names  as  well  to  the  Eu- 
ropeans as  to  themselves.  They  called  Stuyvcsant  the  "Wooden  Leg."  Josselyn,  in 
1674,  spoke  of  him  as  the  Dutch  governor  "  with  a  silver  leg;"  and  Ebeling  and  Acreliua 
follow  Josselyn.  The  Mohawks  and  Josselyn  were  probably  both  right ;  Stuyvesant  seems 
to  have  used  a  wooden  leg  strapped  with  silver  bands. 


494  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  xi>  from  the  schout-fiscal  accompanied  these  orders.  "V  an 
Slechtenhorst's  insubordination,  it  averred,  had  become 

30  Nov.  notorious,  and  the  summons  which  had  been  served  upon 
him,  in  a  courteous  and  sufficiently  formal  manner,  had 
been  disobeyed,  though  "  the  river  remained  open,  the 
winter  pleasant,  and  several  vessels  sailed  up  and  down 
during  the  whole  month  of  November."  To  cure  all  doubts. 
Van  Slechtenhorst  was  now  peremptorily  commanded  to 
appear,  the  next  April,  at  Fort  Amsterdam,  where  he 
would  "  be  informed  of  the  complaint  against  him."  Thus 
ended  the  question  for  the  present.  In  Stuyvesant's  mil- 
itary judgment,  the  colonists  at  Beverwyck  clustered  near 
Fort  Orange  "through  pride."  Perhaps  a  still  stronger 
motive  was  their  natural  anxiety  to  be  as  near  as  possible 
to  the  only  frontier  citadel  which  could  protect  them,  in 
time  of  need,  from  the  wild  men  of  the  forests.* 

Megapoien-      Mcgapoleusis,  who  had  been  the  clergyman  of  the  col- 

Backerus.  ouie  sinoe  1642,  having  requested  permission  to  return  to 
the  Fatherland,  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  the  Classis 

15  August,  of  Amsterdam,  agreed  to  remain  until  the  next  year. 
Domine   Backerus,  not  satisfied  with  the  condition  of 

2  Sept.  things  at  Manhattan,  also  asked  his  dismission.  This  re- 
quest was  seconded  by  Stuyvesant  and  the  other  elders 

11  Sept.  and  deacons,  who  desired  that  "  an  old,  experienced,  and 
godly  minister  might  be  sent  to  them,  to  the  end  that  their 
very  bewildered  people  might  not,  by  the  departure  of  their 
present  clergymen,  be  left  in  destitution."     The  Classis 

TDec.  endeavored  to  procure  other  clergymen  for  New  Nether- 
land,  and  consultations  were  held  with  the  directors  of  the 
company  and  the  heirs  of  Van  Rensselaer  ;  but  while  ev- 
ery effort  was  made,  it  was  difficult  to  find  any  experi- 
enced ministers  in  Holland  willing  to  undertake  "  so  far 
distant  a  voyage."t 

The  popular  discontent  at  New  Amsterdam  had  now 
grown  to  a  very  significant  degree.     The  debts  due  to  the 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  16,  44  ;  v.,  72-90 ;  vii.,  192-219 ;  Stuyvesant's  Letters  ;  Renss.  MSS. ; 
O'Call.,  ii.,  69-79 ;  ante,  304,  374,  420. 

t  Cor.  Classis  Amst. ;  Letters  of  Megapolensis  of  the  15th  of  August,  and  ©''Backerus 
of  the  2d  of  September,  1648. 


PETER  STUYVESAM',  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  495 

company,  which  Kieft  had  left  uncollected  to  the  amount  ch.  xiv. 
of  thirty  thousand  guilders,  were  called  in ;  while  the  peo- 
pie  complained  that  their  own  claims  for  wages  and  grain  Growth  of 
remained  unpaid.     The  Nine  Men  were  obliged  to  inter-  JloJIl'ent'if 
fero ;  and  the  proceedings  which  the  fiscal  had  been  di-  J^^Sctobe".' 
rected  to  take  were  "  put  off  for  a  time."     The  high  cus- 
toms'duties  which  were  exacted  from  the  colonists,  amount- 
ing to  nearly  thirty  per  centum,  "besides  waste,"  and  the 
avidity  which  the  director  exhibited  to  confiscate,  was  a 
"  vulture,  destroying  the  prosperity  of  New  Netherland, 
diverting  its  trade,  and  making  the  people  discontented." 
The  "  bad  report"  spread  itself  every  where  ;  among  the 
neighboring  English ;  north  and  south ;  and  even  in  the 
West  Indies  and  Carribee  Islands.     Not  a  ship  dared  come 
from  those  places ;  while  credible  Boston  traders  assured 
the  Nine  Men  that  more  than  twenty-five  vessels  would 
annually  visit  Manhattan  from  those  islands,  "if  the  own- 
ers were  not  fearful  of  confiscation." 

The  representatives  of  the  commonalty  complained  to  The  Nine 
Stuyvesant,  and  contrasted  their  own  "desolate  and  ruin- plain  to 

StUVVC' 

ous"  state  with  the  "flourishing  condition"  of  their  neio^h-sam. 
bors.     This  the  director  admitted  that  he  observed,  but 
could  not  remedy  ;  he  only  followed  the  company's  orders. 
The  commonalty  now  thought  it  expedient  and  necessary  Delegation 
"to  send  a  deputation  to  their  High  Mightinesses."     Stuy- proposed. 
vesant  commended  the  project,  and  "urged  it  strongly." 
A  person  was  already  spoken  of  to  go  as  delegate,  when  the 
director  required  that  the  communication  with  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Fatherland  should  be  "according  to  his  wish- 
es."   Perceiving  the  object  of  this  demand,  the  Nine  Men 
would  not  consent,  "and  the  matter  therefore  fell  asleep." 
The  English  emigrants,  "  who  had  been  depended  upon,  Defection 
and  who  were  associated  in  the  affair,"  from  time  to  time  giish  from 
withdrew  from  the  Dutch,  who  were  eager  for  reforms,  side!'"''"  "*' 
This  made  the  necessity  of  action  greater ;  and  at  the  next  December. 
election  the  Nine  Men  were  changed.* 

*  IIol.  Doc,  iv.,  40  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  11.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  312-315,  335,  336.  The  new  board  of  Nine 
Men  for  lf)49  consisted  of  seven  of  the  old  members,  with  Adriaen  van  der  Donck  and 
niofTStevenscn  van  Cortlandt. 


496        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIV.       The  onerous  customs'  regulations  of  New  Netherland 
were  not  only  a  sore  annoyance  to  the  New  England  co- 
The  r^w   Gonial  governments,  but  they  produced  their  natural  conse- 
^Jioliles     quence.     Retaliation  was  threatened.     The  sale  of  guns 
^°^p'^j'J'^°'"and  powder  to  the  Indians  was  another  grievance.     By 
^Iti^ns"^"^'  ^^i^  practice  the  greater  part  of  the  beaver  trade  had  been 
drawn  to  the  French  and  Dutch ;  and  the  means  of  the 
New  England  colonies  to  make  returns  for  English  com- 
modities "were  grown  very  short."* 
March.  Early  in  the  year,  Eaton  had  written  to  Massachusetts, 

proposing  "a  prohibition  of  all  trade  with  the  Dutch  until 
satisfaction  were  given,"  and  accusing  the  director  of  hav- 
ing endeavored  to  "  animate  the  natives  to  war  upon  the 
corre-       EugUsh."    A  loug  Correspondence  ensued,  in  which  Stuy- 
with  the    vesant  vindicated  his  conduct,  pressed  for  a  meeting  with 

New  Ell-         ,  ..  ^  •  ,      ^   1    ■  r    t  r         • 

gland  au-    the  commissioncrs,  and  reiterated  his  peaceful  professions ; 

April  to  and  the  New  England  authorities,  on  their  side,  proposed 
to  fix  June  of  the  next  year  as  the  time  for  a  conference. 
In  this  correspondence,  Stuyvesant,  betraying  too  much 
anxiety,  displayed  a  want  of  diplomatic  tact.  The  En- 
glish regarded  his  conduct  as  an  evidence  of  the  weakness 
both  of  the  West  India  Company  and  of  the  Dutch  colo- 
nial government,  and  thought  that  their  embarrassed  ad- 
versary, whose  spirit  was  "  beginning  to  fall,"  could  very 
well  abide  their  convenience.! 

The  following  September  the  commissioners  met  at 
Plymouth,  and,  "  by  way  of  preparation  to  a  meeting  with 
the  Dutch  governor,  or  provision  for  their  own  safety  and 

J I  Sept.  convenience,"  thought  fit  to  write  to  Stuyvesant.  The 
Mohawks  near  Fort  Orange,  whom  Pynchon,  at  Springfield, 
had  described  as  the  "  terror  of  all  Indians,"  were  growing 
bold  and  daring  with  the  possession  of  arms  furnished  to 
them  by  the  Dutch.  The  customs'  regulations  at  Man- 
hattan had  not  yet  been  modified ;  the  seizure  of  "Wester- 
house's  ship  at  New  Haven,  and  the  claim  of  territorial 
jurisdiction,  were  unexplained.     They  therefore  notified 

*  Winthrop,  ii.,  312. 

t  Winthrop,  ii  ,  315,  316,  324-330  ;  Hubbard,  438  ;  Stuyvesant's  Letters,  Alb.,  i. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  497 

the  director  that  Dutch  traders  in  New  England  must  ex-  cn.  xiv 

pect  a  requital  of  the  "  inconvenient  impositions"  laid  upon 

all  persons  within  "  the  Dutch  Plantation ;"  that  guns  and  ^he  com- 

ammunition  would  he  seized,  and  retaliatory  restraints  ™op{°"^" 

upon  the  Indian  trade  would  be  enforced  ;  and  that  future  ^f^rmna^- 

seizures  of  ships  within  English  jurisdiction  would  be  met*'""" 

by  "  all  suitable  and  just"  reprisals. 

Stuvvesant  replied  that  he  had  done  all  in  his  power  to  stuyve- 
Y>        •  1     1  1       -n     !•  1  want's  ex- 

repress  the  illicit  traffic  with  the  savages;  that  English pianauons. 

traders  had  been  treated  with  all  possible  lenity,  and,  in 
some  respects,  were  even  more  favored  than  the  Dutch ; 
and  that  he  had  urged  the  West  India  Company  to  mod- 
ify their  injurious  regulations.  As  to  territorial  claims, 
what  the  English  called  Cape  Cod  the  Dutch  called  Cape 
Malebarre  ;  what  he  himself  had  meant  by  Cape  Cod,  was 
Point  Judith.  His  own  commission  was  as  ample  as  could 
be  desired.  New  Netherland  was  not  a  "  plantation,"  as 
the  commissioners  had  erroneously  called  it.  The  States 
General  had  invested  it  with  the  privileges  of  a  "  prov-  1 

ince,"  and  in  all  their  commissions  had  recognized  it  as 
such. 

The  director  also  wrote  to  the  West  India  Company,  in  23  Deo. 
pressing  terms,  urging  that  the  differences  between  the  co- 
lonial governments  of  New  Netherland  and  New  England 
ought  to  be  promptly  settled  in  Europe.*  But  the  dis- 
tracted condition  of  England  prevented  any  immediate 
hope  of  an  arrangement. 

*  Winthrop,  ii.,  386  ;  Hazard,  ii.,  102-105  ;  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  202 ;  Stuyvesant's  Let- 
ters ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  98-104  ;  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  15. 

Il 


498  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1649. 


CHAPTER  XV. 
1649-1651. 

Chap.  XV.  The  year  1649  was  one  of  the  most  memorable  in  his- 
'tory.  A  contest  between  the  people  and  their  sovereign 
had  been  carried  on  in  England,  as  it  had  long  before  been 
carried  on  in  the  Netherlands.  Opposition  had  been  suc- 
ceeded by  revolt  and  civil  war.  The  King  of  Great  Brit- 
ain, more  unfortunate  than  the  King  of  Spain,  became  a 
prisoner  in  the  hands  of  his  subjects.  A  revolutionary  tri- 
bunal pronounced  him  a  tyrant  and  a  traitor.     In  the  end 

30  januarj-.  of  January ,  1649,  Charles  I.  was  beheaded  in  front  of  his 

Charles  I.  owu  banqucting-hall,  and  England  was  declared  to  be  a 
republic. 

Yet  the  English  monarchical  principle  survived.  The 
army  and  its  great  leader  were  supreme.  A  military  des- 
potism governed  the  land ;  and  Cromwell  at  length  became 
dictator.  The  people  of  England  had  exercised  their  right 
to  revolt ;  but  they  did  not  gain,  by  a  change  of  masters, 
those  political  advantages  which  the  people  of  the  Nether- 
lands had  gained  by  the  deposition  of  their  sovereign  and 
the  declaration  of  their  national  independence. 

Feelings  of  The  terrible  tragedy  at  Whitehall  excited  the  detesta- 
tion of  all  classes  throughout  the  United  Provinces.  The 
Dutch  government  was  seriously  embarrassed.  The  Prince 
of  Wales  and  the  Duke  of  York,  escaping  from  England, 
had  found  an  asylum  at  the  Hague,  with  their  brother-in- 
law  William,  prince  of  Orange,  the  stadtholder ;  and  their 
united  influence  had  prevailed  on  the  States  G-eneral  to 
refuse  an  audience  to  Strickland,  the  parliamentary  agent, 
while  Boswell  was  still  recognized  as  the  resident  minis- 
ter of  Grreat  Britain.     This  naturally  provoked  antipath\ 


PETER  STU  YVES  ANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  499 

and   suspicion  in  London.     A  new  cause  of  bitterness  chap.  xv. 
arose,  when  Dorislaus,  who  had  been  sent  by  the  Parlia- 
ment  to  propose  an  alliance  with  the  United  Provinces, 
was  murdered  by  some  Scotchmen  who  had  taken  refuge  12  May. 
at  the  Hague.     Soon  afterward,  Strickland  quitted  Hoi- Threatened 

.  /-ici  rupture  be- 

laud. Without  havmg  obtained  an  audience  of  the  States  tween  En- 

Greneral ;  and  Joachimi,  the  Dutch  ambassador,  was  or-  the  xether- 

'  lands. 

dered  to  leave  London.  A  rupture  between  the  United 
Provinces  and  England  appeared  imminent. 

The  shock  which  troubled  Europe  was  felt  in  America.  Effector 
The  new  order  of  government  established  in  England  was  death  :n 

1       •  1  America 

Viewed  with  more  favor  in  the  Puritan  colonies  than  in 
Virginia.  From  Cromwell's  jealousy  of  the  Dutch  much 
was  hoped ;  and  the  dim  prospect  of  a  war  between  the 
Batavian  Republic  and  the  English  Commonwealth  could 
not  but  have  an  important  influence  upon  the  intercourse 
between  their  colonial  governments  across  the  Atlantic. 

At  this  crisis,  the  negotiations  between  New  Netherland  Negoua- 

-nii  IT-  riic  tions  with 

and  New  England  were  renewed.     In  view  of  public  af-  the  united 

'-'  _  ^  ,         .  Colonies. 

fairs,  the  West  India  Company  had  instructed  their  direct- 27  January, 
or  "  to  live  with  his  neighbors  on  the  best  terms  possible."* 
Eaton,  in  the  name  of  the  commissioners,  now  proposed  to  21  April. 
Stuyvesant  a  meeting  at  Boston,  in  June  or  July,  as  Brad- 
ford and  Dudley  were  both  too  far  advanced  in  life  to  make 
a  long  journey.     He  also  insisted  that  the  customs'  duties 
exacted  at  Manhattan  should  be  speedily  abolished.    Mean- 
while, Winthrop,  the  venerable  father  of  Massachusetts,  Death  of 
had  died,  at  the  age  of  sixty-one  years ;  and  his  death  was  26  March.' 
regretted  by  the  Dutch  director  as  "the  sad  loss  of  one 4 May. 
whose  wisdom  and  integrity  might  have  done  much  in 
composing  matters"  between  New  Netherland  and  New 
England.     In  regard  to  the  proposed  interview,  Stuyve- conference 
sant  considered  Connecticut  a  more  convenient  place  for  by  stuyv*. 
both  parties  than  Boston  ;  and  he  offered  to  visit  the  En- 10  May. 
glish  governor  at  New  Haven  to  have  a  friendly  conference. 

Eaton,  however,  did  not  think  that  a  private  interview  Eaton  do- 
could  be  satisfactory,  as  he  would  be  obliged  to  press  the 

*  Alb,  Rec,  iv.,  15;  Basnage,  i,,  141-147;  Davies,  ii,,  G73-676 ;  Bancroft,  ii,,  14-17. 


500  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XV.  complaints  of  his  own  people  very  urgently.    At  the  same 
time,  he  requested  specific  information  respecting  the  ru- 
26  Mav.     mored  changes  in  the  Dutch  customs'  regulations.     The 
director  acquainted  him  that  the  ten  per  cent,  formerly 
levied  on  goods  imported  from  New  England  had  been  sus- 
pended ;  and  that  the  hand-board  which  marked  the  an- 
chorage-ground off  the  shore  of  New  Amsterdam  had  been 
blown  down,  and  would  not  be  re-erected.     Eaton  now 
n  June,     demanded  that  English  vessels  passing  to  and  from  Vir- 
ginia and  Delaware  Bay,  and  trading  at  Manhattan,  should 
be  entirely  free  from  all  charges,  "by  what  name  soever 
called,"  both  on  goods  imported  and  exported.     Stuyve- 
2  July.  I      sant,  however,  replied,  that  he  had  yielded  already  as 
much  as  he  dared,  without  further  orders  from  his  supe- 
riors.    To  them  alone  was  he  responsible ;  by  no  other 
power  would  he  allow  his  public  conduct  to  be  regulated.* 
The  commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies  soon  after- 
2  Aujust.    ward  held  an  extraordinary  meeting  at  Boston,  at  which 
Eaton  urged  that  measures  should  be  taken  to  support  the 
New  Haven  people  in  their  proposed  settlements  on  Dela- 
ware Bay.    But  Stuyvesant  had  already  warned  Endicott 
and  Bradford  that  he  would  vigorously  maintain  the  right 
of  the  Dutch  to  the  South  River.     The  commissioners, 
therefore,  prudently  determined  not  to  encourage,  by  any 
public  act,  the  settlement  of  English  colonists  in  that  re- 
J^^  August  gion.     They  insisted,  however,  upon  the  English  right  to 
^he"com-^    New  Haven,  and  thence  eastward  to  Point  Judith  and 
wlmyvT  Cape  Cod.     The  director's  reply  to  their  letter  of  the  pre- 
^'^^^'        vious  September  was  unsatisfactory  and  defective.     He 
was  silent  with  respect  to  the  trade  in  guns  and  ammuni- 
tion carried  on  at  Fort  Orange  ;  he  had  not  informed  them 
about  the  revenue  regulations  at  Manhattan  ;  he  had  made 
no  reparation  for  the  seizure  of  Westerhouse's  ship  at  New 
Haven,  but  had  referred  him  "  to  the  justice  of  Holland." 
They  therefore  notified  him  that  all  trade  with  any  of  the 
Indians  within  the  limits  of  any  of  the  United  Colonies 
was  forbidden,  under  penalty  of  confiscation,  "  to  all  per- 

*  Stuyvesant's  Letters,  Alb.,  i. ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  104-106  ;  Hazard's  Ann.  Penn.,  118. 


PETER  STU  YVES  ANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  501 

sons  but  such  as  are  inhaLitants  within  the  said  English  chap,  x^ 
jurisdictions,  and  subject  to  their  laws  and  government."* 

With  this  bold  step,  the  correspondence  between  the  ^^^jj  j.^^' 
commissioners  and  Stuyvesant  ended  for  the  present.    Ex-  ["rade  wuii 
eluding  the  Dutch  from  the  valuable  Indian  trade  which  Eng^a^'d 
they  had  so  long  enjoyed,  and  to  which  they  felt  they  had  ^n'^'^"^- 
a  riojht,  it  only  added  to  the  causes  of  dissatisfaction  al-  Effect  in 

o       ^  J  New  Netli 

ready  rankling  in  the  minds  of  the  people  of  New  Nether-  eriand. 
land. 

At  the  last  election,  the  Nine  Men  had  been  strengthen- 
ed by  the  choice  of  the  energetic  Adriaen  van  der  Donck 
to  a  seat  at  their  board.     It  was  now  determined  that  the  Deieganon 
project  of  sending  a  delegation  to  Holland,  which  had  fall-  again  pro- 
en  through  the  previous  year,  should  be  executed.     The 
company  had  been  waited  upon  a  long  while  in  vain.    Re- 
forms had  been  promised  from  time  to  time,  but  there  was 
no  amendment.     The  Nine  Men  therefore  applied  to  Stuy- 
vesant for  leave  to  confer  with  the  commonalty.     In  re- 
ply, the  popular  tribunes  received  "  a  very  long  letter,"  to  stuyve 
the  effect  that  "communication  must  be  made  through mands. 
the  director,  and  his  instructions  be  followed." 

To  this  the  Nine  Men  could  not  assent.     They  informed  views  of 

1  •  1       -n       "*^  Nine 

Stuyvesant  that  they  would  not  send  any  thmg  to  the  b  a-  Men. 
therland  without  his  having  a  copy,  so  that  he  could  an- 
swer for  himself;  but  that  his  last  demand  was  unreasona- 
ble, and  "  antagonistic  to  the  welfare  of  the  country."    The 
director's  letter,  however,  as  the  Nine  Men  read  it,  sug- 
gested that  they  should  inquire  "  what  approbation  the 
commonalty  would  give  to  this  business,  and  how  the  ex- 
pense should  be  defrayed."    As  the  director  would  not  al- 
low the  people  to  be  convened,  the  popular  representatives 
"went  round  from  house  to  house,"  and  spoke  to  their  The  com- 
constitucnts.     This  excited  Stuyvesant's  displeasure,  and  consulted 
means  were  used  to  prevent  the  Nine  Men  from  doing  any 
thins:.     Iniurious  reports  were  spread  among  the  common-  intrigues 

,     ,        -r^        1.   T  ,  1  1  •    n       •      ji        •        of  Stuyve- 

alty  ;  and  the  English  settlers,  who  were  chieny  m  the  m-  sant 
terest  of  the  director  and  council,  were  employed  in  coun- 

*  Hazard,  ii.,  127-134  ;  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  208-210  ;  S.  Hazard's  Ann.  Penn.,  119, 


502        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XV.  teracting  the  efforts  of  the  popular  tribunes.  These  in- 
trigues  were  discovered  and  exposed ;  so,  "in  order  to  make 
a  diversion,  many  suits  were  brought  against  those  who 
were  considered  the  ringleaders."  To  neutralize  the  pro- 
posed movement  of  the  Nine  Men,  the  director  and  council 
A  great  also  summoued  a  meeting  of  delegates  from  the  militia  and 
summoned,  the  burghcrs,  to  consider  the  question  of  sending:  ascents 

21  Feb  n  J  i  o       O 

to  the  Fatherland  on  "  some  important  points." 

The  Nine  Men,  feeling  their  responsibility,  considered 
it  necessary  that  regular  memoranda  should  be  kept,  from 
which  "a  journal"  might  be  drawn  up  at  the  proper  time. 
This  duty  was  intrusted  to  Van  der  Donck,  who,  "by  a 
resolution  adopted  at  the  same  time,"  was  lodged  in  the 
Van  der  liousc  of  Jauscu,  oue  of  tlic  board.  The  director,  informed 
journal  of  this  by  Hall  and  Jansen,  went  to  Van  der  Donck's 
chamber  during  his  absence,  and  seized  the  "rough  draft," 
and  other  papers  of  the  Nine  Men.  The  next  day,  Van  der 
Donck  himself  was  arrested  and  imprisoned. 

4  March.         A  sliort  timc  afterward,  the  delegates  from  the  militia 

Meeting  of  i      i       i  i  •  -m  -n  a 

the  Great  and  the  Durglicrs  met  m  "great  councir'  at  rort  Amster- 
dam. Van  Dincklagen,  the  vice-director,  protested  against 
Stuyvesant's  arbitrary  proceedings,  and  demanded  that 
Van  der  Donck  should  be  admitted  to  bail.     This,  how- 

5  March,  ever,  was  refused.  Van  der  Donck  now  asked  for  his  pa- 
ings  pers,  to  correct  some  errors  which  had  crept  into  them 
A  an  der      But  tliis  requcst  was  also  denied ;  and,  on  his  examination, 

he  "could  not  make  it  right  in  any  way."  Another  meet- 
ing of  the  council  was  summoned,  at  which  Stuy  vesant  de- 
15  March,  livcrcd  liis  written  opinion.  Van  der  Donck  had  been  ar- 
rested for  calumniating  the  officers  of  the  government ;  he 
had  explained  his  libels  equivocally  ;  his  conduct  tending 
to  bring  the  sovereign  authority  into  contempt,  he  should 
be  compelled  to  prove  or  to  retract  his  allegations ;  and,  in 
default,  should  be  excluded  from  the  council  and  from  the 
board  of  Nine  Men.  Van  Dincklagen  alone  opposed  the 
opinion  of  the  director.  The  rest  of  the  members  sided 
with  Stuy  vesant ;  and  Van  der  Donck  was  unseated.* 

Mi., N.Y. U.S. Coll., ii., 315-317, 336;  O'Call., ii., 69-92  ;  Breeden Raedt, 39 ;  on<e, p. 499 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  5Uy 

In  the  mean  time,  the  harsh  judgment  against  Kuyter  chap.  xv. 
and  Melyn  had  been  reviewed  in  the  Fatherland,  and  acts 
had  been  passed  by  the  States  General  suspending  Stuy-  c^^^  q, 
vesant's  sentence,  citing  him  to  defend  it  at  the  Hague,  fi^Jy" ''"'' 
and  granting  to  the  appellants  the  full  enjoyment  of  all  the 
rights  of  colonists  in  New  Netherland.     Bearing  these  au- 
thoritative papers,  Melyn  returned  to  Manhattan.     Anx- 
ious that  his  triumph  should  be  as  public  as  his  disgrace 
had  been,  he  demanded  that  the  acts  of  their  High  Might-  s  March. 
inesses  should  be  read  and  explained  by  the  Nine  Men  to 
the,  commonalty,  who  were  assembled  in  the  church  with- 
in Fort  Amsterdam.    A  hubbub  arose.    After  an  exciting 
debate,  the  point  was  yielded,  and  the  mandamus  and 
summons  were  read  to  the  people.     "  I  honor  the  states, 
and  shall  obey  their  commands,"  said  Stuyvesant;  "  I  shall 
send  an  attorney  to  sustain  the  sentence."     This  was  all  is  March. 

__  StUWG" 

the  answer  he  would  give.     The  members  of  the  council  sant's  ob- 
explained  their  conduct  as  they  severally  thought  best. 
Van  Dincklagen  frankly  acknowledged  that  he  had  erred  ; 
but  the  rest  of  his  colleagues  would  give  no  satisfactory  re- 
plies.   The  director  and  secretary  positively  refused  to  give  23  March. 
the  written  answer  which  Melyn  demanded.    Stuyvesant's 
enmity  even  extended  to  Melyn's  family ;  and  his  son-in- 
law,  Jacob  Loper,  was  refused  permission  to  trade  on  the  14  June. 
South  River.* 

A  circumstance  now  occurred  which  added  to  the  pop- Affair  or 
ular  dissatisfaction.  The  directors  of  the  West  India  Com- 
pany, fearing  that  war  might  break  out  with  the  savages 
unless  their  anxiety  to  be  provided  with  arms  and  ammu- 
nition should  be  satisfied,  had  intimated  an  opinion  that 
"  the  best  policy  is  to  furnish  them  with  powder  and  ball, 
but  with  a  sparing  hand ;"  and,  upon  the  representation 
of  the  colonists  at  Rensselaerswyck,  Stuyvesant  had  order- 
ed Gerrit  Vastrick,  a  factor,  to  bring  him  over  a  case  of 
guns  from  Holland.  These  arms  were  landed  "  in  the  full  Apru 
light  of  day,"  and  delivered  to  Commissary  Keyser  at  Fort 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  iii.,  128-228,  233,  360-378;  v.,  GMOO;  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  95,  104,  215;  vii., 
24C ;  Hazard's  Ann.  Penn.,  117  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  59,  84  ;  Dreeilen  Raedt,  31-36  ;  ante,  p.  473 


O04        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap  XV.  Amsterdam.  The  people  now  began  to  complain  that  "  the 
director  was  every  thing,  and  did  the  business  of  the  whole 
country,  having  several  shops  himself;  that  he  was  a  brew- 
er, and  had  breweries ;  was  a  part  owner  of  ships,  and  a 
merchant  and  a  trader,  as  well  in  lawful  as  contraband 

21  April,  articles."  Finding  how  strongly  public  opinion  was  run- 
ning against  him,  Stuyvesant  was  obliged  to  exhibit  the 
orders  of  the  directors,  and  explain  his  own  interest  in  the 
affair.  His  explanations,  however,  were  not  entirely  satis- 
factory, and  the  transaction  was  complained  of  to  the  States 
Greneral.  The  Amsterdam  Chamber  afterward  reproved 
their  director  for  his  indiscretion,  and  also  commented  upon 

fant's^'      his  purchase,  for  private  purposes,  of  a  large  bouwery  upon 

Bouwery.    j^^nhattau  Island.* 

Stuyvesant      Van  dcr  Donck  had  now  become  a  political  martyr,  and 

still  op-  .  ,.,.  Viii 

poses  the    Stuvvesaut  s  mvcteratc  hostility  coniirmed  the  popular 

Nine  Men.  •'  ,      .       ,  .  .  ,        .  r    i      • 

tribunes  in  their  determination  to  obtain  a  redress  oi  their 
grievances  from  the  States  General.  Kieft's  placard  re- 
specting the  authentication  of  all  documents  before  the 
provincial  secretary  was  again  formally  enacted,  "  for  the 
purpose  of  cutting  off  the  convenient  mode  of  proof;"  and 
8  May.  the  director's  fears  even  led  him  to  tell  Domine  Backerus 
Domine      lu  pcrson,  uot  to  Tcad  from  the  pulpit  any  papers  whatso- 

Backerusto  /••iii  •       ■    -i  i_  i  ii 

readunau-  cvcr  reiemng  to  the  provincial  government,  unless  they 
pers  from'^  had  bccn  previously  approved  by  the  administration.t    But 
t  e  pti  pi .  j^^j^g  p£  these  measures  could  repress  the  spirit  of  the  pop- 
ular representatives. 
20  July.  A  memorial  to  the  States  Greneral  was  prepared,  in 

of  the  Nine  which  thc  rcforms  sought  for  from  the  government  of  the 
states  Gen- Fatherland  were  distinctly  stated.  I.  New  Netherland 
should  be  peopled  at  once  with  colonists,  to  be  brought 
over  from  Holland  in  public  vessels.  The  States  Greneral 
should  also  "  be  pleased  to  take  this  province  under  their 
own  gracious  safeguard,  and  to  allow  their  fatherly  affec- 
tion for  this  land  to  be  promulgated  and  made  manifest 
throughout  the  United  Netherlands  by  their  own  accorded 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  1,  2,  24,  31  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  310,  311,  334;  O'Call.,  ii.,  93 
108  ;  Bancroft,  ii.,  294.  t  Alb.  Rec,  vii.,  243 ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  318. 


PETER  STLYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  505 

privileges.     Many  would  then  be  attracted  toward  this  chap.  xv. 
country ;  while,  on  the  contrary,  every  one  is  now  dis- 
couraged  by  the  company's  harsh  proceedings  and  want  of 
means."    II.  The  States  General  should  establish  a  "  suit- 
able Burgher  Government,  such  as  their  High  Mightiness-  Burgher 

,         govern- 

es  shall  consider  adapted  to  this  province,  and  resembling  mem. 
somewhat  the  laudable  government  of  our  Fatherland." 
Free  trade,  colonial  commerce,  and  the  encouragement  of 
the  fisheries  would  also  contribute  materially  to  the  pros- 
perity of  the  province.  III.  The  boundaries  of  New  Neth- 
erland  should  be  established,  so  that  the  people  might 
"  dwell  in  peace  and  quietness,  and  enjoy  their  liberty,  as 
well  in  trade  and  commerce  as  in  intercourse  and  settled 
limits."  Referring  the  States  Greneral  for  further  inform- 
ation to  their  annexed  "  Remonstrance,"  this  bold  memo- 
rial to  the  government  of  the  Fatherland  was  signed  on 
the  twenty-sixth  of  July,  "  in  the  name  and  on  the  behalf  26  July 
of  the  commonalty  of  New  Netherland,"  by  Van  der  Donck, 
Heermans,  Hardenburg,  Couwenhoven,  Loockermans,  Kip, 
Van  Cortlandt,  Jansen,  Hall,  Elbertsen,  and.  Bout,  all 
members  of  the  existing  and  former  board  of  Nine  Men.* 
The  inhabitants  of  New  Netherland  had  now  for  many 
years  observed  the  administration  of  the  New  England 
governments  ;  and  in  some  marginal  "  remarks  and  ob-  Remarks 
servations''  upon  their  memorial,  the  Nine  Men  explained,  vaiions  of 
in  detail,  to  the  States  General,  the  organization  of  the  Men. 
Puritan  colonies,  where  "  neither  patroons,  nor  lords,  nor 
princes  are  known,  but  only  the  people."  Between  the 
system  of  their  "  neighbors  of  New  England"  and  that  of 
the  United  Netherlands,  they  urged,  there  was  "  no  differ- 
ence, but  fundamentally  a  similarity."!  It  was  against 
the  misgovernment  of  the  West  India  Company  and  its 
agents  that  the  popular  representatives  complained  ;  and 
they  now  asked  that  the  franchises  enjoyed  in  Holland 
should  be  enjoyed  in  New  Netherland,  and  that  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  province  should  resemble  the  "  laudable 
government"  of  their  Fatherland. 

*  Unl.  Doc,  iv.,  28-36  ;  Doc.  llist.  N.  Y.,  i.,  595-596.  t  IIol.  Doe.,  iv.,  53-55. 


UOQ  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XV.  The  "  Remonstrance"  of  New  Netherland,  which  ac- 
companied  the  memorial  of  the  Nine  Men,  was  drawn  up 
"  Remon-  ^"^^  ^^®  purpose  of  detailing  the  grievances  of  the  people, 
NewNeth-'^^^^  of  enforcing  the  necessity  of  the  political  reforms  for 
28  Jufy.  which  they  had  petitioned  the  States  G-eneral.  It  de- 
scribed the  aborigines,  and  the  physical  features  of  the 
country ;  sketched  the  first  discovery  and  occupation  of 
New  Netherland  by  the  Dutch ;  and  reviewed  the  policy 
and  proceedings  of  the  West  India  Company  and  of  its  co- 
lonial agents.  The  administrations  of  Kieft  and  Stuyve- 
sant  were  described  in  terms  of  severity,  and  the  personal 
characters  of  both  directors,  and  of  the  prominent  mem- 
bers of  their  councils,  were  graphically  sketched,  by  no 
Further  friendly  pen.  In  conclusion,  several  specific  measures  of 
of  belief,  relief,  in  addition  to  the  reforms  requested  in  the  memo- 
rial, were  suggested.  "  In  our  opinion,"  said  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  commonalty,  "  this  country  will  never 
flourish  under  the  government  of  the  honorable  company, 
but  will  pass  away,  and  come  to  an  end  of  itself,  unless 
the  honorable  company  be  reformed.  Therefore  it  would 
be  more  profitable  for  them  and  better  for  the  country  that 
they  should  be  rid  thereof,  and  their  effects  be  transported 
hence.  *  *  *  It  is  doubtful  whether  divine  worship  will 
not  have  to  cease  altogether,  in  consequence  of  the  depart- 
ure of  the  minister,*  and  the  inability  of  the  company. 
idwoi  There  should  be  a  public  school,  provided  with  at  least 
two  good  masters,  so  that  first  of  all,  in  so  wild  a  country, 
where  there  are  many  loose  people,  the  youth  be  well 
taught  and  brought  up,  not  only  in  reading  and  Avriting, 
but  also  in  the  knowledge  and  fear  of  the  Lord.  As  it  is 
now,  the  school  is  kept  very  irregularly  ;  one  and  another 
keeping  it  according  to  his  pleasure,  and  as  long  as  he 
thinks  proper.  There  ought  also  to  be  an  alms-house  and 
an  orphan  asylum,  and  other  similar  institutions.  *  *  * 
The  country  must  also  be  provided  with  godly,  honorable, 
and  intelligent  rulers,  who  are  not  very  indigent,  and  who 
are  not  too  covetous.     A  covetous  governor  makes  poor 

*  Domine  Johannes  Backerus. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  597 

subjects.    The  mode  in  which  the  country  is  now  govern-  chap.  xv 
ed  falls  severely  upon  it,  and  is  intolerable,  for  nobody  is 
unmolested  or  secure  in  his  property  lonsrer  than  the  di-   -'•"'*^- 

i       i^  J  o  A  better 

rector  pleases,  who  is  generally  strongly  inclined  to  con-  u'»yern- 
fiscating,  *  *  *  A  good  population  would  be  the  consc-  'i"'"".  .1 
quence  of  a  good  government,  as  we  have  shown,  accord- 
ing to  our  ability,  in  our  memorial.  And  although  to 
give  free  passage  and  equip  ships,  if  it  be  necessary,  would 
be  expensive  at  first,  yet,  if  the  result  be  considered,  it 
would  ultimately  prove  to  be  a  wise  measure,  if  by  that 
means  farmers  and  laborers,  together  with  other  poor  peo- 
ple, were  brought  into  the  country  with  the  little  proper- 
ty which  they  have.  Of  these  the  Fatherland  has  enough 
to  spare.  "We  believe  it  would  then  prosper,  especially  as  prosperity 
good  privileges  and  exemptions,  which  we  regard  as  the  i"''^'^"^"^'' 
mother  of  population,  would  encourage  the  inhabitants  to 
carry  on  commerce  and  lawful  trade.  Every  one  would 
be  allured  hither  by  the  pleasantness,  situation,  salubrity, 
and  fruitfulness  of  the  country,  if  protection  were  secured 
within  the  already  established  boundaries.  It  would  then, 
with  Grod's  assistance,  according  to  human  judgment,  all 
go  well,  and  New  Netherland  would  in  a  few  years  be  a 
brave  place,  and  be  able  to  do  service  to  the  Netherland 
nation,  to  repay  richly  the  cost,  and  to  thank  its  benefac- 
tors." 

This  "  Vertoogh,"  or  Remonstrance,  which,  as  well  as  the  Authorshij) 

•    1  111  1  1        -vr  1       and  signera 

memorial,  appears  to  have  been  drawn  up  by  Van  derofthe"Re- 
Donck,  was  signed  by  the  same  persons.     Three  of  the  strance." 
signers,  Van  der  Donck,  Couwenhoven,  and  Bout,  were  de-  Delegates 
puted  by  the  rest  to  proceed  to  the  Hague,  and  lay  their  theriand 
complaints  before  the  government  of  the  Fatherland.   Bear- 
ms:  with  them  formal  letters  of  credence  to  the  States  Gren-  ?^  J"'>' 

='  _  12  Augus' 

eral  from  their  colleagues,  and  from  Van  Dincklagen,  the 
vice-director,  the  first  delegates  of  the  people  of  New  Neth- 
erland embarked  for  Holland  on  their  important  mission.*  15  August 
Domine  Baekerus,  who  had  already  received  permission  Departure 
to  return  from  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam,  now  took  his  Backems" 

♦  llol.  Doc,  iv.,  22,  26,  71-207,  208;  v.,  57-63  ;  ii.  N.  Y.  II.  S.  CoU.,  ii.,  310,  320. 


508  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap  XV.  leave  of  the  church  at  Manhattan.  Stuyvesant  very  nal- 
urally  apprehended  that  the  Domine,  on  his  arrival  in  Hol- 

g  ,yj„  ■  land,  would  "join  the  complainants"  coming  from  New 
Netherland  ;  and  the  event  verified  the  director's  fears. 
He  availed  himself,  however,  of  the  occasion  to  write  earn- 

August.  estly  to  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam  to  send  out  a  pious,  well- 
qualified,  and  diligent  schoolmaster.  "  Nothing,"  he  add- 
ed, "is  of  greater  importance  than  the  right  early  instruc- 
tion of  youth." 

Domine  Megapolensis,  having  also  obtained  his  letters 
of  dismission  from  the  church  at  Rensselaerswyck,  was 
about  to  sail  for  the  Fatherland,  whither  his  wife  had  al- 
ready returned.  The  colonists  appeared  to  be  threatened 
with  the  total  loss  of  a  ministry  ;  and  Stuyvesant  pressed 
Megapolensis  to  remain  at  Manhattan,  where  children 
were  every  Sunday  presented  for  baptism,  "  sometimes 
one,  sometimes  two,  yea,  sometimes  three  and  four  togeth- 

succeeded  cr."     Tlic  Domiuc  was  finally  prevailed  upon  to  give  up 

lensis.^^^"'  his  voyage  at  the  urgent  solicitation  of  the  council,  and 
°  * '    was  formally  installed  as  the  successor  of  Backerus,  in  the 
church  of  New  Amsterdam,  with  a  yearly  salary  of  twelve 
hundred  guilders.* 

29  July.         All  this  time  Melyn  had  been  fruitlessly  endeavorinsr  to 

Melyn's  .    . 

case.         obtain  from  Stuyvesant  a  reversal  or  mitigation  of  his  sen- 
tence.    Weary  of  suffering,  he  now  embarked  again  for 
Holland,  "with  the  delegates  of  the  commonalty,"  to  seek 
tardy  justice  in  the  Fatherland.     The  director's  pride  was 
10  August,  sorely  wounded  by  the  action  of  the  States  G-eneral;  to 
sant's'^an-   whom,  howcvcr,  hc  wrote  that  he  would  obey  their  sum- 
spates  Gen- mons,  and  appear  in  person  at  the  Hague,  if  discharged 
by  the  company ;  but  that,  as  it  was,  he  should  send  an 
attorney.     He  thanked  them  for  having  "kept  one   ear 
open,"  as  many  of  the  papers  necessary  to  his  justification 
had  been  lost  with  the  Princess,  in  which  Kieft  had  been 
wrecked.     Melyn  had  abused  their  safe-conduct,  and  had 
behaved  mutinously  ;  and  he  himself  would  rather  never 

*  CiT.  Classis  Amsterdam ;  Letter  of  Stuyvesant  to  the  Classis,  August,  1649 ;  Alb 
Rec,  iv.,  16,  23  ;  vii.,  229,  251-256  ;  Rev  Ur.  De  Witt,  in  N.  Y.  11.  S.  Proc,  1&44,  71. 


PETER  STUYVES ANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  509 

have  received  the  commission  of  their  High  Mightinesses,  chap.  xv. 
than  have  had  his  authority  lowered  in  the  eyes  hoth  of  "7~ 
neighbors  and  subjects. 

Cornelis  van  Tienhoven,  the  secretary  of  the  province,  van  Tien- 
was  the  person  whom  the  director  selected  to  appear  for  to  noiiand 
hira  at  the  Hague.     Van  Tienhoven  was  "cautious,  sub-orthedi- 
tle,  intelligent,  and  sharp-witted ;"  he  had  been  long  in 
New  Netherland,  and  its  circumstances  were  thoroughly 
known  to  him.     The  representative  of  the  director  imme-  August 
diately  set  sail  for  Holland  in  a  small  vessel,  carrying  with 
him  a  mass  of  exculpatory  documents  ;  among  which  was 
a  letter  to  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  from  the  magistrates  Letter  fro  n 
of  the  English  settlement  at  Gravesend,  who,  under  the 
influence  of  Baxter,  declared  their  confidence  in  Stuyve- 
sant's  "  wisdom  and  justice  in  the  administration  of  the 
common-weal."     To  insure  Van  Tienhoven's  earlier  arriv- 
al in  Holland,  he  was  sent  off  fourteen  days  before  the  ship 
which  conveyed  the  popular  delegates  and  Melyn.     The 
secretary,  wishing  to  avoid  the  scene  of  Kieft's  shipwreck, 
went  by  the  north  of  Ireland.     But  the  experiment  was 
unlucky.     The  ship  in  which  Van  der  Donck  and  his  col- 
leagues sailed,  keeping  a  straight  course  for  the  channel, 
reached  the  Fatherland  before  Stuyvesant's  baffled  emis- 
sary could  make  his  port.* 

Since  Kieft's  treaty  of  1645,  the  disposition  of  the  sav- Temper  of 
ages  had  generally  been  friendly,  although  the  contiguity  River  sav- 
of  the  whites  occasionally  produced  excesses  and  blood- 
shed.    Early  in  the  spring  of  this  year,  a  Meckgackhanic 
Indian  killed  Simon  Vanderbilt  at  Paulus'  Hook.     Stuy- 
vesant  refrained  from  attempting  retaliation ;  and  the  sav- 
ages sent  a  deputation  to  Fort  Amsterdam  to  solicit  for-  JiJy. 
giveness  and  renew  their  covenant  of  peace.     The  director 
thanked  them  for  their  visit,  and  expressed  his  wish  to  live 
in  "  neighborly  friendship."     Any  injuries  done  them  by 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  iv.,  8,  217  ;  v.,  65,  66,  82-205  ;  ix.,  234  ;  Alb.  Rec.,  vii.,  220-247  ;  O'Call., 
ii.,  86-88,  143  ;  Breeden  Raedt,  37.  During  this  visit,  Melyn  seems  to  have  prepared  the 
"  Breeden  Raedt,"  which  was  printed  at  Antwerp,  his  native  place.  It  is  a  quarto  tract 
of  forty-five  pages,  bearing  the  date  of  1649,  and  is  the  earliest  known  separate  publica- 
tion respecting  New  Netherlanii.— See  ante,  p.  48,  note;  Int.  Mag.,  Dec,  1851,  p.  597 


510  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XV.  the  Dutch  would  be  surely  punished,  if  they  complained 
directly  to  him.     Accepting  their  gifts,  Stuyvesant  made 
*  them  some  presents  in  return ;  the  chain  of  peace  was 
again  rubbed  bright;   "  and  so  the  savages  departed  very 
much  satisfied." 
Katskiii  From  the  time  that  Van  der  Donck  attempted  to  estab- 

ack  ceded  to  lish  a  colonic  at  Katskiii,  the  patroon  of  Rensselaers\vyck 
ofRensse-  had  covcted  that  region;    and,  disregarding  the  patent 
'  which  Kieft  had  granted  tliree  years  before.  Van  Slechten- 
19  April,     horst  now  procured  a  cession  of  the  Indian  title.    The  next 
27  iMay.      month,  a  large  tract  was  purchased  at  Claverack,  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  river.     These  acquisitions  emboldened 
the  proprietors  of  the  colonic  to  reassert  their  claim  to  a 
staple  right  at  Beeren  Island.     The  arrogant  pretension 
was  derided ;  but  as  yet  Stuyvesant  had  taken  no  meas- 
14  July,      ures  to  oppose  it.     Two  months  afterward,  however,  he 
quaesgeek  bought  for  thc  compauy  the  region  called  Weckquaesgeek, 
bythe'weston  thc  cast  shorc  of  the  North  River,  comprising  a  large 
pany.     '  proportion  of  the  present  county  of  West  Chester ;  and  the 
Indian  grantors  at  the  same  time  promised  to  induce  the 
North  River  chiefs  "to  talk  the  matter  over,  and  not  to 
sell  to  any  without  the  knowledge  of  the  director  gen- 
eral."* 
South  Riv-       In  the  mean  time,  Printz  had  spared  no  efforts  to  obtain 
from  the  savages  all  the  lands  on  the  east  side  of  the  South 
River,  between  Fort  Nassau  and  the  Falls  at  Trenton, 
intelligence  of  this  design  was  communicated  to  the  gov- 
ernment at  Fort  Amsterdam,  who,  perceiving  that  its  ob- 
ject was  to  cut  the  Dutch  off  from  intercourse  between 
23  May.      the  Nortli  and  South  Rivers,  heartily  assented  to  Hudde's 
proposition  to  purchase  "all  the  lands  above  Fort  Nassau." 
As  the  commissary  was  unprovided  with  means,  an  asso- 
ciation was  formed  with  Simon  Root  and  three  other  Dutch 
fi  April,      traders,  providing  that  the   territory  they  might   obtain 
lands  above  should  bc  transferred  to  the  company  whenever  their  ad- 
sa°u.  ■  ''*    vances  should  be  repaid.     Under  this  agreement,  the  part- 

*  Alb.  Rec,  vii.,  252 ;   G.  G.,  507 ;  Renss.  MSS. ;   O'Call.,  ii.,  95,  96,  159  ;   Bolton's 
West  Chester,  i.,  165 ;  ante,  p.  378,  421. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  SH 

ners  purchased  "  the  lands  at  the  east  and  west  side,"  ex-  chap.  xv. 
tending  southward  from  Rancocus  Creek,  in  West  Jersey,  ~~ 
to  Fort  Nassau. 

At  the  same  time,  Thomas  Broen  was  authorized  by 
Stuyvesant  to  take  possession  of  "  Red  Hook,  otherwise 
called  Mantes  Hook,"  a  little  below  Fort  Nassau,  with  the 
promise  of  letters  patent,  as  soon  as  the  Dutch  should  ex- 
tinguish tlie  Indian  title.  Broen,  presenting  his  author-  conduc  of 
ization  to  Printz,  solicited  his  assistance  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  proposed  buildings.  The  Swedish  governor  as- 
sented, upon  condition  that  the  settlement  should  be  un- 
der his  jurisdiction.  To  this  Broen  refused  to  accede ;  and 
Printz  immediately  purchased  from  the  savages  the  lands 
from  Mantes  Hook  downward  to  the  Narratikon  or  Rac- 
coon Creek,  and  erected  upon  it  a  post  with  the  arms  of 
the  Swedish  crown.*  Stuyvesant's  personal  presence  at 
Fort  Nassau  was  now  anxiously  desired.  But  affairs  at 
New  Amsterdam  were  too  pressing  to  allow  the  director  to 
leave  the  seat  of  government ;  and  the  Swedes,  who  far 
outnumbered  the  Dutch,  remained  for  more  than  a  year  in 
virtual  command  of  the  whole  of  the  South  River. 

On  reaching  Holland,  Van  der  Donck  and  his  colleagues  The  popa- 
proceeded  at  once  to  the  Hague,  without  communicating  pates  at  the 
with  the  Amsterdam  Chamber.     The  voluminous  papers 
which  the  delegates  of  the  commonalty  of  New  Nether- 
land  submitted  to  the  States  General  were  referred  to  a 
committee,  with  instructions  to  examine  and  report  on  the  i3  October. 
whole  case  as  soon  as  possible.     Several  weeks  afterward. 
Van  Tienhoven,  arriving  at  the  Hague,  presented  docu-i2Dec. 
ments  in  support  of  Stuyvesant's  proceedings  against  Me- 
lyn.     These,  together  with  several  other  memorials  and 
letters  complaining  of  the  director's  treatment  of  Teunis- 
sen,  Claessen,  and  Heermans,  were  referred  to  the  com- 
mittee of  their  High  Mightinesses,  who  had  already  made  i3  Dec. 
progress  enough  to  satisfy  themselves  that  there  were  in- 
deed grievances  in  New  Netherland  to  be  redressed. t 

*  DeVries,103;  Alb.  Rec.xii.,  526;  xvii.,  270-274  ;  Acrelius,  411,412;  S.  Hazard,  Ann. 
Penn.,  113-116  ;  ante,  p.  225.  t  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  24  ;  Hoi.  Doc,  iv.,  211,  231,  233,  254. 


512        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

CHiP.  XV.  The  popular  delegates,  faithful  to  their  trust,  now  laid 
before  the  committee  a  formal  abstract,  detailino:  sixty- 

•27  Jaimary  ^ight  Specific  poiiits,  in  which  they  alleged  that  the  com- 
pany had  treated  their  province  with  "  excessive  and  most 
prejudicial  neglect."     To  these  charges  Yan  Tienhoven 

31  January,  drcw  up  a  reply  on  behalf  of  the  Amsterdam  Chamber. 
Addressing  themselves  again  directly  to  the  States  G-en- 

TFebruaiy.  eral,  the  delegates  contrasted  the  condition  of  New  En- 
gland with  that  of  their  province,  and  urged  that  New 
Netherland  should  be  taken  under  the  sole  protection  of 
the  general  government,  and  the  administration  of  its  af- 
fairs be  intrusted  to  its  inhabitants.  Unless  this  were 
done,  they  distinctly  declared  that  its  prosperity  could  not 
be  assured.     Still  further  to  aid  their  efforts,  they  caused 

Trie "  ver-  the  "  Vcrtoogh,"  or  Remonstrance  of  the  commonalty,  to 

printed,      be  printed  and  circulated.* 

The  distant  province  was  now  brought  prominently  to 
the  notice  of  the  people  of  the  Fatherland.     The  states  of 

16  Feb.      Gruelderland  were  addressed.     "  The  name  of  New  Neth- 

the  West    erland,"  wrote  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  to  Stuyvesant, 

India  Com-  •  i    i      r 

pany.  «« was  scarcely  ever  mentioned  before,  and  now  it  would 
seem  as  if  heaven  and  earth  were  interested  in  it."  "  Your 
apprehensions  in  regard  to  Domine  Backerus  have  been 
verified.  He  has  made  a  common  cause  with  the  com- 
plainants who  have  arrived  here  from  your  country.  These 
silly  persons,  or  at  least  the  largest  part  of  the  petitioners., 
have  been  imposed  upon  by  a  few  worthless  persons,  name- 
ly, Cornells  Melyn,  Adriaen  van  der  Donck,  and  a  few 
others,  who,  as  it  appears,  will  leave  nothing  untried  to 
abjure  every  kind  of  subjection  to  government,  under  pre- 
text that  they  groaned  under  too  galling  a  yoke.  In  this 
frantic  opinion  they  are  confirmed  by  Wouter  van  Twiller, 
who  aims  to  appoint  himself  as  the  only  commander  on 
the  North  River,  and  dares  to  declare  in  public  that  he 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  v.,  1-64.  The  Remonstrance  ■was  printed  at  the  Hague  in  1650,  in  the 
form  of  a  quarto  tract  of  forty-nine  pages,  under  the  title  of  "  Vertoogh  van  Nieuw  Ned- 
erlandt,"  &c.  A  copy  which  I  procured  in  Holland  is  in  the  library  of  the  N.  Y.  H.  Soci- 
ety, and  a  translation,  with  notes  by  Mr.  Murphy,  is  in  ii.  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  253-338. 
There  seems  to  have  been  a  map  of  New  Netherland  annexed  to  the  original,  but  I  could 
not  find  it  in  the  archives  at  the  Hague. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  513 

^loes  not  intend  to  permit  any  one  to  navigate  this  river  chap.  xv. 
with  a  commercial  view  ;  and  that  he  will  repel  with  force  ~~ 
every  one  who  with  that  purpose  shall  come  there,  or  into 
Rensselaerswyck."* 

Sufforestions  were  soon  made  that  several  hundred  char-  22  Feb. 


"■BD^ 


ity  children  in  the  orphan  houses  at  Amsterdam  should  be  to  promote 
sent  over ;  and  emigrants  in  large  numbers  pressed  their 
applications  for  means  of  conveyance.     But  the  company 
did  not  supply  sufficient  vessels  for  the  demand.     At  last 
Van  der  Donck  and  his  colleagues  succeeded  in  arranging:  ^^  March. 
for  the   conveyance   of  two  hundred  additional  persons. 
The  company  agreed  to  advance  four  thousand  guilders, 
and  to  allow  seven  thousand  more  out  of  the  colonial  rev- 
enue, upon  condition  that  the  emigrants  would  bind  them- 
selves to  remain  three  years  in  the  province.     Van  Tien- 
hoven  also  prepared  several  explanatory  papers  respecting 
the  boundaries,  the  customs'  regulations,  the  mode  of  es- 
tablishing colonies  and  bouweries  in  New  Netherland,  and 
a  schedule  of  the  taxes  imposed  in  New  England,  w^hich 
were  all  submitted  to  the  committee  of  the  States  G-en- 1  March. 
eral.    The  delegates  of  the  commonalty,  on  their  part,  pre- 
sented further  memorials  respecting  the  high  duties  exact-  7  March. 
ed  by  the  company,  and  the  unredressed  grievances  of  the 
province.! 

After  full  consideration,  the  committee  reported  to  theiiApru, 
States  General  "  a  remedy"  which  it  was  thought  "  ought  the  com- 
to  give  contentment  to  both  parties  until  further  provision  the  s.  g.  on 
should  be  made."     Passing  over  for  the  present  several  eriand 
points  in  the  "  great  Remonstrance  presented  from  the 
commonalty,"  they  submitted  the  draft  of  a  "  Provisional 
Order"  for  the  government  of  New  Netherland,  which  they 
recommended  that  the  States  General,  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  a  majority  of  the  directors  of  the  company, 
should  enact. 

The  proposed  Order  condemned  the  measures  by  which 
Kieft  had  brought  on  the  Indian  war,  and  required  that 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  25,  26 ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  1.,  377  ;  ante,  p.  420. 

t  Hoi.  Doc,  v.,  Ill,  123,  131,  134,  159,  r9,  I'll,  215  ;  Doe.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  25-36. 

Kk 


514        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XV. in  future  no  hostilities  should  he  waged  "against  the  ab- 
origines  or   neighbors   of  New  Netherland"  without  the 
Provisional  knowledge  of  the  States  General.     Darn  and  Planck,  who 
meVvern-  ^^^  petitioned  for  the  war,  should  be  sent  to  the  Hague, 
New  Netu-  ^o  be  examined.     The  trade  \vith  the  Indians,  in  guns  and 
"^'''^'"^"      ammunition,  should  be  gradually  and  totally  abolished  ; 
the  inhabitants  should  be  armed  and  enrolled  as  militia ; 
and  the  forts  should  be  maintained  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  afford  proper  protection  to  the  inhabitants.     Three  cler- 
ciergymen  gymcu  morc  sliould  be  provided ;  one  to  attend  divine  serv- 
masters.     ice  at  Reussclaerswyck,  one  "  in  and  around  the  city  of 
New  Amsterdam,"  and  a  third  in  the  "distant  settle- 
ments ;"  while  the  commonalty  should  "  be  obliged  to 
cause  the  youth  to  be  instructed  by  good  schoolmasters." 
The  provincial  council  should  favor,  by  every  means,  agri- 
culture and  the  peopling  of  the  country,  restrain  the  ex- 
portation of  cattle,  and  promote  "  a  good  trade  and  com- 
merce" between  New  Netherland  and  Brazil.     The  com- 
monalty should  be  convoked,  and  be  induced  to  consent  to 
Taxes.       the  imposition  of  taxes  and  duties,  "placing  the  collection, 
administration,  and  payment  of  the  recognitions  on  such  a 
footing  as  their  constituents  shall  order."     Two  counselors 
should  be  elected  by  the  commonalty.     Stuyvesant  should 
be  instructed  "  to  return  to  Holland  and  report ;"  and  a  suit- 
able person,  "  experienced  in  matters  relating  to  agricul- 
ture," should  be  dispatched  "  to  take  charge  of  the  coun- 
try lying  on  both  sides  of  the  great  North  River,  extending 
south  to  the  South  River,  and  north  to  the  Fresh  River." 
A  Court  of  Justice  should  be  erected  in  the  province.     A 
Borgne.     burghcr  government,  consisting  of  a  schout,  two  burgomas- 
ment!"      tcrs,  and  five  schepens,  should  be  established  in  the  "city 
of  New  Amsterdam."     In  the  mean  time,  the  Nine  Men 
should  continue  three  years  longer,  and  should  have  limited 
judicial  powers  in  small  causes  "between  man  and  man." 
All  inhabitants  and  immigrants  should  take  "  an  oatb  of 
fidelity."     Private  ships,  sailing  from  Holland  to  North 
America,  should,  according  to  their  tonnage,  be  compelled 
to  3onvey  emigrants.    And,  finally,  at  least  fifteen  thousand 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  515 

guilders  should  be  expended  every  year  by  the  "commis-  chap  xv 
sioners  of  New  Netherland,"  in  the  Amsterdam  Chamber, 
in  the  transportation  of  poor  agricultural  emigrants.* 

While,  on  the  one  hand,  this  Provisional  Order  did  notnApni. 

The  Am- 

fuUy  meet  the  views  of  the  deles;ates  of  the  commonalty,  sterdam 

1  1  •  1       1     1         1  •        1  •  ^1       Chamber 

on  the  other  it  provoked  the  determmed  resistance  of  the  opposes  the 

provisional 

Amsterdam  Chamber.  Its  statements  relative  to  Kieft's  order. 
war  were  questioned.  In  regard  to  the  Indian  trade,  the 
provincial  government  was  obliged  to  furnish  the  savages 
sparingly  with  arms,  "in  order  to  prevent  misunderstand- 
ing;" and  as  to  prices,  the  Indians  would  sometimes  in 
the  spring  pay  one  hundred  and  twenty  guilders  for  a  gun, 
and  ten  or  twelve  for  a  pound  of  powder.  The  patroons  of 
Rensselaerswyck  should  provide  a  clergyman  for  them- 
selves ;  there  was  one  already  at  New  Amsterdam,  and 
"  none  are  required  for  the  more  distant  places."  It  was 
improbable  that  the  colonists  could  be  induced  to  defray 
the  public  expenses  voluntarily,  when  they  had  already 
complained  so  much  about  the  wine  and  beer  excises.  For 
the  satisfaction  of  the  colonists,  however,  two  persons  might 
be  added  to  the  cuuncil ;  but  they  should  be  selected  by 
the  company  from  a  triple  nomination  by  the  people.  It 
would  be  unnecessary  to  recall  Stuyvesant;  the  vice-di- 
rector could  be  sent  for,  if  requisite.  The  Nine  Men  should 
have  no  more  power  ;  the  administration  of  justice  in  the 
province  had  better  be  left  "  as  it  then  stood."  Vessels  go- 
ing thither  would  be  required  to  carry  as  many  passengers 
as  their  burden  was  rated  in  tons ;  but  it  would  be  unjust 
to  the  creditors  of  the  company  if,  in  the  exhausted  state 
of  their  treasury,  the  directors  should  be  bound  to  expend 
fifteen  thousand  guilders  a  year  for  the  conveyance  of  em- 
igrants to  New  Netherland. 

Thus  pertinaciously  did  the  Amsterdam  directors  oppose 
the  measures  of  improvement  suggested  at  the  Hague  ; 
and  the  meagre  modifications  of  the  "  Freedoms  and  Ex- 
emptions" of  1629  and  1640,  which  they  grudgingly  pro-  24  May. 
posed,  scarcely  deserved  the  name  of  reforms.     The  Pro- 

*  IIoI.  Doc,  v.,  223-238  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  132-137  ;  Doc.  H  St.  N.  Y.,  i.,  538,  599. 


516        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XV.  visional  Order  itself  was  referred  back  to  the  committee, 

and  was  also  communicated  to  the  several  Chambers  of 

15  A  fii  *^®  company.  "  We  send  you  a  copy  of  this  resolution," 
instruc-  wrote  the  directors  to  Stuyvesant,  "  from  which  you  may 
stuyve-      learn  what  vexations  we  have  suffered,  and  how  full  of 

sant.  _  ' 

danger  it  is  to-  irritate  a  furious  multitude." 
Return  of       Lcaviug  Van  der  Donck  to  prosecute  in  the  Fatherland 
Ven  and  °  tlic  causo  of  the  coHmionalty,  Couwenhoven  and  Bout 
obtained  letters  from  the  States  General  forbidding  Stuy- 
vesant to  molest  them  ;  and  accompanied  by  Dirck  van 
8  April.      Schelluyne,  who  had  received  a  commission  to  practice  as 
a  notary  public  in  New  Netherland,  the  two  delegates  set 
sail  for  New  Amsterdam,  carrying  with  them  two  hund- 
red stand  of  arms  and  a  flag  for  the  use  of  the  burghers.* 
Ecciesias-       The  Classis  of  Amsterdam,  anxious  to  promote  the  cause 
ica  a  airs.  ^^  ^(jugation  and  religion  in  New  Netherland,  where  Me- 
gapolensis  was  their  solitary  clergyman,  now  sent  out  "Will- 
ie January,  iam  Vestens,  "a  good,  G-od-fearing  man,"  as  "  Siecken- 
•trooster,"  or  consoler  of  the  sick,  and  schoolmaster  at  Man- 
Domine     hattau.     Domiuc  Wilhelmus  Grasmeer,  a  son-in-law  of 
April.        Megapolensis,  also  set  sail  to  take  charge  of  the  church 
at  Beverwyck.     Grasmeer,  however,  had  been  under  the 
censure  of  the  Classis  of  Alckmaer,  and  his  departure  for 
America  without  their  approbation  was  considered  disor- 
4  Apru      derly.     The  consistory  of  the  church  at  New  Amsterdam 
was,  therefore,  warned  not  to  allow  him  to  take  any  part 
in  the  administration  of  the  Gospel,  in  case  he  should  of- 
fer to  do  so,  "until  he  should  have  made  satisfaction  to  the 
Classis  of  Alckmaer."t 
Municipal       The  municipal  affairs  of  the  capital  of  New  Netherland 
New^Am-  continued  to  be  administered  by  the  provincial  govern- 
ment.    Jan  Cornelissen  was  employed  to  keep  the  com- 
schooi.      mon  school ;  and  an  academy  was  contemplated.     Con- 
tracts for  land  on  Manhattan  Island  had  now  become  so 
7  Feb.       frequent,  that  to  guard  against  fraud,  it  was  ordained  that 
all  sales  of  real  estate  should  be  void,  unless  approved  by 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  v.,  202-207,  211  -213,  239-259,  274,  276-296  ;  Alb.  Rec,  Iv,,  29 
t  Cor.  Classis  Amsterdam. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  5^7 

the  director  and  council.     Bakers  were  required  to  make  chap,  xv 
their  bread  of  the  "standard  weight  of  the  Fatherland," 
and  to  use  "naught  else  than  pure  wheat  and  rye  flour j^^ji  ' 
as  it  comes  from  the  mill."     The  currency  of  the  province 
was  again  regulated ;  and  "  there  being  at  present  no  other  30  May 
specie,"  wampum  was  made  lawfully  current,  at  the  rate 
of  six  white  or  three  black  beads  of  "commercial  sewan," 
or  of  eight  white  and  four  black  of  the  "  base  strung," 
for  one  stuyver.     As  men  were  now  employed  in  repair- 
ing and  restoring  Fort  Amsterdam,  in  obedience  to  the  or- 
ders of  the  company,  the  inhabitants  were  warned  not  to  2:  juub 
let  their  cattle  run  at  large  without  a  herdsman,  "between 
the  fort  and  the  company's  bouwery,  and  the  pasture- 
ground  occupied  by  Thomas  Hall,  and  the  house  of  Mr. 
Isaac  AUerton."* 

On  the  return  of  Couwenhoven  and  Bout,  the  common-  28  June 
alty  learned  the  details  of  what  had  occurred  in  Holland,  sanrrcon- 
The  States  General  had  not  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  com-  posiuon'to  . 
plaints  of  the  people  of  their  province ;  and  though  the  fo°rm.^'^  ^^ 
Provisional  Order  was  not  yet  ratified,  it  at  least  foreshad- 
owed reform.     The  Nine  Men  now  requested  the  director 
to  promulgate  it  officially ;  but  all  he  would  do  was  to  pro- 
claim the  peace  of  "Westphalia,  in  obedience  to  the  orders 
of  the  States  Greneral.     The  company,  he  said,  was  opposed 
to  the  Provisional  Order,  and  he  would  not  conform  to  an 
instrument  which  his  immediate  superiors  disregarded. 

For  two  years,  Stuyvesant's  jealousy  had  prevented  the  Fresh  dim- 
mustering  of  the  burgher  guard  ;  the  same  jealousy  now 
refused  them  the  stand  of  colors  which  the  delegates  had 
brought  out  from  Holland.  Even  the  arms  which  had 
been  procured  for  their  use  were  not  delivered.  Food,  too, 
was  scarce  ;  for  the  previous  winter  had  been  so  cold  "that 
the  ink  froze  in  the  pen."  In  the  midst  of  this  famine, 
the  director  was  obliged  to  send  provisions  to  Curacoa,  and 
victual  the  comnany's  vessels.  Van  Dincklagen  and  the 
Nine  Men  protested  against  diminishing  the  scanty  sup- 
plies of  the  province.     The  people  were  exasperated,  and  15  August 

*  New  Amst.  Rcc,  i.,  28-31,  .•)3 ;  li.  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  ii..  331. 


f)iS  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XV.  Stuyvesant  added  to  the  feeling  by  depriving  the  Nine 
Men  of  the  pew  in  the  church  which  the  consistory  had 

17  August  appropriated  to  their  use.  In  writing  to  his  superiors  in 
Holland,  the  director  accused  the  returned  delegates  of  en- 
deavoring to  draw  away  the  people  from  their  allegiance 
to  the  company  and  its  officers.  The  English  on  Long 
Island,  who  the  year  before  had  expressed  their  confidence 
in  Stuyvesant,  again  endorsed  his  administration.     A  let- 

21  August,  ter,  signed  by  Baxter  and  the  other  magistrates  at  Grraves- 

Another  '       o  ./  o 

letter  from  end,  was  addrcsscd  to  the  Amsterdam  Chamber,  "  thank- 

Gravesend.  .  i  r-  i 

fully  acknowledging"  the  benefits  which  they  had  enjoyed 
under  the  rule  of  the  company,  "  who  are  the  rightful 
owners  of  this  place."  The  delegates  who  had  come  back 
from  Holland  had  given  birth  to  "schisms,  factions,  and 
intestine  commotions,"  which  could  be  best  prevented  "by 
supporting  and  maintaining  our  present  governor  against 
those  malignants,  and  by  om*  superiors  in  Holland  discred- 
iting the  false  reports  of  discontented  persons." 

But,  if  the  English  settlers  thus  exhibited  their  syco- 
phancy to  Stuyvesant  and  their  devotion  to  the  West  In- 
dia Company,  the  "  idea  of  popular  freedom"  among  the 
13  Sept.      Dutch  commonalty  could  not  be  repressed.     The  Nine  Men 

The  Nine  .  •'  ^ 

Men  write  again  appealed  to  the  States  General,  whom  they  had  al- 

again  to  °  *  '  _  '  •' 

the  States  ready  found  to  be  their  "  affectionate  fathers."    No  amend- 

General.  *' 

ment  had  followed  the  interposition  of  the  home  govern- 
ment. "We  can  not,"  wrote  the  tribunes,  "undertake 
any  thing  so  long  as  reform  is  withheld.  We  hope,  there- 
fore, that  your  High  Mightinesses  will  confer  on  us  a  good 
and  wholesome  government."* 

.stuyvesant      In  this  extraordinary  position  of  affairs — ^his  administra- 

lord.'^'^  tion  bitterly  opposed  by  his  own  countrymen,  and  strenu- 
ously supported  by  the  English  residents — Stuyvesant  pre- 
pared for  the  long-projected  meeting  with  the  commission- 

17  Sept.  ers  of  the  United  Colonies.  Embarking  at  Manhattan,  ac- 
companied by  Greorge  Baxter,  his  English  secretary,  and 

•21  Sept      a  large  suite,  he  touched  at  several  of  the  settlements  along 

*  IIol.  Doc,  v.,  272,  346,  354  ;  vi.,  25  ;  i.x.,  234  ,  Aln.  Rec,  Iv  ,  43  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  140-143 
Bancroft,  ii.,  3Q4. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  519 

the  Sound,  and  in  four  days  arrived  at  Hartford,     The  di-  chap.  xv 
rector  opened  the  negotiations  by  a  letter,  recapitulating 
the  considerations  which  had  moved  him  to  undertake  his  33  g^ 
"troublesome   journey."     This    communication,   though ^^oif""" 
signed  at  Hartford,  was  dated  "  New  Netherland."     To 
this  the  commissioners  took  exception;  and  Stuyvesant24Se]u. 
promptly  explained  that,  as  the  substance  of  his  letter  had 
been  agreed  upon  in  council  at  Manhattan,  it  had  been 
dated  as  it  was ;  if,  however,  the  commissioners  would  for- 
bear calling  Hartford  "  in  New  England,"  he  would  not 
date  his  letters  as  "in  Connecticut  in  New  Netherland," 

The  commissioners  declaring  themselves  satisfied,  the 
negotiation  proceeded.     After  a  long  correspondence,  in 
which  the  points  of  controversy  were  reviewed  and  ex- 
plained in  detail,  it  was   agreed  that  "all  differences" 28 Sept. 
should  be  referred  to  two  delegates  from  each  side,  who 
should  prepare  satisfactory  articles  of  agreement.    On  their 
part,  the  commissioners  appointed  Simon  Bradstreet,  of  Arbitrators 
Massachusetts,  and  Thomas  Prence,  of  Plymouth ;    and  ^^^"'""^ 
Stuyvesant,  on  his  part,  delegated  Captain  Thomas  Willett 
and  Ensign  Greorge  Baxter.* 

"  Upon  a  serious  examination  and  consideration  of  the 
particulars  committed  to  reference,"  the  arbitrators  deliv- 
ered their  award.     Judgment  as  to  what  had  happened  29  Sept. 
during  Kieft's  administration  was  respited  until  Stuyve- treaty  ar- 
sant  could  communicate  with  his  superiors  in  Holland.    In  ^^"^'^ 
regard  to  the  South  River,  both  parties  were  left  "in  statu 
quo  prius."    Respecting  the  seizure  of  Westerhouse's  ship. 
New  Haven  should  acquiesce  in  Stuyvesant's  explanations. 
Concerning  bounds  and  limits,  the  arbitrators  determined, 
"I,  That  upon  Long  Island,  a  line  run  from  the  western- Boundary 
most  part  of  the  Oyster  Bay,  so  and  in  a  straight  and  di-  New'^Neth 
rect  line  to  the  sea,  shall  be  the  bounds  betwixt  the  En- ncwe'i- 
glish  and  Dutch  there  ;  the  easterly  part  to  belong  to  the  ^  *"" 
English,  the  westernmost  part  to  the   Dutch.     II.  The 
bounds  upon  the  main  to  begin  at  the  west  side  of  G-reen- 
wich  Bay,  being  about  four  miles  from  Stamford,  and  so 

*  Hananl,  ii.,  154-170;  i.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  210-234;  Col.  Rec.  Conn.,  184,  198,  199. 


520  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XV.  to  ruii  a  northerly  line  twenty  miles  up  into  the  country. 
~      and  after,  as  it  shall  be  agreed  by  the  two  governments 
*  of  the  Dutch  and  of  New  Haven ;  provided  the  said  line 
come  not  within  ten  miles  of  Hudson's  River.     And  it  is 
agreed  that  the  Dutch  shall  not,  at  any  time  hereafter, 
build  any  house  or  habitation  within  six  miles  of  the  said 
Greenwich,  line.    The  inhabitants  of  Grreenwich  to  remain,  till  further 
consideration  thereof  be  had,  under  the  government  of  the 
Dutch  pos-  Dutch.     HI.  That  the  Dutch  shall  hold  and  enjoy  all  the 
Hartford,    lauds   in   Hartford  that  they   are   actually  possessed  of, 
known  or  set  out  by  certain  marks  or  bounds ;  and  all  the 
remainder  of  the  said  land,  on  both  sides   Connecticut 
River,  to  be  and  remain  to  the  English  there.     And  it  is 
agreed  that  the  aforesaid  bounds  and  limits,  both  upon  the 
island  and  main,  shall  be  observed  and  kept  inviolate  both 
by  the  English  of  the  United  Colonies  and  all  the  nation, 
without  any  encroachment  or  molestation,  until  a  full  and 
final  determination  be  agreed  upon  in  Europe  by  the  mu- 
tual consent  of  the  two  states  of  England  and  Holland." 
Further     It  was  also  agreed  that  the  provision  in  the  eighth  article 
'  of  the  New  England  confederation,  for  the  surrender  of 
runaway  slaves  and  fugitives  from  justice,  should  be  ob- 
served between  the  English  of  the  United  Colonies  and  the 
Dutch  within  the  province  of  New  Netherland.     And  the 
arbitrators  finally  suggested  that  the  proposition  of  "  a 
nearer  union  of  friendship  and  amity"  between  the  English 
and  Dutch  colonists  in  America  should  be  recommended 
to  the  several  jurisdictions  of  the  United  Colonies,* 
stuyvesant      Returning  to  Manhattan,  after  an  ineffectual  effort  to 
Manhattan,  arrange  the  proposed  alliance  with  the  United  Colonies 
26  Nov.    ■  against  the  Indians,  Stayvesant  reported  the  result  of  his 
negotiation  to  the  Chamber  at  Amsterdam.     But  he  omit- 
ted  to  send  them  a  copy  of  the  Hartford  treaty ;  and,  five 
years  afterward,  the  directors  expressed  their  apprehension 
that  the  discussions  with  the  commissioners  had  not  re- 
sulted in  a  definite  arrangement,! 

*  Hazard,  ii.,  170-173 ;  Hoi.  Doc,  viii.,  124 ;  i.,  N,  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  234-237,  301-303 ; 
Trumbull,  i.,  191 ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  151 ;  Bancroft,  ii.,  295 ;  ante,  p.  362. 
t  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  177,  198  ;  Stuyvesant's  Letters,  10-13. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  531 

Both  the  referees  whom  Stuyvesant  had  appointed  atcH^p.  xv 
Hartford  were  Englishmen.     This  was  naturally  felt  as  a 
slight,  and  even  an  insult,  by  his  own  countrymen,  who^      ^j^'j, 
now  avowed  their  opposition  to  a  treaty  which  they  had ^0^^]^°^' 
had  no  hand  in  framing.     Complaints  were  sent  to  Hoi-  forVtreatv. 
land  that  the  director  had  surrendered  more  territory  than  ^^  ^'"^' 
might  have  formed  fifty  colonies  ;  and  that  he  had  ceased 
to  consult  with  Vice-director  Van  Dincklagen  and  Fiscal 
Van  Dyck,  and  had  taken  into  his  confidence  an  English- 
man who  did  not  understand  the  Dutch  language,  and  a 
Frenchman  heavily  in  debt  to  the  company. 

The  Nine  Men  again  brought  the  condition  of  the  prov-  22  Dec. 
ince  before  the  States  General.     Stuyvesant  had  refused  Men  eom- 
to  select  from  their  nominations  to  fill  the  vacancies  about  to  the  " 
to  occur  in  their  board,  which  was  thus  threatened  with  General, 
dissolution.     "  The  grievous  and  unsuitable"  government 
of  New  Netherland  should  be  reformed,  and  the  measures 
recommended  by  the  committee  of  their  High  Mightiness- 
es should  be  promptly  adopted,  "  so  that  we  may  live  as 
happy  as  our  neighbors,"  wrote  the  representatives  of  the 
commonalty  to  the  home  government.     All  these  docu- 
ments were  sent  to  Van  der  Donck  at  the  Hague.* 

In  the  mean  time,  the  directors  of  the  Amsterdam  Cham- 
ber, deriding  the  pretension  that  Fort  Orange,  which  had  Preten- 
been  constructed  and  garrisoned  "years  before  any  men- proprieta- 
tion  of  Rensselaerswyck  exists,"  was  built  upon  the  soilRSnsse- 

,.,  .,  ,.  .  -i^i  laerswyck 

of  that  colonic,  determmed  to  use  their  ''  sovereign  right"  rebuked  by 

.  /-iirm-ii  11  the  com- 

to  the  confusion  of  the  ungrateful  Van  TwiUer,  who,  theypany. 
declared,  had  "sucked  his  wealth  from  the  breasts  of  the  le  Feb. 
company  which  he  now  abuses."     Stuyvesant  was  accord- 
ingly instructed  to  repel  by  force  any  attempts  to  "vilify" 
his  jurisdiction.    Beeren  Island,  which  the  patroon's  agents 
had  "usurped  in  such  a  lofty  way"  that  they  named  it 
"the  place  by  right  of  arms,"  and  levied  a  toll,  was  toThcNonh 
be  deprived  of  its  artillery,  should  any  be  planted  again,  free. 
"  Every  one  shall  navigate  this  river  unmolested,  and  en- 
joy a  free  trade  at  our  Fort  Orange,  which  these  colonists 

*  IIol.  Doc,  vi.,  4,  II,  15,  25-70;  O'Call.,  ii.,  155-157 


522  HISTORY  OF  THE  STxVTE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XV.  pretend  is  constructed  on  their  own  territory,"  again  wrote 

the  directors  to  Stuyvesant.* 
Conflicting      The  claims  of  the  proprietaries  of  the  colonic  to  the  ter- 
KatTkiu"    ritory  about  Katskill  were  also  openly  denied  by  the  West 
24  May.      Jj^^Iq^  Company ;  under  whose  orders  Stuy vesant  prohibit- 
ed any  settlements  there  by  tenants  claiming  to  hold  under 
leases  which  had  been  already  granted  by  the  authorities 
15  June,     of  Rcnsselaerswyck.    The  colonial  officers  replied  that  they 
had  only  obeyed  the  instructions  of  their  patroons ;  and 
promising  to  refrain  from  taking  any  further  steps  to  oc- 
cupy the  disputed  territory,  they  requested  the  director  to 
suspend  action  on  his  part  until  the  question  could  be  set- 
tled in  Holland. 
Domine  Domiue  Grrasmcer,  in  open  contempt  of  ecclesiastical 

Grasmeer.  _        ^        _  ^ 

censure,  had,  meanwhile,  arrived  at  Rcnsselaerswyck 
The  Classis  of  Alckmaer  promptly  suspended  him  from  the 
ministry ;  but  he  seems,  nevertheless,  to  have  preached 
with  acceptance  to  the  colonists,  who  were  glad  to  have 
the  services  of  an  ordained  clergyman,  even  though  he  was 
under  the  discipline  of  his  clerical  peers.  The  cause  of 
education  was  not  neglected  ;  the  people  earnestly  entreat- 
ed the  colonial  officers  to  provide  them  with  a  proper  school- 
master, and  steps  were  taken  to  raise  a  fund  for  building  a 
9  Sept.      school-house.     This  was  soon  accomplished,  and  Andries 

Schoolmas-  . 

ter.  Jansen  was  appointed  the  first  schoolmaster  of  Beverwyck. 

Temper  of      In  the  autumn,  a  Tappan  savaoje  cominsr  up  to  Fort  Or- 

the  Mo-  1      1  1         ^r    1  ,  1  •         • 

hawks.  ange,  reported  that  the  Jilohawks  w'ere  meditating  an  at- 
tack upon  the  Dutch.  "Ye  Hollanders,"  said  he,  "have 
now  been  selling  guns  long  enough  to  the  Maquaas,"  who, 
he  added,  had  been  endeavoring  to  excite  the  Southern 
tribes  to  exterminate  the  isolated  colonists  as  soon  as  the 
river  should  freeze,  and  assistance  from  Fort  Amsterdam  be 
almost  impossible.     The  inhabitants  were  therefore  called 

23  Sept.  together ;  and,  after  free  consultation,  the  colonial  author- 
ities appointed  commissioners  to  proceed  to  the  Mohawk 
country,  with  proper  presents,  and  renew  the  friendship 
and  alliance  of  the  Dutch  with  the  Iroquois.     Labbatie, 

*  Albi  Rec,  iv.,  26,  46,  49  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  377,  378 ;  ante,  p.  304. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  523 

the  company's  commissary  at  Fort  Orange,  who  had  ac- chap.  x\ 
companied  Van  Curler  in  1642,  was  asked  to  repeat  his 
visit  with  the  new  embassy.     But  Labbatie,  feeling  him- 
self secure  within  his  fortified  post,  declined.     The  colonial  2  oc-iober. 

.    .       .    .  ,A  new  em- 

delegates  therefore  proceeded  alone  on  their  mission  ;  and  i-mssn  totii.^ 

11  1  •    1       1        nr    1  1-  1  Mohawl 

friendship  was  secured  with  the  Mohawks  by  tluj  distnbu-  vaiity 
tion  of  presents  to  the  value  of  nearly  six  hundred  guilders. 
The  main  fountains  of  "  mischief,  trouble,  and  animosity" 
were  the  trading  licenses,  and  the  "bosch-loopers,"  or  run- 
ners in  the  woods,  known  among  the  French  as  "  coureurs 
de  bois."     This  system  of  licenses^  which  had  helped  the  Trading  u 
patroon's  revenue  to  the  injury  of  the  colonists,  was  now  abolished. 
formally  abolished  by  a  placard,  with  the  full  approbation 
of  the  people,  who  testified  their  assent  "  in  Fort  Orange 
under  their  own  hands."* 
A^an  der  Donck,  in  the  mean  time,  had  remained  a  faith-  van  der 

111  Donck  and 

ful  representative  of  the  commonalty  of  New  Netherland  van  Tien- 

,  .  *  lioven  in 

in  their  Fatherland.     Learning  that  Van  Tienhoven  wasiiouand. 
on  the  point  of  returning,  "to  exercise  his  vengeance"  on 
the  popular  party,  he  obtained  an  order  of  the  States  Gen-  21  Juiy. 
eral  for  the  examination  of  the  secretary  upon  fifty-nine 
specific  points  touching  the  misgovernment  of  the  province. 
A  long  report  upon  the  subject  was  accordingly  submitted  9  August 
to  their  High  Mightinesses.     The  letter  of  the  thirteenth 
of  September,  in  which  the  Nine  Men  renewed  their  de- 
mand for  "  a  good  and  wholesome"  government,  was  soon 
afterward  received  ;  and  the  publication  of  the  Remon-  is  Nov. 
strance  of  the  commonalty  attracted  so  much  attention, 
that  a  formal  defense  of  the  West  India  Company's  ad- 
ministration in  New  Netherland  became  necessary.! 

For  this  purpose.  Van  Tienhoven,  after  a  year's  delay,  29  Nov. 
drew  up,  and  submitted  to  the  States  General  "a  brief  hoven's'' re 
statement,"  in  answer  to  some  of  the  points  in  the  "  Ver- Remoil-'' 
toogh."     The  secretary's  reply  was  an  able  paper.    It  took  New  N.ab 
no  notice  of  the  charges  against  himself ;  exhibited  a  suc- 
cinct and  skillful  defense  of  the  company  and  its  officers ; 

*  Alb.  Rec,  viii.,  318 ;  Renss.  MSS.  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  161-1G3,  165  ;  Cor.  Classis  Amst 
t  Hoi.  Doc,  v.,  310-325,  339-345,  354-357 ;  ante,  p.  512,  518. 


524        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XV  and  closcd  by  retorting  upon  the  signers  of  the  Remon- 

strance  short  descriptions  of  their  individual  characters,  in 

terms  meant  to  be  by  no  means  flattering.* 

1651.       Van  der  Donck,  however,  soon  presented  another  me- 

14  January,  j^^^l^l  to  their  High  Mightiuesscs  j  and  the  Amsterdam 

14  March.   Chamber  was  directed  to  send  Van  Tienhoven  and  his  fa- 

hoven  or-   thcr-iu-law,  Jau  Jansen  Dam,  to  the  Hague  for  examina- 

come  to  the  tiou.     But  the  Secretary,  who  had  employed  himself  dur- 

Hague.         .  ,  .  .         ,       *^.     .  •   1        ,     »  1 

mg  the  winter  in  deceiving  a  poor  girl  at  Amsterdam, 
while  his  wife  was  yet  living  at  Manhattan,  was  about  to 
return,  with  the  spring  fleet,  to  New  Netherland  ;  and  the 
company,  to  mark  their  appreciation  of  his  "long  and 
faithful  services,"  had  renewed  his  appointment  as  provin- 
cial secretary,  made  him  likewise  their  receiver  general  of 
revenue,  and  granted  him  a  well-stocked  farm.     The  di- 
al April,    rectors  were  now  ordered  to  prevent  Van  Tienhoven's  em- 
barkation until  he  should  have  reported  himself  at  the 
ssApru.    Hague.     The  secretary,  obliged  to  obey,  was  arrested  on 
reaching  the  seat  of  government,  and  was  fined  for  adul- 
5  May.      tcry.     A  week  afterward,  he  managed  to  embark,  in  spite 
of  the  prohibition  of  the  States  General ;  and,  accompanied 
Van  Tien-  by  his  paramour,  he  returned  to  Manhattan,  where  the  rich 
turns  to     cargo  of  a  Portuguese  prize,  captured  on  the  voyage,  pro- 
eriand.       curcd  for  him  an  acquittal  in  the  fruitless  prosecution  com- 
menced by  his  undeceived  victim.t 
1650.       Melyn,  who  had  not  failed  to  bring  before  the  States 
MeijMire-    General  Stuyvesant's  "irreverent  neglect"  of  their  man- 
New  Neth-  damns,  intrusting  his  undecided  case  to  an  attorney,  avail- 
eriand.      ^ j  himsclf  of  the  growiug  interest  in  New  Netherland  to 
induce  Baron  Hendrick  van  de  Capellen,  of  Ryssel,  one  of 
the  committee  of  the  States  General,  and  several  Amster- 
dam merchants,  to  form  an  association  for  the  colonization 
of  Staten  Island  and  its  neighborhood.     A  ship  called  the 
19  May.     "  Ncw  Nctherlaud's  Fortune"  was  purchased,  in  which 
some  twenty  colonists,  with  proper  farming  implements, 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  v.,  36(M01 ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  329-338.  In  O'Call.,  ii.,  121-127,  this 
paper  is  erroneously  ante-dated  as  of  the  year  164SJ. 

t  Hoi.  Doc.,  v.,  404,  408,  410,  412,  413  ;  vi.,  6,  33-59,  246,  267-280 ;  Alb.  Rec  ,  iv.,  70 ; 
O'Call.,  ii.,  168,  169. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  505 

were  sent  out,  under  the  charge  of  Adriaen  Pos.     Procur-  chap.  xv 
ing  a  new  letter  of  safe-conduct  from  the  States  General,        ~_ 
Melyn  set  sail  in  his  influential  friend's  vessel ;  which,  33  j^^g  ' 
forced  by  a  long  and  boisterous  voyage  to  put  into  Rhode 
Island  for  supplies,  did  not  reach  Manhattan  until  mid- 
winter.    Stuyvesant  eagerly  availed  himself  of  this  devi- 19  Dec 
ation  as  a  pretext  to  seize  the  ship  and  vent  his  animosi- 
ty against  the  patroozi,  by  prosecuting  him  as  the  alleged 
owner.     As  the  vessel  was  owned  by  Van  de  Capellen 
and  his  associates  in  Holland,  the  action  against  Melyn 
failed  ;  but  the  ship  and  cargo  were  nevertheless  confisca- 
ted and  sold.     The  patroon  now  went  to  his  colonic  at 
Staten  Island,  "for  the  greater  security"  of  which.  Van 
Dincklagen  had  just  before  purchased  from  the  Raritans,  5  Augus. 
for  Van  de  Capellen,  the  lands  "at  the  south -side,  in  the  chrsed''oi" 
Bay  of  the  North  River."     Summoned  to  Manhattan  on  tans. 
new  charges,  Melyn  refused  to  obey,  and  a  house  and  lot 
which  he  owned  at  New  Amsterdam  were  seized  and  sold. 
Apprehending  further  trouble,  the  patroon  fortified  him-  Meiyn  on 
self  in  his  colonic,  where  he  established  a  manorial  court,  and. 
Before  long,  he  was  charged  with  distributing  arms  and 
ammunition  among  the  Raritans  and  the   South  River 
tribes,  and  with  stirring  up  the  Nyack  savages  against  stuyve- 
Stuyvesant.     The  council  accordingly  passed  a  resolution  body-^ 
that  the  director  should  be  attended  by  a  body-guard  of  ""'^'^ 
four  "  halberdiers"  whenever  he  went  abroad.* 

Notwithstanding  the  rebukes  which  his  administration  stuyvesant 
had  received  at  the  Hague,  Stuyvesant  persisted  in  his  ar-  arbitrary 
bitrary  course.     But  the  spirit  of  the  Dutch  colonists  did 
not  slumber ;  and  the  vice-director,  and  the  fiscal.  Van 
Dyck,  joined  in  preparing  a  new  protest  expressing  the   1651. 
popular  griefs.     Stuyvesant  now  ordered  Van  Dincklagen  van  cinck 
to  be  expelled  from  the  council.     The  vice-director  refused  pelied  fron 

1  ~       I  .  .      .  f,  .-,  the  council 

to  obey ;  lor  his  commission  was  irom  the  same  supreme 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  90 ;  viil.,  1-7,  23,  64-C6  ;  Hoi.  Doc,  v.,  65,  306  ;  vi.,  42,  263 ;  vii.,  32 ; 
East  Jersey  Records,  B.  7  ;  Whitehead's  East  Jersey,  19 ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  130,  157,  158,  575. 
The  "  New  Netherlands'  Fortune"  was  sold  to  Captain  Thomas  Willett,  one  of  Stuyve- 
sant's  Hartford  arbitrators,  who  sent  her  on  a  voyage  to  Virginia  and  Holland,  where  she 
was  replevined  by  Van  de  Capellen  ;  and  tho  West  India  Company,  after  a  long  lawsuit, 
was  obliged  to  pay  heavy  additional  damages. 


526  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap  XV.  authority  as  was  that  of  the  director  himself.     Newton  and 
Baxter,  with  a  file  of  soldiers,  therefore  arrested  Van  Dinck- 
lagen,  and  conveyed  him  to  the  guard-room,  where  he  was 
imprisoned  several  days.     After  his  liheration,  he  retired 
to  Staten  Island,  to  brood  with  Melyn  over  their  mutual 
Van  schei-  injurics.     Van  Schelluyne,  the  notary,  who  had  authenti- 
olhers  q)-  catcd  the  protest,  was  arbitrarily  forbidden  to  practice  his 
pf«"«  ■     profession,  and  scarcely  dared  to  keep  any  papers  in  his 
house  for  fear  they  should  be  seized  by  the  director.    Loock- 
ermans  and  Heermans  both  suffered  vindictive  prosecu- 
tions.    Stuyvesant's  displeasure  seemed  chiefly  directed 
against  his  own  countrymen  of  the  popular  party;  the  En- 
glish, who  had  shown  their  sycophancy,  were  treated  with 
consideration  and  regard. 

The  return  of  Van  Tienhoven  only  added  to  the  popu- 
19 Sept.      lar  discontents.     "Our  great  Moscovy  duke,"  wrote  the 
vice-director  to  Van  der  Donck,  "  keeps  on  as  of  old — 
something  like  the  wolf,  the  longer  he  lives,  the  worse  he 
14  Sept.     bites."     On  the  other  hand,  the  English  at  Gravesend,  at 
terfrom^    Baxtcr's  instigation,  addressed  another  letter  to  the  Am- 
to  the^Am-  stcrdam  Chamber,  expressing  their  great  satisfaction  that 
Chamber.    Stuyvcsaut  had  been  sustained  by  the  directors  in  Hol- 
land, and  praying  that  he  might  be  continued  in  his  ad- 
ministration.    The  elective  franchise  desired  by  the  Dutch 
colonists  was  condemned  by  the  English  refugees.     "  We 
willingly  acknowledge,"  said  they,  "  that  the    frequent 
change  of  government,  or  the  power  to  elect  a  governor 
from  among  ourselves — which  is,  we  know,  the  design  of 
some  here — would  be  our  ruin  and  destruction,  by  reason 
of  our  factions  and  the  difference  of  opinion  which  prevails 
among  us."    Private  traders  were,  in  their  judgment,  "  the 
oppressors  of  the  people."     They  therefore  asked  to  be  al- 
lowed to  hire  vessels  in  Holland  to  bring  over  farmers  and 
laborers,  provided  the  directors  would  permit  "these  ships, 
and  no  others,  to  trade  hither."     The  company  should  also 
supply  more  negroes.     It  was  not  in  New  Netherland  as 
in  Holland,  or  in  states  whose  laws  and  institutions  were 
matured.     "  Our  small  body,  composed  of  divers  pieces, 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  527 

namely,  of  people  of  divers  nations,  requires  many  things  chap.  xv. 
for  the  laying  a  foundation,  for  which  there  are  no  rules 
nor  examples,  and  which  must  therefore  be  left  to  the  dis- 
cretion of  a  well-experienced  governor."     A  similar  letter,  25  sepi. 

^  °  111  Letter  from 

certified  by  John  Moore,  their  clergyman,  was  addressed  iieemstedp 
to  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  by  the   English  at  Heem- 
stede.* 

With  these  testimonials  in  their  favor,  it  was  no  won- 
der that  the  officers  of  the  West  India  Company  continued 
their  opposition  to  the  spirit  of  popular  freedom  among  the 
Dutch  colonists,  and  to  the  liberal  movements  of  the  States 
Greneral.  But  Van  der  Donck  still  remained  the  faithful 
representative  of  the  commonalty  in  their  Fatherland ; 
where  an  enterprisinc:  bookseller  at  Amsterdam  again  drew  Pubiica 

.  ,         .  .  tions  in 

public  attention  to  the  provmce,  by  issumg  a  pamphlet  Holland, 
containing  a  descriptive  account  of  the  European  settle- 
ments in  America.! 

The  Hartford  treaty  havinof  left  the  interests   of  the  a  new  ex- 

•'  '^  pedltion 

Dutch  and  the  Enorlish  on  the  South  River  "  m  statu  quo,"  from  New 

^  '■  Haven  to 

several  inhabitants  of  New  Haven  and  Totoket  equipped  a  the  soutn 

'^  ^  River. 

vessel,  in  which  fifty  emigrants  were  dispatched  to  settle 
themselves  upon  some  land  which  they  claimed  to  have 
purchased  there.     On  reaching  Manhattan,  two  of  the  pas-  March. 
sengers  landed,  and  presented  to  Stuyvesant  a  letter  of  rec- 
ommendation from  the  ojovernor  of  New  Haven.     The  di-  stuyvesam 

~  defeats  the 

rector,  viewing  this  new  expedition  as  a  breach  of  the  re-  enterprise 
cent  treaty,  committed  them,  as  well  as  the  master  and 
two  others  of  the  company,  "  close  prisoners  under  a  guard" 
at  the  house  of  Martin  Kregier,  the  captain  lieutenant  of 
New  Amsterdam.  There  they  remained  in  custody  "till 
they  were  forced  to  engage  under  their  hands  not  then  to 
proceed  on  their  voyage  toward  Delaware ;"  and  the  de- 
feated expedition  returned  to  Now  Haven.     Stuyvesant  at 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  vi.,  5,  7,  53-60,  67,  68  ;  ix.,  210-248  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  170-172. 

t  "  Beschryvlnge  van  Virginia,  Nieuw  Ncderlandt,  Nieuw  Engelandt,"  <fec.,  Amster- 
dam, 1651.  Joost  Hartgers.  This  pamphlet  is  a  mere  compilation  from  De  Laet,  and 
fioin  Van  der  Donck's  Vertoogh  ;  and  though  it  contained  nothing  new,  its  cheap  form 
no  doubt  gave  it  a  large  circulation  in  Holland.  Megapolensis'  tract  on  the  Mohawk  In- 
dians was  now  also  published  by  Hartgers  for  the  first  time,  and,  according  to  Van  der 
Donck,  without  its  author's  knowledge  or  consent;  ante,  p.  370,  note. 


528  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XV.  the  same  time  wrote  to  Eaton,  threatening  "  force  of  arms 
and  martial  opposition,  even  to  bloodshed,"  against  all  En- 

11  April.  *  S^^'^h  intruders  within  southern  New  Netherland.* 

In  this  new  attempt  of  the  English  to  gain  a  foothold 
on  the  South  River,  Stuyvesant  perceived  a  covert  purpose 
to  dispossess  the  Dutch  of  all  their  American  territory. 

Calls  on     He  therefore  called  upon  the  authorities  at  Rensselaers- 

Rensse-  if  t     •  i 

laerswyck  wycK  for  a  suDsidy.     But  as  the  patroons  had  alone  borne 

tor  a  sub-        i,     ,  »        ,       . 

sidy.         all  the  expenses  of  colonization,  this  demand  of  the  pro- 
vincial government  was  felt  to  be  unjust ;  and  Van  Slech- 
29  April,     tenhorst  went  down  to  New  Amsterdam  to  remonstrate. 
His  representations  were  disregarded ;  and  the  director,  to 
punish  him  for  his  conduct  with  respect  to  the  Katskill 
1  May.      settlements,  ordered  his  arrest.     In  spite  of  all  his  protests, 
tenhorst  ar- and  the  repeated  applications  of  the  colonial  officers  at 
Manhattan.  Rensselaerswyck,  Van  Slechtenhorst  was  arbitrarily  de- 
tained four  months  at  Manhattan.! 
Views  of        The  "West  India  Company  had  now  become  aware  of  the 

the  West  .  .  .   ,       , 

India  Com-  nccessitv  of  arranging  with  the  newly-crowned  Queen  of 

pany  about  ^i  ^  t  rr 

the  South    Sweden  the  differences  respecting  iurisdiction  on  the  South 

River.  r  o  J 

21  March.  River.  In  the  mean  time,  they  instructed  Stuyvesant  to 
"  endeavor  to  maintain  the  rights  of  the  company  in  all 
justice  and  equity,"  while  they  recommended  him  to  con- 
duct himself  with  discretion  and  circumspection.  The  di- 
rector, therefore,  resolved  to  make  his  long- projected  visit  to 
the  South  River,  where  his  presence  was  again  urgently 

{"'y-        desired.     Upon  his  arrival  at  Fort  Nassau,  whither  he  was 

Stuyvesant  ^    ^  '  _ 

on  the  Del-  accompauied  by  Domine  G-rasmeer  and  a  large  suite  of 

aware.  i  .;  o 

officers,  he  communicated  to  Printz  an  abstract  of  the 
Dutch  title.  This  was  stated  to  rest  on  first  European 
discovery  and  occupation,  and  actual  purchase  from  the 
savages  "  many  years  before  the  Swedes  arrived  there." 
The  Swedish  governor  was  also  requested  to  produce,  on 
his  part,  proof  of  what  lands  his  countrymen  had  pur- 
chased, and  their  authority  to  possess  them.  But  Printz 
simply  replied  that  the  Swedish  limits  were  "  wide  and 

*  Hazard,  ii.   192-195,  260;  New  Haven  Records,  40;  Trumbull,  i.,  196;  Bozman,  ii 
486,  487.  t  Renss.  MSS  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  164,  173,  174. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  539 

broad  enough  ;"  and  excused  himself  from  producing  his  chap.  xv 

muniments  of  title,  as  they  were  in  the  chancellery  at 

1651 
Stockholm.     Wappang-zewan,  one  of  the  chief  sachems, 

soon  afterward  informed  the  director  that  Printz  was  at 

this  very  time  endeavoring  to  purchase  from  him  the  lands 

upon  which  the  Swedes  were  settled.     He  had,  however, 

refused  to  sell;  and  he  now  "presented"  to  Stuy  vesant,  New  acqui- 

in  behalf  of  the  West  India  Company,  all  the  lands  on  the  land. 

east  and  west  shores ;  commencing,  on  the  eastern  side, 

from  Narratikon  or  Raccoon  Creek,  "  and  stretching  down 

the  river  to  Maetsingsing,  and  on  the  western  side,  from 

a  certain  creek,  called  Neckatoensing,  to  the  westward 

along  the  river  to  Settoensoene,  also  called  the  Minquas' 

Kill,  on  which  is  the  Swedish  Fort  Christina." 

Stuyvesant  soon  summoned  all  the  Indian  chiefs  who  conference 
lived  near  the  river,  and  who  claimed  to  own  any  lands  savages, 
there,  to  attend  a  grand  council  at  Fort  Nassau,  in  the 
presence  of  the  officers  who  had  accompanied  him  from 
New  Amsterdam.     After  a  solemn  conference,  in  which  19  Juij . 
the  sachems  declared  that  the  Swedes  had  usurped  all  the 
land  they  claimed,  except  the  precinct  of  Fort  Christina 
itself,  they  confirmed  to  "  the  chief  sachem  of  the  Manhat-  More  tom- 
tans,"  as  a  perpetual  inheritance  for  the  West  India  Com-  chased. 
pany,  the  whole  territory  south  of  that  fort  to  "Boomtje's" 
or  Bombay  Hook,  "  called  by  them  Neuwsings."      The 
conveyances  were  duly  attested  ;  and  the  only  conditions 
which  the  chief  Pemmenatta  imposed  were,  that  the  Dutch 
"should  repair  his  gun  when  out  of  order,"  and  give  the 
Indians,  when  they  required  it,  "  a  little  maize." 

The  director,  thinking  that  Fort  Nassau  "was  too  farFonNas- 
up,  and  laid  too  far  out  of  the  way,"  now  demolished  the  ishedfaml 
post  which  the  Dutch  had  first  built  on  the  Jersey  shore,  mir  buiit 
twenty-eight  years  before,  and  erected  a  new  fort,  "called 
Casimir,"  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  at  "  Sand  Hook," 
neat  the  present  site  of  New  Castle,  and  about  four  miles 
below  the  Swedish  Fort  Christina.     Against  the  building 
of  this  new  fort  Printz  protested  in  vain  ;  and  Stuyvesant, 
having  completed  his  object,  prepared  to  return  to  Man- 

L  L 


530        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XV.  hattan.  Previously  to  his  departure,  he  had  several  inter- 
views  with  the  Swedish  governor,  in  which  toth  officers 
"  mutually  promised  to  cause  no  difficulties  or  hostility 
to  each  other,  tut  to  keep  neighborly  friendship  and  cor- 
respondence together,  and  act  as  friends  and  allies."* 

Foiled  in  their  designs  upon  the  South  River,  the  New 
Haven  people  laid  their  case  before  the  other  colonies  ;  and 

24  May.     the  Massachusetts  government  remonstrated  with  Stuyve- 

sant.     New  Plymouth  was  also  applied  to  for  assistance ; 

5  June,      but  the  "  Old  Colony"  of  New  England  "  would  have  no 

hand  in  any  such  controversy."    At  their  annual  meeting, 

the  subject  was  brought  before  the  commissioners,  who 

25  Sept.     protested  against  the  director's  "hostile  carriage,"  and  de- 

clared the  Dutch  claim  to  the  South  River  no  better  than 
that  "  which  the  English,  upon  as  good  grounds,  can  make 
Com-        to  the  Manhatoes."     Eventual  assistance  was  also  prom- 
New  Ha-    ised  to  New  Haven  ;  and  information  was  asked  from  Ed- 
ward Winslow,  who  was  then  in  London,  "  how  any  en- 
gagement by  the  colonies  against  the  Dutch,  upon  the 
aforementioned  occasion,  will  be  resented  by  the  Parlia- 
ment."    Anxious  to  obtain  a  leader  of  courage  and  skill, 
the  New  Haven  people  made  liberal  offers  to  Captain  John 
16  October.  Masou ;  but  the  G-eneral  Court  at  Hartford  opposed  his 
removal  from  Connecticut,  and  so  the  project  was  again 
frustrated. t 

A  change  was  now  made  in  the  provincial  government 

on  the  North  River.     Labbatie  was  superseded,  and  Jo- 

Dyckman   hannes  Dyckman,  a  former  clerk  in  the  Amsterdam  Cham- 

commis.sa-  bcr,  who  had  come  out  with  Van  Tienhoven  in  the  spring, 

ry  at  Fort  i  o' 

Orange,  as  book-kccper  at  Fort  Amsterdam,  was  promoted  to  be 
commissary  and  vice-director  at  Fort  Orange.  Yan  Slech- 
tenhorst,  the  patroon's  commissary,  who  had  remained  un- 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  46  ;  Hoi.  Doc,  viii.,  32-50,  5»-65,  67, 77  ;  ante,  p.  153,  511  ;  S.  Hazard, 
Ann.  Penn.,  122-127  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  166, 167  ;  Smith's  N.  Y.,  i.,  9 ;  Ferris,  77, 78  ;  Acrelius, 
412 ;  Chalmers,  632  ;  Bozman,  ii.,  481.  The  latter  writer  is  misled  by  the  errors  of  Chal- 
mers and  Acrelius.  Stuyvesant's  attendants,  on  the  19th  of  July,  when  the  Indian%  con- 
veyed their  land,  were  Domine  Grasmeer,  Isaac  AUerton,  Comelis  de  Potter,  Captain 
Newton,  Ensign  Baxter,  Isaac  de  Foreest,  Captain  Martin  Kregier,  and  Surgeon  Abra 
ham  Staats. 

t  Plymouth  Coll.  Rec,  iv.,  234 ;  Col.  Rec.  Conn.,  227;  Hazard,  i.,  554;  ii.,  192-196 
S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  123,  127-133  ;  Trumbull,  i.,  197-201. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  53J 

der  arrest  at  Manhattan,  finding  Stuyvesant  inexorable,  at  chap.  xv 
length  secreted  himself  on  hoard  a  sloop,  the  schipper  of  "TTrT" 
which  he  was  obliged  to  indemnify  against  future  harm,  September. 
and  returned  to  Beverwyck.     The  director,  enraged  at  this  ^nhor'sT''" 
audacity,  arrested  the  schipper  on  his  return  to  Manhat- aJ^estt  and 
tan,  and  fined  him  two  hundred  and  fifty  guilders  andBeve?-^'" 
costs  for  helping  the  escape  of  the  unfortunate  commis-  ^^''''' 
sary,  who  reckoned  the  whole  expenses  of  his  luckless  visit 
to  Fort  Amsterdam  at  about  a  thousand  guilders. 

One  of  Van  Slechtenhorst's  motives  for  breaking  his  ar-  Proposed 
rest  was  his  anxiety  to  cause  an  exploration  of  the  Kats-  ofthe  KatT- 
kill  Mountains.     A  daughter  of  one  of  the  farmers  at  Kats-  ains.' 
kill  had  found  a  stone,  "which  some  thought  was  silver;" 
and  the  proprietaries  in  Holland  had  directed  an  examin- 
ation of  the  country.     Van  Slechtenhorst,  therefore,  sent  lo  sept. 
his  son  Grerrit  to  make  a  search.     But  a  heavy  rain  set  in 
as  soon  as  the  young  adventurer  reached  the  patroon's 
newly-established  bouwery.     In  three  hours,  the  mount- 
ain torrent  rose  thirty  feet ;  the  farm-house  was  swept 
into  the  kill,  and  all  the  cattle  and  horses  would  have  per- 
ished, but  for  the  exertions  of  Grerrit  Van  Slechtenhorst, 
"who  was  an  excellent  swimmer."     The  ruin  which  the  Abandoned 
flood  had  caused  diverted  all  thought  of  immediate  explo-ofagreat 
rations  ;  and  the  hope  of  finding  a  silver  mine  in  the  Kats- 
kill  Mountains  was  postponed. 

Fearful  that  the  director  would  execute  his  threatened 
purpose  of  extending  the  jurisdiction  of  Fort  Orange,  Van 
Slechtenhorst  now  called  upon  all  householders  and  free-  23  Nov. 
men  of  the  colonic  to  take  the  "  Burgherlyck  oath  of  alle- 
giance."    At  the  appointed  day,  the  order  was  obeyed  by  28  Nov. 
a  number  of  the  residents,  who  bound  themselves  "  to  main-  take  oath  of 
tain  and  support,  offensively  and  defensively,  against  every  to  the  pa- 
one,  the  right  and  jurisdiction  of  the  colonic."    Among  the 
persons  who  took  this  oath  was  John  Baptist  van  Rensse- 
laer, a  younger  half-brother  of  the  patroon,  and  the  first  of 
the  name  who  appears  to  have  come  io  New  Netherland.* 

*  Renss.  MSS. ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  174-177  ;  Holgate's  American  Genealogy. 


532  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1652. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
1652-1653. 

CH.  XVI.  The  four  years  daring  which  Stuyvesant  had  admmis- 
'tered  the  government  of  New  Netherland  were  marked 
by  arbitrary  efforts  to  repress  the  spirit  of  popular  free- 
dom which  the  Dutch  emigrants  brought  with  them  from 
their  Fatherland.  In  turn,  the  Nine  Men,  the  vice-direct- 
or, the  only  notary  in  the  province,  and  the  patroon  of 
Staten  Island,  were  made  to  feel  the  displeasure  of  au- 
thority. Van  Dyck,  the  schout-fiscal,  who  sided  with  the 
Nine  Men,  was  early  excluded  from  the  council,  and  per- 
sonally insulted  by  his  imperious  chief.  The  fiscal,  in- 
deed, had  been  complained  of  for  leading  "  a  disorderly 
life,"  and  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  had  threatened  to  pun- 

26  .March,  jgh  him.  A  pasquiuade  against  the  director,  of  which  he 
was  assumed  to  be  the  author,  was  now  made  the  occa- 

Fiscai  Van  siou  of  his  removal  from  office  by  the  council,  whose  ac- 

Dyck  su- 

perseded.    tion  was  claimed  to  have  been  "  by  and  with  the  advice 
of  the  Nine  Men."     They,  however,  afterward  declared 
that  they  had  never  assented  to  the  resolution,  which  was 
Stuyvesant's  own  work,  and  that  "  the  secretary  had  false- 
ly appended  to  it  their  names."     Van  Tienhoven  was  ac- 
cused by  Van  Dyck  of  having  originated  the  lampoon 
to  accomplish  the  displacement  of  an  obnoxious  official. 
Van  Tien-  Whatever  may  have  been  the  truth  in  that  respect,  Van 
n^ttd.^™'  Tienhoven  was  promoted  to  be  schout-fiscal ;  Van  Brugge, 
the  former  commissary  at  Fort  Orange,  was  made  provin- 
cial secretary ;   and  Adriaen  Van  Tienhoven,  lately  the 
clerk  of  the  court  on  the  South  River,  succeeded  his  broth- 
is  Sept.     er  as  receiver  general.     Appealing  to  the  States  Genera], 
Van  Dyck  denounced  his  successor,  in  plain  terms,  as  '•  a 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  533 

reproach  to  this  country,  and  the  main  scourge  of  both  ch.  xm. 
Christians  and  heathens,  with  whose  sensualities  the  di- 
rector  himself  hath  always  been  acquainted."* 

In  the  mean  time,  the  question  of  iurisdiction  at  Fort  Affairs  at 

/~\  •        1  1     1         xc   TT  oil      1  1  Fort  Or- 

Urange  remained  unsettled.     If  Van  Slechtenhorst  wasange. 
earnest  in  maintaining  the  rights  of  the  patroon,  Dyckman 
was  no  less  so  in  support  of  the  director ;  and  personal  dif- 
ficulties now  vexed  the  quiet  hamlet  of  Beverwyck,    Some  1  January. 

Oinrrt'ls  '\i 

of  the  soldiers  of  Fort  Orange,  out  on  a  New  Year's  night  i3ever- 
frolic,  fired  their  matchlocks  at  the  patroon's  house ;  and 
but  for  the  exertions  of  its  tenants,  the  thatched  building 
would  have  been  destroyed.  Young  Van  Slechtenhorst  2 jarLcry 
was  assaulted  in  the  street  by  some  of  the  garrison  the 
next  day ;  and  Philip  Pietersen  Schuyler,  who  came  to  the 
rescue  of  his  brother-in-law,  was  threatened  by  Dyckman 
with  a  drawn  sword.  The  friends  of  Van  Slechtenhorst 
vowed  revenge ;  and  the  commissary  prudently  ordered  the 
guns  of  Fort  Orange  to  be  loaded  with  grape. 

Not  long  afterward,  Dyckman,  with  a  small  retinue, 
went  to  the  court-room  where  the  magistrates  of  the  colo-?  February 
nie  were  sitting,  to  publish  some  placards  which  Stuyve- 
sant  had  sent  up,  relative  to  the  iurisdiction  of  Fort  Or-  van  siecu 

TT         cii      1  1  •         ■  1  •  1  tenhorst 

ange.  V  an  Slechtenhorst,  viewing  the  commissary's  pro-  opposes 
ceedings  as  insulting,  ordered  him  to  retire.  Dyckman  24  Fib. 
again  demanded  that  the  obnoxious  proclamations  should 
be  published  with  sound  of  bell ;  but  the  colonial  court  re- 
fused, until  they  had  received  orders  from  the  States  Gren- 
eral  and  their  own  immediate  superiors.  The  bell  of  Fort 
Orange  was  now  rung  three  times;  and  Dyckman,  return- 
ing to  the  patroon's  court-house,  ascended  the  "  stoep"t 
with  his  attendants,  and  ordered  his  deputy  to  read  the  proc- 
lamations. Van  Slechtenhorst,  however,  snatching  the  in- 
struments out  of  the  deputy's  hands,  again  protested  against 
the  attempted  infringement  of  the  rights  of  his  chief. 

The  director  promptly  sent  up  another  placard,  declar- 5  Mai  t 

*  IIoI.  Doc,  vi.,  193-276  ;  Alb.  Rec,  iii.,  204-268  ;  iv.,  T4  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  181,  182 ;  ii.,  N. 
Y.  H.  S.  Coil.,  ii.,  306. 

t  Anglict',  "  the  steps  at  the  entrance  of  a  house."  The  v;ord  "  stoop"  is  st;!!  :r.  famil- 
iar use  among  the  descendants  ol  our  old  Dutch  families. 


534  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVI.  ing  that  the  jurisdiction  of  Fort  Orange  extended  a  dis- 

~_      tance  of  six  hundred  paces   from  its  walls,  and  ordered 

Prociama-  I^yckman  to  affix  copies  of  it  to  posts,  "  marked  with  the 

Jj°JV^^bout  company's  mark,"  to  be  erected  on  this  new  line,  "  north, 

Fort°or°*^   soutli,  and  west  of  the  fortress."    No  house  was  thereafter 

y.ige.        ^Q  -jjg  huilt  within  these  limits,  except  hy  the  permission 

of  the  director  and  council  at  Fort  Amsterdam,  or  their 

agents  at  Fort  Orange.     But  Van  Slechtenhorst  was  not 

13  March,   disposcd  to  submit.     He  had  just  purchased  for  his  pa- 

troon  two  large  additional  tracts  on  the  east  side  of  the 

river  ;  one  called  "  Paanpaack,"  including  the  site  of  the 

present  city  of  Troy,  and   another  further  north,  called 

19  March.    "  Pauhoosic ;"  and  he  now  ordered  the  constable  of  Bever- 

wyck  to  remove  the  posts  which  Dyckman  had  set  up.     A 

Protest  of  new  protcst  declared  that  the  colonists  of  Rensselaerswyck 

Van  Slech-  ii        ■  •   i  i       ^Tr  x     t       r~t 

tenhorst.    had  ucvcr  swom  allegiance  either  to  the  West  India  Com- 
pany or  to  Stuyvesant,  and  that  they  recognized  no  mas- 
ters but  the  States  G-eneral  and  their  own  feudal  sviperiors. 
21  March.   Frcsh  troubles  soon  arose.     Dyckman,  attempting  to  ap- 
prehend a  negress  belonging  to  Alexander  Grlen,  one  of  the 
colonists,  was  opposed  by  her  master,  who  was  arrested  the 
next  day  at  Fort  Orange.     It  was  now  rumored  that  the 
director  himself  was  about  to  revisit  Beverwyck,  and  that 
"  a  new  gallows"  was  being  prepared  for  the  rebellious  Van 
Slechtenhorst  and  his  son,  and  Van  Rensselaer. 
stuj-vesant      Stuyvesaut,  who  had  been  detained  at  Manhattan  by 
FortVr-     the  proceedings  against  the  fiscal.  Van  Dyck,  soon  after- 
^"^^'        ward  arrived  at  Fort  Orange.     The  colonial  officers  were 
required  to  furnish  a  statement  of  the  bounds  of  Rensse- 
laerswyck ;  and  were  told  that  as  the  "  Exemptions"  al- 
lowed a  colonic  to  extend  sixteen  miles  on  one  side  of  a  riv- 
er, or  eight  miles,  if  both  banks  were  occupied,  the  direct- 
or would  recognize  the  patroon's  jurisdiction  only  to  that 
extent.     As  the  authorities  of  the  colonic  were  without  in- 
structions on  this  point,  the  question  was  postponed  until 
they  could  communicate  with  their  superiors  in  Holland. 
But  Stuyvesant  was  not  to  be  diverted  from  his  purpose 
I  Anrii.      with  regard  to  Beverwyck.     Sergeant  Litschoe,  with  a 


PETER  STU\^V£SANT,  DIRfiCToil  efifs^ERAL.  535 

party  of  aoldiera,  was  sent  to  the  pati'oon'a  boilse>  and  Van  cn.  xvi 
Slechtenhorst  was  ordered  to  strike  the  colonial  flag,    "tfpon    ."ZZ 
his  refusal,  "fourteen  soldiers,  armed  with  loaded  milskets,  Tuepar" 
entered  the  inclosure,  and,  after  firing  a  volley,  hauled  do^Vn  ^g*'h',uie''! 
the  lord's  colors."     A  few  days  afterward,  a  proclamation  '''**''"■ 
was  issued  declaring  Beverwyck  to  he  independent  of  the  10  Apni. 
patroon's  colonic,  and  establishing  a  Court  of  Justice  in  declared 
Fort  Orange  for  the  government  of  the  hamlet.     By  this  Fon  br- 
act Stuyvesant  completed  his  long-cherished  design  ;  and 
the  germ  of  the  present  city  of  Albany  was  released  from 
feudal  jurisdiction. 

Still,  Van  Slechtenhorst's  loyalty  to  his  immediate  su- 
periors could  not  be  shaken.     The  director's  placard  was  15  Aprd. 
torn  down,  and  a  counter-proclamation,  indicating  the 
claims  of  the  patroon,  was  posted  in  its  stead.     This  bold 
proceeding  filled  the  measure  of  Van  Slechtenhorst's  of-  is  Aprii. 

Vail  Slec^ 

fenses.     He  was  arrested  and  imprisoned  in  Fort  Orange,  tenhorst " 

conveyed 

and  afterward  conveyed  under  guard  to  New  Amsterdam,  to  New 
where  he  remained  until  ho  was  released  for  the  purpose  dam. 

2  SeT)t 

of  installing  his  successor  in  office. 

Before  leaving  Rensselaerswyck,  Stuyvesant  confirmed  23  Apni. 
the  authority  of  the  West  India  Company  by  issuing  pat- 
ents to  several  of  the  principal  colonists  for  lots  of  land 
within  the  bounds  of  Beverwyck.     John  Baptist  van  Rens-  24  Apr  1. 
selaer  took  Van  Slechtenhorst's  place  provisionally,  and  "liensseiaer 
was  soon  afterward  formally  appointed  director  by  the  pa- 
troon.    About  the  same  time,  Qerrit  Swart  was  commis-SMav. 
sioned  as  "officer  or  schout,"  and  furnished  with  instruc-swan 
tions,  which  required  him  "  above  all  things  to  take  care 
that  divine  worship  sha  1  be  maintained  in  said  colonic, 
conformably  to  the  Reformed  religion"  of  Holland.* 

These  difficulties,  and  a  desire  to  free  thernselves  from 
subjection  to  the  patroon,  induced  several  inhabitants  of 

*  Alb.  Rec,  vi.,  2  ;  ix.,  123  ;  Fort  Orange  Rec,  Mortgage  Book  A,  Alb.  Clerk's  Office  ; 
Renss.  MSS. ;  Barnard's  Sketch,  128-130;  O'Call.,  175-184,  207,  564-506,  587.  Upon  the 
reconquest  of  New  York  by  the  Dutch,  in  1673,  the  West  India  Company  admitted  that 
Stnyvesant's  proceedings  in  regard  to  Beverwyck  were  in  violation  of  the  charter  of 
1629;  and  Governor  Dongan,  in  1086,  deemed  it  prudent  to  require  from  the  patroon  of 
that  day  a  formal  release  of  his  claims  two  days  before  the  charter  of  the  city  of  Albany 
was  passed. 


536  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  xvl  Rensselaerswyok  to  seek  another  abode.  Between  Kats- 
kill  and  Manhattan  there  were  as  yet  few  European  inhab- 
First  settle- i*-^^^^  5  and  Thomas  C'hambers,  who  had  occupied  a  farm 
^er  COM-'"  ^6ar  what  is  now  the  city  of  Troy,  removing  with  some 
'^  of  his  neighbors  to  "  Atkarkarton,"  or  Esopus,  an  "exceed- 

ingly beautiful  land,"  began  the  actual  settlement  of  the 
present  county  of  Ulster.* 

On  his  return  to  the  seat  of  government,  Stuyvesant,  in 
order  to  check  the  growing  disposition  on  the  part  of  indi- 
viduals to  monopolize  large  tracts  of  wild  land  for  the  pur- 
1  July.       poses  of  speculation,  issued  new  regulations  on  the  sub- 
Reguia-      ject.     The  sales  by  the  Indians  to  Van  T wilier  and  others 
purchases  ou  Long  Islaud,  to  Van  Slechtenhorst  at  Katskill  and  Clav- 
erack,  and  to  Van  de  Capellen  about  Nevesinck,  were  de- 
clared void.     The  "pretended  proprietors"  were  ordered  to 
return  the  purchase-money ;  if,  however,  they  petitioned 
within  six  weeks,  they  might  retain  such  tracts  as  the  di- 
rector and  council  might  assign  them.     All  persons  were 
forbidden  to  buy  any  lands  from  the  natives  without  the 
previous  consent  of  the  director  and  council.     This  order 
was  afterward  modified  by  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  in 
favor  of  the  purchasers  of  lands  near  Katskill,  Claverack, 
and  Rensselaerswyck,  to  whom  grants  free  from  any  feud- 
al "patronage"  were  to  be  issued  in  the  name  of  the  com- 
pany. 
New  settle-      Scvcral  additional  settlements  were  now  commenced  on 
Long  ui-    Long  Island,  under  patents  from  Stuyvesant.  One  of  these, 
immediately  east  of  Doughty's  colonic  at  Mespath,  was 
Middei-      called  by  the  Dutch  "Middelburgh,"  but  was  more  familiar- 
vewtown.  ly  known  as  Newtown.     Another  in  the  "  Vlacke  Bosch," 
or  Flatbush,  between  Breuckelen  and  Amersfoort,  the  prin- 
cipal patentees  of  which  were  Jan  Snedekor,  Arendt  van 
Hattem,  and  Domine  Megapolensis,  was  named  by  Stuy- 
Midwoutorvesant  "  Middelwout"  or  Midwout.     The  Indian  title  to 

Flatbush.  .  .   ,       ,     ^ 

these  places  was  not,  however,  extmguished  for  several 
years  ;  and  in  the  mean  time,  the  settlers  whose  bouwer- 

»  Megapolensis  lo  Classis,  5  Aug.,  1657 ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  107  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  357, 
394, 568 ;  ante,  p.  76,  3(16     In  1672,  Chambers  became  proprietor  of  the  manor  of  Foxhall. 


PETER  STUYVESAN'S  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  537 

ies  were  threatened  by  the  savages,  did  not  thrive.     Two  ch.  xvi 
other  large  tracts,  the  one  adjoining  the  company's  lands 
at  Gowanus,  and  the  other  at  "  Nyack,"  within  the  pres- 
ent town  of  New  Utrecht,  were  also  purchased  by  Cornells  New 
van  Werckhoven,  an  influential'  member  of  the  provincial 
government  of  Utrecht.     Van  "Werckhoven  had  previously   1651. 
notified  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  of  his  intention  to  plant '  ^°^" 
two  colonies  in  New  Netherland ;  and  Augustine  Heer- 
mans  had  purchased  for  him  the  lands  now  known  as  the  r  Dec. 

.  Van 

"  Raritan  Great  Meadows,"  and  the  territory  along  thewerckho- 
Staten  Island  Kills,  from  "  Ompoge,"  now  Amboy,  to  the  chases  m 

New  Jer* 

"  Pechciesse"  Creek.    A  tract  on  the  south  side  of  the  Rar-  sey. 
itan,  opposite  Staten  Island,  called  "  Kehackanick  Wako- 
naback,"  was   also  bought.     Van  de  Capellen,  however, 
objecting  to  these  acquisitions,  the  question  was  brought 
before  the  Amsterdam  Chamber.    Upon  their  decision.  Van   1652. 
Werckhoven  abandoned  his  purchases  in  New  Jersey,  and  ^^  ^'^'^' 
began  a  settlement  on  his  Long  Island  lands ;  but  his 
death,  which  happened  in  1655,  retarded  the  prosperity  of 
New  Utrecht.* 

After  nearly  two  years'  absence  in  New  Netherland,  Ecciesias- 

tic3,l  afrairs 

Domine  Grasmeer  had  meanwhile  returned  to  Holland,  12  Feb. 

.  .  1  -r>  1  Domine 

With  warm  testimonials  from  the  people  at  Kensselaers- crasmcer. 
wyck  and  Manhattan,  and  had  besought  the  Classis  to  rec- 
ommend him  to  the  West  India  Company  for  appointment 
as  second  minister  at  New  Amsterdam.     The  Classis,  how- 
ever, declined  his  request;  and  the  directors  requested  the 
appointment  of  Domine  Samuel  Drisius,  of  Leyden,  who,  Domine 
having  lived  in  England,  could  preach  in  Dutch,  French,  26  Feb. 
and  English,  and  who,  upon  his  examination,  gave  full 
satisfaction.     The  company  soon  completed  its  arrange-  is  March 
ments  with  Drisius  to  become  the  colleague  of  Megapo- 
lensis,  at  a  salary  of  fourteen  hundred  and  fifty  guilders  ; 
and  with  the  spring  fleet,  the  Domine  sailed  for  New  Am-  4  April 
sterdam.     At  the  same  time,  the  directors  agreed  that 
the  public  school  should  be  established  in  the  "city  tav-^owic 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  68,  97 ;  vii.,  318-320  ;  viii.,  20,  55,  151,  Ifil  ,  I'Jl  ;  llol.  Doc,  vj  221  ; 
New  Amst.  Rec;  Flatbush  Rec;  Thompson's  L.  I.,  ii.,  137,200;  O'Call.,  ii.,  lbj-187, 
19 J     Wliiteliead'sEast  Jersey,  19,  20  ;  Doc  Hist.  N.  Y.,  i.,  633  ;  atite,  p.  333,  410. 


538        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1652. 


ch.  XVI.  ern,"  if  practicable ;  and  La  Montague  was,  for  the  pres- 
ent, appointed  schoolmaster.* 

It  was  more  difficult  to  procure  a  proper  clergyman  for 
Rensselaerswyck.     At  last,  Gideon  Schaats,  a  schoolmas- 
ter at  Beest,  and  a  candidate  in  theology,  signified  his  will- 
ingness to  go  to  America ;  and  his  examination  heing  found 
6  May.      Satisfactory,  he  was  ordained,  in  full  Classis,  by  the  im- 
schaats.     positiou  of  hands.     Two  days  afterward,  the  patroon  and 
8  May.       co-direjptors  of  Rensselaerswyck  signed  an  agreement  with 
Rensse-     the  Domiuc,  pledging  themselves  to  pay  him  an  annual 
'  salary  of  eight  hundred  guilders  for  three  years.     Besides 
his  regular  services  as  clergyman  of  the  colony,  he  was  "to 
use  all  Christian  zeal  there  to  bring  up  both  the  heathens 
and  their  children  in  the  Christian  religion ;  to  teach,  also, 
the  Catechism  there,  and  instruct  the  people  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  and  to  pay  attention  to  the  office  of  schoolmas- 
ter for  old  and  young."     Under  this  agreement,  Domine 
Schaats  soon  afterward  sailed  for  New  Netherland.t 

The  news  of  the  demolition  of  Fort  Nassau  and  the 

erection  of  Fort  Casimir  reaching  Amsterdam,  the  directors 

4  April,      wrote  to  Stuyvesant.    "Your  iourney  to  the  South  River, 

Views  of  J  J  ' 

the  Am-     and  what  has  passed  there  between  you  and  the  Swedes, 

sterdam  '^  -l 

Chamber    was  vcry  unexDccted  to  us,  as  you  did  not  crive  us  before 

respecting  ''  ^  'J  o 

Fortcasi-  so  much  as  a  hint  of  your  intention."  "We  can  not  give 
an  opinion  upon  it,  until  we  have  heard  the  complaints  of 
the  Swedish  governor  to  his  queen,  and  have  ascertained 
how  these  have  been  received  at  her  court.  "We  hope  that 
our  arguments  to  prove  that  we  were  the  first  possessors 
of  that  country  will  be  acknowledged  as  sufficient.'' 
"  Time  will  instruct  us  of  the  design  of  the  new-built  Fort 
Casimir.  We  are  at  a  loss  to  conjecture  for  what  reason 
it  has  received  this  name.  You  ought  to  be  on  your  guard 
that  it  be  well  secured,  so  that  it  can  not  be  surprised." 

*  Cor.  CI.  Amst. ;  Alb.  Ree.,  iv.,  68,  75. 

f  Cor.  Cl.  Amst. ;  Renss.  MSS. ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  567.  In  1657,  Domine  Schaats  became 
minister  of  Beverwyck  and  Fort  Orange,  where  he  continued  to  reside  until  his  death,  in 
1694.  I  have  in  my  possession  an  old  spoon,  given,  according  to  custom,  to  one  of  the 
pall-bearers  at  his  funeral,  bearing  a  Dutch  inscription  to  this  effect :  •'  Gideon  Schaats, 
preacher  at  Albany,  died  the  27th  of  February,  1694,  being  eighty-six  years  old,  in  th» 
forty-second  of  his  service."    See  also  -post,  p.  624,  625. 


PETER  STUFVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  539 

The  expenses  of  the  last  year's  expedition  to  the  South  ch.  xvi. 
River  now  pressed  so  severely  on  the  provincial  exchequer  ~~~~' 
that  the  director  and  council  were  obliged  to  postpone  the  ^  ^u^ust. 
payment  of  one  half  of  the  "just  demands"  against  them.* 

In  the  mean  time,  Van  der  Donck  had  not  ceased  to  urge 
on  the  attention  of  the  States  G-eneral  the  complaints  of 
the  commonalty  of  New  Netherland.     Stuyvesant's  Hart-  lo  Feb 
ford  treaty,  too,  was  severely  censured  in  a  long  "Deduc- 
tion," prepared  by  the  indefatigable  agent.    Too  much  had 
been  surrendered.     The  Fresh  River  should  have  formed  lo  Feb. 
the  eastern  boundary  of  New  Netherland,  and  the  whole  conck  in 
of  Long  Island  should  have  been  retained.     The  Dutch  censures 
trade  was  seriously  injured;  for  by  the  treaty  New  En- ford  treaty 
sland  had  obtained  the  control  of  the  chief  manufactories 
of  wampum — the  lawful  currency  of  the  province — and 
New  Netherland  must  henceforth  "eat  oats  from  English 
hands." 

The  States  Greneral  now  required  again  the  opinions  of  le  Feb. 
the  several  Chambers  of  the  West  India  Company  upon 
the  proposed  "  Provisional  Order."     To  gain  more  influ- 
ence at  the  Hague,  the  Amsterdam  directors,  in  the  mean 
time,  had  addressed  a  memorial  to  the  burgomasters  of  13  Feb 
that  city,  detailing  their  views  respecting  the  "  disorders" 
in  New  Netherland.     The  municipal  authorities,  siding 
with  the  Chamber,  instructed  their  deputies  at  the  Hague  15  Feb. 
to  support  the  directors,  and  defend  their  privileges  against 
infringement. 

Emboldened  by  the  support  of  the  burgomasters  of  their  23  Feb. 
city,  the  Amsterdam  directors  replied  to  the  States  G-en- opposition 
eral.     They  had  already  given  an  opinion  adverse  to  the  visional 
Provisional  Order  ;   they  were  surprised  that  that  plan 
should  now  be  revived ;  and  they  had  hoped  that  their 
High  Mightinesses  would  have  disregarded  the  groundless 
complaints  of  "the  pretended  and  disaffected  delegates  of 
a  few  evil-disposed  persons  in  New  Netherland."     The  1  March. 
Zealand  Chamber  at  Middelburgh  was  opposed  to  the  mo- 
nopoly which  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  enjoyed.     If  the 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  73  ;  vl.,  8  ;  S.  Hazard's  Ann.  Tenn,,  133,  134, 


540        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1652. 


ch.  XVI.  existing  arrangement  should  be  changed,  it  would  assist 
in  introducing  reforms  into  New  Netherland  ;  but  at  pres- 
ent it  did  not  feel  disposed  to  interfere.     The  Chamber  at 
Dordrecht,  which  had  already  approved  the  Provisional  Or- 
2  March,    der,  also  thought  that  the  trade  to  New  Netherland  should 
be  shared  by  the  several  Chambers  of  the  company ;  should 
be  open  to  private  enterprise  ;   and  that  fifty  thousand 
guilders  should  be  advanced  to  promote  emigration.     In 
any  settlement  of  boundaries,  Long  Island,  "  lying  right 
in  front  of  the  coast,"  should  continue  a  part  of  New  Neth- 
6  March,    crland.     The  G-roningen  Chamber,  and  the  Chamber  at 
8 March.     Delft,  cxprcsscd  similar  opinions.*     The  "Provisional  Or- 
der" was  popular  every  where  but  at  Amsterdam. 

It  was  now  evident  to  the  directors  of  the  "Presiding 
Chamber"  that  they  must  make  concessions,  or  else  lose 
all  control  over  New  Netherland.     The  "  commonalty  at 
Manhattan"  was  therefore  informed  that,  to  show  their 
4  -vprii.      "  good  intentions,"  the  Amsterdam  directors  had  determ- 
*ions  to  the  incd  to  takc  the  export  duty  off  tobacco ;  to  reduce  the 
price  of  passage  to  the  province ;  and  to  allow  the  colo- 
nists to  procure  negroes  from  Africa.     At  the  same  time, 
4  April,      they  communicated  to  Stuyvesant  their  assent  to  the  es- 
govern-      tablislimcnt  of  a  "  burgher  government"  in  ]\[anhattan  ; 
established  which  thc  Nine  Men  had  demanded  on  behalf  of  the  com- 
tan.  monalty  in  1649,  and  which  the  Provisional  Order  of  1650 

had  contemplated.  The  citizens  were  to  be  allowed  to 
Burgomas-  elcct  a  scliout,  two  burgomastcrs,  and  five  schepens,  "  as 
■srhepens.  much  as  possible  according  to  the  custom  of"  the  metrop- 
olis of  the  Fatherland.  These  officers  were  to  form  a  mu- 
nicipal court  of  justice,  subject  to  the  right  of  appeal  to 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  province.  In  the  election  of 
these  magistrates,  "  every  attention  must  be  paid,"  added 
the  directors,  "  to  honest  and  respectable  individuals,  who, 
we  hope,  can  be  found  among  the  burghers  ;  and  especial- 
ly do  we  wish  that  those  promoted  thereto  be,  as  much  as 
possible,  persons  of  this  nation,  who,  we  suppose,  will  givo 
the  most  satisfaction  to  the  burghers  and  inhabitants." 

*  Hol.  Doc,  vi.,  1-66,  88-112 ;  Alb.  Rec,  viii.,  8-13. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  54] 

The  instructions  for  the  schout  or  sheriff  declared  that  ch.  xvi. 
he  should,  "as  the  director-sfeneral  and  council's  guardian 


1  o  ^O 

of  the  law  in  the  district  of  the  city  of  New  Amsterdam,  ingtruc-"' 
preserve,  protect,  and  maintain,  to  the  best  of  his  knowl- |.'°^^gj!JJ"^,'^j*' 
edge  and  ability,  the  pre-eminences  and  immunities  of  the  Amster- 
privileged  West  India  Company,  in  as  far  as  these  have'''*'"' 
been  delegated  by  previous  instruction  to  the  boerd  cf 
Burgomasters  and  Schepens,"    He  was  to  convoke  sjnd  pre- 
side at  the  meetings  of  the  city  government.     He  was  to 
prosecute  all  offenders  against  the  laws  of  the  city ;  and 
take  care  that  all  judgments  of  the  biirgomasters  and 
schepens,  not  appealed  from,  be  executed  "  according  to  the 
style  and  custom  of  the  Fatherland,  and  especially  the  city 
of  Amsterdam."     He  was  also  to  communicate,  once  ev- 
ery year,  to  the  director  general  and  council,  all  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  city  fathers  ;  and  to  refer  all  cases  within 
his  knowledge,  but  not  subject  to  his  jurisdiction,  to  the 
schout-fiscal  of  the  province.* 

Manhattan  had  now  won  the  concession,  to  a  great  ex- 
tent, of  the  burgher  government,  for  which  her  people  had 
so  long  prayed.     But  there  were  other  grievances  in  the 
province  at  large  which  required  redress ;  and  the  States 
G-eneral  ordered  Stuy vesant  to  come  immediately  to  Hoi-  2:  Aprii. 
land,  and  render  an  account  of  his  administration,  as  well  ccne-a^rX 
as  of  his  negotiations  with  the  United  Colonies  of  New  En-  vesant"''" 
gland.     Van  der  Donck  being  about  to  return  home,  with 
a  special  privilege  of  making  a  testamentary  disposition  of 
his  estate  at  Colendonck,  the  mandate  of  their  High  Might- 
inesses was  intrusted  to  him ;  and  Stuyvesant  was  at  the 
same  time  commanded  to  offer  no  molestation  to  Van 
Schelluyne  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  as  notary.! 

The  recall  of  their  director  amazed  the  Amsterdam  27  Aprii. 
Chamber,  who  wrote  at  once  to  Stuyvesant  that  this  sudden  iiieAmsner- 
step  of  the  States  G-eneral  was  a  violation  of  their  charter,  ber.     ^"^ 
and  that  he  should  not "  be  in  too  much  haste  to  commence 
his  voyage,  but  delay  it  until  the  receipt  of  further  orders." 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  68-75;  viii.,  16-19,  29-44,  139-142;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y,  i.,  599-608; 
O'Call.,  ii.,  187-192  ;  Bancroft,  ii.,  305.  t  IIol.  Doc,  vi.,  117-128 ;  ante,  p.  421. 


542  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  MSY  t'OlllC. 


1652. 


ch.  XVI.  Their  secretary  was  also  sent  to  the  Hague  to  pt(Kime  tll6 
revocation  of  the  order ;  and  the  deputies  from  Affistei'' 
dam  and  several  other  members  of  the  provincial  states 
protested  that  the  subject  "  ought  to  have  been  first  pro- 
posed to  the  states  of  Holland."  The  States  General,  now 
on  the  eve  of  open  hostilities  with  England,  yielding  to  the 

16  May.     forcc  of  circumstauces,  revoked  their  recall,  and  ordered 

Siuvve- 

sant'sre-   Van  dcr  Donck  to  deliver  up  their  letter.     The  general 

call  re- 

voked.  government  had  shown  itself  fully  disposed  to  listen  to  the 
complaints  of  the  people  of  New  Netherland ;  and,  had 
not  the  presence  of  an  experienced  soldier  been  necessa- 
ry to  protect  their  American  province,  Stuyvesant  would 
scarcely  have  escaped  his  threatened  humiliation.     The 

27  May.  Amsterdam  Chamber  gratefully  thanked  the  States  Gen- 
eral for  their  concession,  and  offered  to  give  such  full  ex- 
planations as  would  render  unnecessary  the  return  of  their 
director  to  Holland.* 

1650.  The  premature  death  of  William  II.,  prince  of  Orange, 
had  left  vacant  the  office  of  stadtholder,  and  the  dignity 
remained  in  abeyance  during  the  minority  of  "William  III. 
This  event,  weakening  the  ascendency  of  the  Orange  par- 
ty in  the  Netherlands,  led  to  the  recognition  of  the  En- 

1651.  glish  commonwealth  by  the  Dutch  Republic ;  and  Saint 
anuary.  j^j^j^  g^j^^  Strickland  were  dispatched  to  the  Hague,  to  ne- 
gotiate a  league  of  amity  and  confederation  between  the 
two  nations.     Some  of  the  visionary  enthusiasts  in  Par- 

Proposed    liament  even  entertained  designs  of  making  the  "  two  sov- 

umon  he-  .  n  j      i  i   i  -i      •      • 

tween  En-  crcign  statcs  ouc,"  to  DC  govcmed  by  a  council  sittm?  at 

fflandand    .^        °  ,       r  tx         i  i  -n        ,     t 

the  Nether- London,  composed  of  Dutchmen  and  Englishmen.  To  ef- 
feet  this  object,  the  embassy  was  instructed  to  use  the 
most  adroit  diplomacy.  The  ambassadors,  however,  de- 
manding, as  a  preliminary,  that  the  English  fugitives 
should  be  expelled  from  Holland,  the  Dutch  government 
determined  not  to  interfere  in  any  way  between  Cromwell 
and  the  Royalist  party  ;  and  the  English  negotiators  were 
openly  insulted  by  the  populace,  whose  attachment  to  the 
house  of  Orange  would  not  tolerate  the  presence  of  the 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  vi  ,  130-140,  153,  156;  Alb    Rec,  iv.,  63-68;  riii.,  45-49;  O'Call.,  ii.,  104 


PETER  SfUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  543 

"executioners"  of  the  unhappy  grandfather  of  William  ch. xvi. 
Ill*  

On  his  return  to  England,  Saint  John  gratified  his  re-  2  juiy. 
venge  by  devising  a  measure  whereby  he  hoped  the  com-  j^auluiy  or 
mercial  ascendency  of  the  Dutch  might  be  destroyed.  "^®  ^""^^' 
G-rotius,  one  of  the  most  glorious  of  the  sons  of  Holland, 
had  been  the  first  to  proclaim  the  doctrine  that  "  free  ships 
make  free  goods,"  and  had  boldly  appealed  to  the  judg- 
ment of  the  world  against  the  maritime  restrictions  "  which 
humanity  denounced  as  contrary  to  the  principles  of  social 
intercourse ;  which  justice  derided  as  infringing  the  clear- 
est natural  rights ;  which  enterprise  rejected  as  a  mon- 
strous usurpation  of  the  ocean  and  the  winds."  The  coun- 
try of  Grrotius,  though  her  colonial  policy  was  apparently 
paradoxical,  had  herself  become  great  by  practicing  the 
doctrines  which  Grrotius  had  so  eloquently  announced. 
The  commerce  of  Holland  covered  every  sea  over  which 
the  navy  of  Holland  rode  in  triumph.  In  Asia,  in  Africa, 
in  America,  the  tricolor  of  the  United  Provinces  floated 
over  the  Dutch  colonial  outposts.  England  saw  and  felt 
her  inferiority ;  already  her  ships  began  to  lie  idle  at  her 
quays,  and  her  mariners  to  seek  employment  in  the  ves- 
sels of  Holland.  The  celebrated  "Act  of  Navigation" 
was,  therefore,  carried  through  Parliament ;  and  the  ser-  9  October 
geant-at-arms  was  ordered  to  proclaim  it  at  the  old  Lon-"Actof 
don  Exchange,  "  with  sound  of  trumpet  and  beat  of  drum."  tion." 
This  act  decreed  that  no  productions  of  Asia,  Africa,  or 
America  should  be  brought  to  England,  except  in  English 
vessels  manned  by  English  crews ;  and  that  no  produc- 
tions of  Europe  should  be  brought  to  England,  unless  in 
English  vessels,  or  in  those  of  the  country  in  which  the  im- 
ported cargoes  were  produced.  This  step  was  accompa- 
nied by  the  issue  of  letters  of  reprisal  to  such  persons  as 
considered  themselves  aggrieved  by  the  Dutch.t 

The  States  Greneral  dispatched  ambassadors  to  London  20  Dee. 

*  Aitzema,  iii.,  638-663  ;  Thurloe's  State  Papers,  i.,  174, 179, 182, 183, 187-195  ;  Verbacl 
van  JJevernins,  61,  62 ;  ante,  p.  499. 

t  Commons' Journal,  vii.,  27;  Anderson,  ii.,  415,  416  ;  Lingard,  xi.,  n7, 128  ;  Bancroft, 
i.,  215,  216  ;  Davies,  ii.,  707-710. 


544  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVI.  to  protest  against  these  hostile  measures,  and  at  the  same 
time  gave  orders  for  the  equipment  of  a  fleet  of  one  hund- 
Protest  of  ^6^  ^^^  fi%  s^ips  of  ^^^^-     The  ambassadors  were  also 
the  Dutch,  jnstructed  to  propose  a  treaty,  which,  among  other  things, 
should  provide  for  a  free  trade  to  the  West  Indies  and  Vir- 
ginia, and  for  the  settlement  of  the  boundaries  between 
the  Dutch  and  English  colonies  in  America.     Schaep,  one 
of  the  ambassadors,  who  had  been  sent  to  London  the  year 
before  as  the  special  agent  of  the  provmce  of  Holland,  had 
been  then  empowered  to  propose  the  arrangement  of  a 
boundary  between  New  Netherland  and  New  England. 
1652.  The  proposition  was  now  made  by  the  ambassadors  in 
Tria'ty  pro-  ^oYm  ]  and  thc  eleventh  and  twelfth  articles  in  the  draft 
posed       q£  ^YiQ  treaty  which  they  submitted  to  the  English  Coun- 
cil of  State,  provided  that  Dutch  and  English  subjects,  not- 
withstanding any  recent  prohibitions,  might  freely  sail  and 
trade  to  the  Carribee  Islands  and  to  Virginia  as  they  had 
before  done ;  and  that  "to  maintain  good  friendship,  peace, 
and  neighborhood  between  both  of  the  aforesaid  nations 
on  the  continent  of  North  America,  a  just,  certain,  and 
immovable  boundary  line  there  shall  be  settled  and  de- 
termined as  soon  as  possible."* 
25  March.       Neither  of  these  propositions  was  acceptable  to  the  Coun- 
negotia-     cil  of  State.     They  replied  that  the  English  had  always 


tions. 


been  forbidden  to  trade  with  any  of  the  Dutch  colonies, 
and  that  they  should  now  acquiesce  in  that  policy  ;  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  as  the  Dutch  were  excluded  from  trad- 
ing to  any  of  the  English  plantations  by  the  recent  Navi- 
gation Act,  from  that  measure  the  council  did  not  "deem 
it  fitting  to  recede."  In  regard  to  the  colonial  boundary 
question,  the  English  had  been  the  "  first  planters"  of 
North  America,  from  Virginia  to  Newfoundland  ;  and  not 
knowing  any  plantations  of  the  Dutch  there,  "  save  a  small 
number  up  in  Hudson's  River,"  they  did  not  think  it  nec- 
essary "at  present  to  settle  the  limits,  which  may  be  done 
5  May.  hereafter  in  a  convenient  time."  In  the  correspondence 
that  followed,  the  English  defended  their  restrictive  colo- 

'  Alb.  Rec,  fv.,  33  ;  IIol.  Doc,  v.,  419  ;  vi.,  184  ;  Aitzema,  iii.,  694-693. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  545 

nial  policy  on  the  ground  of  retaliation ;  but  suggested  ch.  xvi. 
that,  if  the  Dutch  would  propose  to  establish  a  mutual 
freedom  of  trade,  their  proposition  would  be  respectfully 
considered.  Unfortunately,  the  States  General  were  not 
now  in  a  position  to  incorporate  a  principle  so  congenial  to 
the  national  sentiment  of  the  United  Provinces  into  the 
policy  of  the  world.  They  had  unwisely  hampered  them- 
selves with  two  enormous  conmiercial  monopolies,  to  which 
they  had  intrusted  the  government  of  their  colonies  ;  and 
the  influence  of  these  two  companies  was  fatal  to  any  prop- 
osition for  the  emancipation  of  colonial  commerce.  The 
Dutch  ambassadors  were  not  instructed  to  offer  to  the  En- 
glish a  reciprocal  free  trade  to  New  Netherland,  for  New 
Netherland  was  in  the  hands  of  the  West  India  Company. 
It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  the  negotiations  at 
London  were  fruitless.  The  ambassadors  soon  received  13  May. 
instructions  from  Holland  to  defer  the  consideration  of  a 
boundary  line  in  America  until  a  more  fitting  time.*  The 
States  Greneral  had  not  yet  ratified  Stuyvesant's  treaty  at 
Hartford  ;  and  they  did  not,  in  fact,  ratify  it  until  several 
years  after  ward,  t 

A  naval  war,  which  had  been  brewing  so  long,  at  last  Navai  war 
broke   out  between  England   and  the  United  Provinces,  the  Dutcu 
Holland  ships  were  arrested,  without  warning,  in  English  giish. 
ports,  and  their  crews  impressed.     The  Dutch  fleet  had 
been   intrusted  to   the    command   of  Marten  Harpertsen 
Tromp,1:  with  instructions  from  the  Admiralty  to  protect 
Dutch  vessels  from  visitation  or  search  by  foreign  cruisers  ; 
and  not  to  strike  his  flag  to  English  ships  of  war.     In  a 
few  days  Tromp  encountered  the  British  fleet,  under  Blake,  29  May. 
in  the  Straits  of  Dover,  and  a  bloody  but  indecisive  battle 
followed.     All  hopes  of  peace  were  now  at  an  end.     Par- 
liament was  resolved  on  war,  and  the  Dutch  ambassadors 
soon  afterward  left  England.     A  series  of  brilliant  naval  rjuiv. 

*  Aitzema,  iii.,  701-710  ;  IIol.  Doc,  vi.,  136,  138. 

r  IIol.  Doc,  viii.,  124  ;  i.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  p.  301  ;  ante,  p.  520 ;  iiost,  p.  fi21. 

t  It  is  strange  that  so  many  English  and  American  writers  insi.st  upon  prefi.xing  a  su- 
perfluous "  Van"  to  Tromp's  name.  Bancroft  and  Davies  are  among  the  few  who  avoid 
tlie  vulgar  error.  The  name  of  the  Dutch  admiral  was  no  more  Van  Tromp  than  that  of 
the  English  admiral  was  Van  Blake. 

M  M 


546  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1652. 

10  Dec. 


ch.  XVI.  engagements  followed,  in  which  Tromp  and  De  Ruyter, 
and  Blake  and  Ayscue,  all  gained  immortal  laurels.  The 
first  year  of  hostilities  closed  with  a  victory  which  forced 
Blake  to  take  refuge  in  the  Thames ;  and  Tromp  placed  a 
broom  at  his  mast-head,  in  token  that  he  had  swept  the 
channel  free  of  all  English  ships.* 
precau-  Tlio   Statcs   G-eucral  did  not  neglect  the  precautions 

States  Gen- which  a  state  of  war  demanded.     The  Admiralty  was  di- 
17  July,     rected  to  send  a  swift-sailing  frigate  to  New  Netherland 
and  the  West  Indies,  with  instructions  to  the  provincial 
22  Jiuy.      governors.     Stuy  vesant  was  also  instructed  to  keep  a  care- 
ful watch,  in  the  present  condition  of  affairs  with  England, 
and  to  employ  no  person  in  the  public  service  of  whose 
loyalty  and  devotion  to  the  Fatherland  he  was  not  assured. 
The  views  of  the  West  India  Company  were  also  desired 
respecting  the  best  mode  of  protecting  their  American  pos- 
30  juy      sessions.    The  company  recommended  that  five  or  six  frig- 
ates should  be  sent  to  New  Netherland,  to  harass  British 
commerce  on  the  coast  and  in  the  West  Indies  ;  but  that, 
as  the  English  colonists  on  the  continent  were  very  strong, 
it  would  be  impolitic  to  attempt  any  thing  against  them.t 
r,  August.        The  directors,  at  the  same  time,  wrote  to  Stuyvesant, 
the  Am-      "Although  we  do  not  doubt  but  that  you  have  agreed 
Chamber  to  with  thosc  of  Ncw  England  about  limits,  in  conformity 

Stuwe-  .  .  °  '  .    '' 

«ant.  With  our  intentions,  or  have  entered  into  a  more  close  union 
and  harmonious  compact  with  them  as  once  before,  so  that 
we  have  nothing  to  fear  from  New  England  ;  neverthe- 
less, we  consider  it  an  imperious  duty  to  recommend  you 
to  arm  and  discipline  all  freemen,  soldiers,  and  sailors  ;  to 
appoint  officers  and  places  of  rendezvous  ;  to  supply  them 
with  ammunition  ;  and  to  inspect  the  fortifications  at  New 
Amsterdam,  Fort  Orange,  and  Fort  Casimir.  To  this  end, 
we  send  you,  for  your  protection,  a  fresh  supply  of  ammu- 
nition." *  *  *  "  We  warn  you,"  they  added,  "  not  to 
place  an  unbounded  confidence  in  our  English  inhabitants, 
but  to  keep  a  watchful  eye  on  them,  so  that  you  may  not 

*  Aitzema,  iii.,  Til,  713,  764,  781  ;  Thurloe,  i.,  205-212;  Easnagc,  i.,  251-261  ;  Davie^ 
ii.,  713  ;  Hume  ;  Lingard,  xi.,  128-134  ;  Baneron,  i.,  217. 
t  IIol.  Doc,  vi.,  163,  165,  166,  169,  170-178. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  547 

be  deceived,  through  their  sinister  machinations,  by  a  show  ch  x\  1. 
of  service,  as  we  have  been  before  deceived.     If  it  should 


happen,  which  we  will  not  yet  suppose,  that  those  New        '^'^' 
Englanders  incline  to  take  a  part  in  these  broils,  and  in- 
jure our  good  inhabitants,  then  we  should  advise  yourEngaie 

1  ,  xi        T     T  •  1  meat  of  la- 

honor  to  engage  the  Indians  in  your  cause,  who,  we  are  (Uans  ad- 
informed,  are  not  partial  to  the  English.  You  will  further  ^'""^  ' 
employ  all  such  means  of  defense  as  prudence  may  require 
for  your  security,  taking  care  that  the  merchants  and  in- 
habitants convey  their  valuable  property  within  the  forts. 
Treat  them  kindly,  so  that  they  may  be  encouraged  to  re- 
main there,  and  to  give  up  the  thought  of  returning  to  Hol- 
land, which  would  cause  the  depopulation  of  the  country. 
It  is  advisable,  therefore,  to  inclose  the  villages,  at  least 
the  principal  and  most  opulent,  with  breast- works  and  pal- 
lisades,  to  prevent  surprise."* 

The  "fast-sailing  galliot"  by  which  this  letter  and  the 
promised  supplies  were  dispatched  was  captured  by  the 
English.     The  States  Greneral  again  admonished  the  West  s  Sept. 
India  Company  to  put  their  province  in  a  proper  state  of  strucnons. 
defense.     Another  vessel  was,  therefore,  fitted  out,  and  a 
duplicate  of  the  intercepted  dispatch  was  forwarded.     The 
directors,  at  the  same  time,  wrote  to  Stuyvesant  to  be  care- 13  Dec 
fully  on  his  guard  against  the  "artful  wiles"  of  his  territo- 
rial neighbors,  and  to  avoid,  if  possible,  any  broils  with  the 
people  of  New  England.    All  honest  means  were  to  be  used 
to  cultivate  friendship  with  them,  and  also  to  promote 
commerce,  chiefly  with  the  Virginians,  by  which  means 
"  must  the  Manhattans  prosper,"  her  population  increase, 
and  her  trade  and  navigation  flourish.     "For  when  these  Maritime 
once  become  permanently  established — when  the  ships  of  or  Ma'ihai- 
New  Netherland  ride  on  every  part  of  the  ocean — then  l^ili. 
numbers,  now  looking  to  that  coast  with  eager  eyes,  will 
be  allured  to  embark  for  your  island."      Such  was  the 
prophecy  which  the  merchants  of  Amsterdam  addressed 
to  the  merchants  of  Manhattan  two  centuries  ago.t 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  83,  64. 

t  Hoi.  Doc,  vi.,  190, 192  ;  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  87,  91  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  205,  206  ;  Bancroft,  ii.,  294 


548        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1652. 

Actual 
condition 
of  Manhat- 
tan, 


ch.  XVI.  "When  that  prophecy  \vas  uttered,  New  Amsterdam  was 
yet  a  small  village,  with  a  population  of  seven  or  eight 
hundred  souls.  Belonging,  in  fee,  to  the  West  India  Com- 
pany, its  municipal  affairs  had  always  been  administered 
by  the  director  and  council  of  the  province.  That  admin- 
istration, however,  had  never  been  advantageous,  either  to 
the  company  or  to  the  colonists ;  and  from  the  beginning 
of  Stuyvesant's  government,  scarcely  one  new  bouwery 
had  been  planted  on  the  island.* 

The  time  had  now  come  when  its  inhabitants  were  to 

be  invested  with  the  civic  powers  which  the  Amsterdam 

Chamber  had  so  unwillingly  conceded  to  their  earnest  pray- 

organiza-  crs.    Its  municipal  government  was  to  resemble  "as  much 

first  niunic-  as  possiblc"  that  of  Old  Amsterdam ;  nevertheless,  the  fran- 

ernnient  of  chiscs  which  the  citizcus  of  New  Amsterdam  actually  ob- 

Ngw  Ani- 

sterdam.  taiucd  wcrc  far  less  extensive  than  those  which  the  burgh- 
ers of  the  parent  city  enjoyed.  The  director  general  re- 
tained in  his  own  hands  the  appointment  of  burgomasters 
and  schepens,  and  insisted  upon  the  right  of  the  provincial 
government  "to  make  ordinances  or  publish  particular  in- 
terdicts even  for  New  Amsterdam."  The  citizens  were 
not  allowed  to  elect  their  own  sellout ;  the  city  govern- 
ment did  not  choose  its  own  clerk.  The  ungraceful  con- 
cessions of  the  grudging  Chamber  were  hampered  by  the 
most  illiberal  interpretation  which  their  provincial  repre- 
sentative could  devise. 
1653.        Stuyvesant  accordingly  issued  a  proclamation  on  the 

~^^^'  feast  of  Candlemas,  appointing  Arendt  van  Hattem  and 
Martin   Kregier,  burgomasters,  and  Paulus   Leendertsen 

ters'and  '  vau  dcr  Grist,  Maximilian  van  Gheel,  Allard  Anthony, 

sc  epens.  -y^^^gj^  Becckman,  and  Pieter  Wolfertsen  van  Couwenho- 
ven,  schepens  of  the  city  of  New  Amsterdam.     Cornelis 

Sellout  and  vau  Ticnlioven,  the  company's  fiscal,  was  made  schout  of 
the  city,  and  Jacob  Kip  was  appointed  secretary  to  the 

6  Feb  municipal  government.  A  few  days  afterward,  the  bur- 
gomasters  and  schepens  met  together,  and  gave  notice  that 
they  would  hold  their  ordinary  meetings  every  Monday 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  vi.,  227  ;  xi,,  213. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  54 (j 

morning  at  nine  o'clock,  "in  the  building  hitherto  called  ch.  am 
the  City  Tavern,  and  now  named  the  Stadt  Huys  or  City 
Hall."     Stuyvesant,  whose  attention  had  been  so  much  p,rst  meJi 
given  to  the  municipal  aftairs  of  the  capital,  often  attended  muimipai 
these  meetings  in  person.     Record  books  were  then  com-  ^°Jn""' 
menced  ;  and  a  solemn  form  of  prayer  was  adopted,  with 
which  the  proceedings  of  the  court  were  to  be  opened. 
The  island  of  Manhattan  had  at  last  formally  become  the 
city  of  New  Amsterdam.* 

The  organization  of  the  municipal  government  of  New  cmuai 

,"■  ■,  .  ..,.,    condition 01 

Amsterdam  took  place  at  the  most  important  crisis  which  New  Netu- 
the  Dutch  province  had  yet  seen.     Holland  and  England 
were  now  at  open  war.     The  Puritan  colonies,  sympathiz- 
ing with  Parliament,  longed  to  make  New  Netherland  a 
trophy  of  the  strife,  and  to  extend  the  English  power  from 
Stamford  to  the  Chesapeake.     Stuyvesant,  foreseeing  his  26  Feb. 
danger,  wrote  to  the  several  governments  of  Virginia  and  New  En-' 
New  England,  expressing  the  friendly  feelings  both  of  the  vi-gima. 
West  India  Company  and  of  the  authorities  of  New  Neth- 
erland, and  proposing  that  the  commercial  intercourse  be- 
tween the  Dutch  and  English  colonies  should  continue  on 
its  former  peaceful  footing,  notwithstanding  the  hostilities 
between  their  mother  countries.     At  the  same  time,  he  did 
not  neglect  proper  military  precautions  at  homo.     He  com-  rs  M.in !, 
municated  to  a  ioint  meeting  of  the  provincial  council,  andtionsfoittie 

defense  oi 

of  the  burgomasters  and  schepens  of  New  Amsterdam,  the  ti»e  ciiy. 
dispatches  from  the  West  India  Company ;  and  also  inform- 
ed them  of  the  military  preparations  which  were  novr  in 
progress  in  New  England.  The  meeting  promptly  resolv- 
ed that  "the  whole  body  of  citizens"  should  mount  guard 
every  night ;  that  Fort  Amsterdam  should  be  repaired  ; 
and  as  it  was  not  large  enough  to  contain  all  the  inhab-  Duch  mi.i 
itants,  that  the  city  should  be  enclosed,  from  the  East  to 
the  North  River,  by  a  ditch  and  palisades  with  a  breast- 
work.    Schipper  Yisscher  was  directed  to  keep  his  sails 

*  Alb.  Rec,  vi.,  54,  (iO  ;  New  Amsterdam  Records,  i.,  105-107,  109  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  213  ; 
Valentine's  Manual  for  1650,  538,  where  the  form  of  prayer  i.s  inserted  at  length.  The 
Records  of  the  city  of  New  York,  commencing  with  this  date,  are  still  preserved  in  good 
condition      See  note  Q,  Appendix. 


550  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1653. 

First  public 
ilebt  ol'tlie 
cily. 


ch  XVI.  always  ready,  and  "  liis  gun  loaded  day  and  night."  To 
defray  all  these  expenses,  the  city  government  proposed  to 
raise  about  six  thousand  guilders,  by  a  loan  from  the  prin- 
cipal citizens,  to  be  repaid  by  a  tax  upon  the  commonalty. 

13  March.   In  two  days,  upward  of  five  thousand  guilders  were  sub- 

17  March,  scribcd.  A  contract  was  made  with  Thomas  Baxter  to 
provide  palisades  twelve  feet  high  and  eighteen  inches  in 
girth;  and  the  inhabitants,  "without  one  exception,"  were 
required  to  w^ork  at  the  fortifications,  under  penalty  of  fine, 
loss  of  citizenship,  and  banishment.  Nor  did  the  people 
forget,  in  the  time  of  their  trouble,  to  call  upon  the  Al- 
mighty for  aid  ;  and  the  ninth  of  April  was  ordered  to  be 

Fast  day.    observed  as  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  throughout  the 

28  May.  proviucc.  The  inhabitants  at  Beverwyck  and  Fort  Orange 
ange  ahd  werc  likcwise  directed  to  assist  those  of  Rensselaerswyck 
wyck.  in  putting  the  redoubt  and  other  defenses  in  good  repair.* 
State  of  These  precautions  were  by  no  means  untimely.  Uncas, 
New  En-    the  Mohcgau  ally  of  the  English,  had  spread  a  report  that 

Stuyvesant  had  been  plotting  to  excite  the  Narragansetts 
against  the  New  England  colonies ;  and  nine  sachems, 
who  lived  "  about  the  Manhatoes,"  sent  messengers  to 
Stamford  toward  the  end  of  March,  affirming  that,  about 
28 March,  a  month  before,  the  Dutch  governor  "did  earnestly  solicit 
the  Indians  in  those  parts  to  kill  all  the  English,  but  they 
all  refused  to  be  hired  by  him,  for  that  the  English  had 
done  them  no  harm." 

29  April.  An  extraordinary  meeting  of  the  commissioners  of  the 
the  New  United  Colonies  was  accordingly  held  at  Boston  in  the  end 
commis-     of  April.     Prcviously  to  the  meeting,  two  messengers  had 

been  sent  by  the  council  of  Massachusetts  to  interrogate 
Ninigret,  Pessacus,  and  Mixam,  three  of  the  Narragansett 
chiefs,  as  to  Stuyvesant's  conduct.  But  the  sachems'  an- 
swers disproved  the  alleged  plot.  "  I  found  no  such  en- 
tertainment from  the  Dutch  governor  when  I  was  there," 
said  Ninigret,  "to  stir  me  up  to  such  a  league  against  the 
English,  my  friends.     It  was  winter  time,  and  I  stood  a 

'  Alb.  Rec,  vi.,  58-78  ;  ix.,  57 ;  New  Amst.  Rec,  i.,  150-153, 164,  1S2 ;  O'CaU.,  ii.,  215 
Valentine's  Manual  for  1850,  450. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  55I 

great  part  of  a  winter's  day  knocking  at  the  governor's  ch.  xvi. 
door;  and  he  would  neither  open  it,  nor  suffer  others  to  ^„_^ 
open  it,  to  let  me  in  ;  I  was  not  wont  to  find  such  carriage 
from  the  English,  my  friends."  Said  Mixam :  "  I  know 
of  no  such  plot  that  is  intended  or  plotted  by  the  Dutch 
governor  against  the  English,  my  friends,"  And  Pessacus 
replied,  "that  for  the  governor  of  the  Dutch,  we  are  loth 
to  invent  any  falsehood  of  him,  though  we  be  far  off  from 
him,  to  please  the  English,  or  any  other  that  bring  these 
reports." 

The  commissioners  were  still  suspicious  and  unsatisfied. 
A  long  "  declaration"  was  therefore  drawn  up,  reviewing 
the  complaints  which  the  New  England  colonies  had  re- 
iterated for  thirteen  years,  and  embodying  the  new  charges  charges 
against  the  Dutch  which  rested  upon  the  testimony  of  b'utch. 
"  the  Indians,  who  know  not  God,  but  worship  and  walk 
after  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  serving  their  lusts, 
hateful,  and  hating  one  another."  Upon  the  reading  of 
this,  the  commissioners,  "being  exercised  with  different 
apprehensions,"  called  upon  the  Massachusetts  council, 
"  with  the  neighboring  elders,"  for  advice.  Their  advice 
was,  that  it  best  became  those  "  professing  to  walk  in  the 
Gospel  of  peace,  having  to  dg  with  a  people  pretending  to 
the  same  profession,"  to  give  the  Dutch  governor  an  oppor- 
tunity to  answer  for  himself. 

Stuyvesant,  however,  did  not  wait  for  the  action  of  the  smyve- 
commissioners.     Hearing  of  the  charades  a2:ainst  him,  he  duet. 

22  April. 

wrote  at  once  to  the  governors  of  New  Haven  and  Massa- 
chusetts, denying  the  plot,  and  offering  to  come  or  send  to 
Boston  to  clear  himself,  or  desiring  that  -delegates  might 
be  sent  to  Manhattan  "to  consider  and  examine  what  may 
be  charged,  and  his  answers."  The  commissioners  accord-  Agonts  10 
ingly  appointed  Francis  Newman,  a  magistrate  of  New  Ntuier- 
Haven,  and  Captain  John  Leverett,  and  Lieutenant  Will- 
iam Davis,  of  Boston,  to  visit  New  Netherland.  The  agents 
were  instructed  specifically  as  to  their  duties  in  procuring 
testimony,  and  intelligence  from  Europe  or  Virginia,  and 
were  also  furnished  with  letters  which  Underbill  had  writ- 


552        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1653. 


ch.  XVI.  ten  to  the  commissioners,  according  to  the  tenor  of  which 
they  conceived  that  "himself  and  the  English  at  Hemp- 
stede  will  produce  such  evidence  as  the  case  requires."    A 

12  May.  letter  to  Stuy  vesant,  at  the  same  time,  embodied  their  long 
"  declaration"  of  complaints,  and  demanded  "  speedy  and 
just  satisfaction  for  all  former  grievances,  and  due  secu- 

prepara-     rity  for  the  future."     The  commissioners  likewise  made 

tions  for  .  .  /-i      i         ii      i  i        • 

war.  preparations,  in  case  "  Cxod  call  the  colonies  to  make  war 
against  the  Dutch."  Five  hundred  men,  "  for  the  first  ex- 
pedition," were  to  be  proportionally  raised  out  of  the  four 
jurisdictions;  and  Captain  Leverett  was  judiciously  chosen 
commander-in-chief,  "  with  respect  to  the  opportunity  he 
now  hath  to  view  and  observe  the  situation  and  fortifica- 
tion at  the  Manhatoes." 

22  May.  The  Ncw  Enoflaud  agents,  on  reachina:  New  Amsterdam, 
the  English  were  lodgcd  at  "the  Basse's  house  in  Manhatoes."  They 
New  Am-   at  oncc  proposcd  to  choose  "  some  convenient  place,  within 

the  United  Colonies  of  New  England,"  for  Stuyvesant  to 
produce  evidence  to  clear  himself  from  the  charges  against 
him.     This  proposition  the  director  declined.     The  agents 

23  May.      then  asked  that  the  place  might  be  at  Flushing  or  Heem- 

stede  ;  that  they  should  have  full  power  to  call  such  to 
testify  as  they  might  think  meet ;  that  the  magistrates 
there  should  be  obliged  to  administer  oaths  to  the  witness- 
es ;  and  that  no  person  should  be  molested  for  the  testi- 
,\nswer  of  monv  he  mii^ht  give.     To  these  exactions  Stuyvesant  and 

the  Dutch  ''  .,  ,  •   i      i  i  i 

to  their  de-  his  council,  "together  with  those  that  represent  the  partic- 
ular courts  of  justice  in  the  colonies  of  New  Netherland," 
avowing  themselves  "  guiltless  of  any  plot,  either  offensive 
or  defensive,  against  the  English  nation,"  readily  assented, 
upon  condition  that  the  proposed  examinations  should  be 
held  in  the  presence  of  three  persons,  to  be  associated  with 
he  New  England  commission,  namely.  La  Montague,  the 
first  counselor  in  New  Netherland,  David  Provoost,  and 
Govert  Loockermans,  "  which  all  jointly  in  some  measure 
understand  the  Dutch,  English,  and  Indian  speeches."  If 
any  person  should  be  found  "  that  would  stand  to  the  ac- 
cusation," he  might  be  examined,  and  might  also,  "  accord- 


PETER  STU  YVES  ANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  553 

mg  to  the  custom  of  our  laws  of  New  Netherland,"  be  ch.  xvi. 
"  touched  and  heard,"  in  the  presence  of  the  New  England  ~ 
agents,  before  the  director  and  council  at  New  Amsterdam 
and  the  representatives  of  the  particular  colonies  and  courts 
of  the  province.  And  all  inferior  magistrates  and  officers 
should  be  commanded  to  bring  before  the  joint  commis- 
sion "  all  such  as  they  shall  require,  whether  they  be  Dutch 
or  English."* 

These  liberal  conditions  did  not  suit  the  Puritan  agents. 
With  lawyer-like  precision  they  "  excepted"  to  the  num-24May. 
ber  and  the  character  of  the  signers,  the  mode  in  which  reject  uie 
they  stated  the  question,  and  the  examination  of  witnesses  Dutch. 
according  to  the  laws  of  New  Netherland  ;    and,  in  the 
name  of  the  United  Colonies,  demanded  "  due  and  full 
satisfaction"  for  all  the  particulars  in  their  letter.     They 
seemed  to  have  visited  the  Dutch  province  as  inquisitors, 
to  collect  evidence  criminating  the  Dutch,  and  to  collect 
no  other  evidence  ;  and,  with  peculiar  assurance,  they  saw 
no  impropriety  in  requiring  the  authorities  of  New  Neth- 
erland, in  their  own  capital,  to  suspend  their  established 
rules  of  law  in  favor  of  those  of  New  England. 

The  director's  temperate  reply,  rebuking  their  pertinac-  24  May. 
ity,  submitted  a  series  of  general  propositions.  I.  Neigh-  sanfs  re- 
borly  friendship,  without  regard  to  the  hostilities  in  Eu- 
rope ;  II.  Continuance  of  trade  and  commerce,  as  before ; 
III.  Mutual  justice  against  fraudulent  debtors ;  IV.  A  de- 
fensive and  offensive  alliance  against  the  enemies  of  both 
the  Dutch  and  English  provinces ;  and,  V.  In  case  the 
agents  had  not  full  powers  to  negotiate  on  these  points, 
that  the  Dutch  government  would  be  pleased  to  send  plen- 
ipotentiaries to  the  commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies. 

But  the   New   England   agents   repelled   Stuyvesant's  25  May. 
friendly  overtures;  and  "concluded  their  negotiation"  by tiatiouend 
declaring,  in  the  name  of  the  commissioners,  that  "  if  so 
be  you  shall  offer  any  injury  to  any  of  the  English  in  these 
parts,  whether  by  yourselves  or  by  the  Indians,  either  upon 

*  Hazard,  ii.,  234,  235.  Besides  Stuyvesant  himself,  this  letter  was  signed  by  Werck- 
hoven,  Newton,  Kregier,  J.  B.  van  Rensselaer,  Van  der  Grist,  Van  Carloe,  Willcm  Beeck- 
man,  Pietcr  Wolfertsen,  AUard  Anthony,  and  Rutger  Jacobsen. 


554  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVI.  the  national  quarrel,  or  by  reason  of  any  differences  de- 
pending  between  the  United  English  Colonies  and  your- 
■  selves  of  the  province  of  New  Netherland,  that,  as  the 
commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies  will  do  no  wrong,  so 
they  may  not  suffer  their  countrymen  to  be  oppressed  upon 
any  such  account."  This  paper  was  delivered  to  Stuyve- 
sant  about  six  o'clock  on  Sunday  afternoon.  About  nine 
o'clock  the  same  evening,  the  New  England  agents,  with- 
out waiting  for  the  Director's  reply,  took  their  leave,  and 
"  cloaking  their  sudden  departure  under  pretence  of  the 
day  of  election,  to  be  held  this  week  at  Boston,"  they  de- 
clined a  friendly  invitation  to  remain,  and  abruptly  left 
New  Amsterdam, 
26  May.  Tlic  ucxt  day  Stuyvesant  dispatched  Augustine  Heer- 

sant's  an-  mans  to  Boston  with  a  full  reply  to  the  letter  of  the  commis- 

swer  to  the     _  '■    -' 

"dedara-    sioucrs,  and  an  abstract  of  "  passasres"  between  New  Neth- 

tion"  of  the  '  i  o 

commis-     erland  and  New  England.    Touchinsr  the  reiterated  charge 

woners.  ... 

of  conspiracy  with  the  natives,  there  would  "never  any 
appearance  of  truth  be  found  in  it,"  If  the  New  England 
messengers  had  made  inquiry,  "  according  to  due  course 
and  manner  of  law,"  the  case  would  have  been  "  truly  dis- 
covered and  found  out."  Ninigret  had  come  to  New  Am- 
sterdam in  the  month  of  January,  with  a  pass  from  the 
younger  Winthrop,  "  to  be  cured  and  healed."  "What  he 
had  done  on  Long  Island  "remains  to  us  unknown;  only 
this  we  know,"  added  Stuyvesant,  "  that  what  your  wor- 
ships lay  unto  our  charge  are  false  reports  and  feigned  in- 
formations. Your  honored  messengers  might,  if  they  had 
pleased,  have  informed  themselves  of  the  truth  of  this  at 
Nayack  and  G-ravesande,  and  might  also  have  obtained 
more  friendly  satisfaction  and  security  concerning  our  real 
intentions,  if  they  had  been  pleased  to  have  staid  a  day  or 
two  or  three  with  us,  to  have  heard  and  considered  fur- 
ther of  these  articles." 

On  their  way  homeward,  the  New  England  agents 
stopped  at  Flushing,  Stamford,  and  New  Haven,  and, 
"  without  any  help  or  concurrence  from  the  Manhatoes," 
took  all  the  testimony  they  could  procure  to  sustain  their 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  555 

charges  against  the  New  Netheiiand  authorities.  The  ch.  xvi. 
hearsay  stories  of  several  Indians  were  eagerly  recorded. 
A  conversation  at  Underhill's  house,  in  Flushing,  with  00  May. 
the  wife  of  Van  der  Donck,  who  said  that  "the  Maquaas 
are  ready  to  assist  the  Dutch  if  the  English  fall  upon 
them,"  and  with  Doughty,  her  father,  who  "said  that  he 
knew  more  than  he  durst  speak,"  was  carefully  noted. 
Several  depositions  of  disaffected  Englishmen  at  Heem- Testimony 
stede  and  Middelburgh  were  secured.  The  only  point  real-  Long  isi- 
ly  ascertained  upon  which  to  found  the  charge  of  a  plot 
was  that  Stuyvesant  had  told  Robert  Coe,  one  of  the  Mid- 
delburgh magistrates,  that  "  if  the  English  came  against 
him,  he  had  spoken  to  Indians  to  help  lym  against  the 
English."  William  Alford  also  swore  that  Stuyvesant  had 
told  him  "he  had  no  hand  in  any  such  plot ;  but  confess- 
ed that  in  case  any  English  should  come  against  him,  then 
he  would  strengthen  himself  with  the  Indians  as  much  as 
he  could."  This  was  all  that  the  agents  succeeded  in 
proving.  These  declarations  were  made  by  Stuyvesant 
without  any  mystery  or  purpose  of  concealment.  They 
were  merely  the  announcement  of  his  intention  to  obey  the 
instructions  of  the  Amsterdam  directors,  w'ho  had,  as  we 
have  seen,  written  to  him  the  previous  August,  that,  in 
case  the  New  England ers  inclined  "to  take  a  part  in  these 
broils,  and  injure  our  good  inhabitants,  then  we  should  ad- 
vise your  honor  to  engage  the  Indians  in  your  cause."  The 
Puritan  colonists  had  themselves  set  the  example  of  em- 
ploying Indian  allies  in  the  Pequod  war  ;  and  the  policy 
which  New  England  originated  continued,  until  the  end 
of  the  American  Revolution,  a  repulsive  feature  in  the 
British  colonial  administration.* 

Meanwhile,  Underbill  had  been  a£;itatin2:  a  revolt  on  i^'nJpriiui  s 

f;iilli  cs-'- 

Long  Island.     His  unstable  nature  longed  for  change ;  and  "es- 
the  moment  seemed  propitious  to  betray  the  friends  who 
had  sheltered  and  honored  him  when  humiliated  by  the 
ecclesiastical  discipline  of  Massachusetts.     At  the  instiga- 
tion of  Eaton  and  the  agents  of  New  England,  he  had 

'  Hazard,  ii.,  203-2C7  ;  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  63  ;  North  Am.  Rev.,  viil.,  yC-105  ;  ante,  p.  5-17 


556  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1653. 


ch  XVI.  busied  himself  in  collecting  the  testimony  which  he  had 
■promised  the  commissioners,  and  had  openly  charged  the 
fiscal,  A^an  Tienhoven,  with  plotting  against  the  English 

underhiii  He  was,  therefore,  arrested  at  Flushing  and  conveyed  to 
New  Amsterdam  under  guard.  After  a  short  detention, 
he  was  dismissed  without  trial.  Returning  to  Long  Isl- 
and, he  committed  open  treason  against  his  adopted  coun- 
try by  hoisting  "  the  Parliaments'  colors"  at  Heemstede 

20  May.     and  Flushing,  and  crowned  his  treachery  by  issuing  a  se- 

Seditious  ,,  ,.  tvt  . 

proceed-     ditious  addrcss  to  the  commonalty  of  New  Amsterdam,  set- 
in  gs  at        .  .  . 
Heemstede  tiug  forth  the  rcasous  which  had  impelled  the  insursjents 

and  Flush-  °  ....  r  t> 

i:ig.  "to  abjure  the  iniquitous  government  of  Peter  Stuyvesant 

over  the  inhabitants  living  and  residing  on  Long  Island, 
in  America."  After  enumerating  the  specific  wrongs, 
which  he  declared  were  "  too  grievous  for  any  brave  En- 
glishman and  good  Christian  to  tolerate  any  longer,"  he 
exhorted  "  all  honest  hearts,  that  seek  the  glory  of  God  and 
their  own  peace  and  prosperity,  to  throw  off'  this  tyran- 
nical yoke."  "  Accept  and  submit  yc  then  to  the  Parlia- 
ment of  England,"  concluded  this  bold  address,  "  and  be- 
ware ye  of  becoming  traitors  to  one  another,  fur  the  sake 
of  your  own  quiet  and  welfare."* 

But  Underhill's  mutinous  appeal  fell  upon  unwilling 
ears.  The  loyalty  of  the  Dutch  to  their  Fatherland  was 
proof  against  all  treasonable  placards ;  and  though  they 
had  themselves  felt  the  pressure  of  Stuyvesant's  arbitrary 
rule,  they  could  not  think  of  abjuring  their  allegiance  to 
the  States  General,  to  become  subjects  of  the  Parliament 

Lnderiiiii    of  Eusjland.     Upoii  the  departure  of  the  New  England 

banished.  i      i  -ii  i  i  • 

27  May.  agcnts.  Underbill  was  ordered  to  quit  the  province.  Fly- 
ing to  Rhode  Island,  he  addressed  a  letter  to  the  comrnis- 

2. June.  sioners  at  Boston,  offering  his  services  and  loyalty,  as  he 
was,  like  Jephthah,  "forced  to  lay  his  life  in  his  hands," 
to  save  English  blood  from  destruction.  To  this  end  he 
had  "  requested  our  neighbors  of  Rhode  Island  to  afford 
some  small  assistance."     This  "  assistance"  was  granted 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  121  ;  Hoi.  Doc,  ix.,  227 ;  Hazard,  ii.,  223  ;  Hartford  Rec.  Towns  and 
Land?,  i.,  81 ;  Col.  Rec.  Conn.,  275 ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  225-227 ;  Trumbull,  i.,  205. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  557 

the  next  day,  in  the  form  of  a  commission  "  under  the  seal  ck.  xvi. 
of  the  colony  of  Providence  Plantations,"  giving  "  full  pow- 
er  and  authority  to  Mr.  "William  Dyer  and  Captain  John  3  j^,,,'^. '  ' 
Underhill  to  take  all  Dutch  ships  and  vessels  as  shall  come  ^io",'"d"hy 
into  their  power,  and  to  defend  themselves  from  the  Dutch  "J|°'''' '"'" 
and  all  enemies  of  the  commonwealth  of  England."* 

The  New  Ensfland  agents,  on  reaching  Boston,  reported  31  May. 

The  com- 

their  proceedings  in  New  Netherland,  with  the  testimony  mis-sioners 
they  had  collected;  and  also  submitted  to  the  commis- cimsetts a? 

.    .  .  ,  .  variance. 

sioners  some  propositions  for  protection  and  assistance 
which  had  heen  presented  to  them  on  behalf  of  the  disaf- 
fected English  at  Heemstede  and  Middelburgh.  Upon  a 
statement  of  the  case,  the  Greneral  Court  of  Massachusetts  3  June. 
desired  a  consultation  with  the  commissioners,  and  ap- 
pointed a  committee  to  prepare  a  joint  report  of  the  facts 
respecting  the  difference  with  the  Dutch.  The  joint  com- 
mittee, however,  could  not  agree ;  and  two  separate  state-  4  June, 
ments  were  drawn  up,  one  on  the  part  of  the  commission- 
ers, by  G-overnor  Eaton,  and  another  on  the  part  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, by  Major  Greneral  Denison.  A  conference  was 
then  held  before  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  "and 
divers  neighboring  elders,"  to  whom  the  testimony  was 
submitted  for  their  opinion  "  what  the  Lord  calleth  to  do." 
The  elders  found  enough  to  "induce  them  to  believe"  in 7 June. 
the  reality  of  "that  late  execrable  plot,  tending  to  the  de- 
struction of  so  many  dear  saints  of  God,  which  is  imputed 
to  the  Dutch  governor  and  fiscal."  Yet,  upon  serious  ex- 
amination, they  could  not  find  the  proofs  "  so  fully  con- 
clusive as  to  clear  up  present  proceedings  to  war."  The 
next  day,  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  voted  that  8  June, 
they  were  not  "  called  to  make  a  present  war  with  the 
Dutch."  This,  however,  was  not  the  general  sentiment 
out  of  Boston.  The  "  teacher  of  the  church  at  Salem" 
wrote  to  the  commissioners,  urging  immediate  hostilities,  13  Majf 
the  postponement  of  which  had  already  "  caused  many  a 
pensive  heart."     Six  out  of  the  eight  commissioners  were 

*  Hazard,  ii.,  249;  Hartford  Rcc.  Towns  and  Lands,  i.,  76;   O'Call.,  ii..  232,  233; 
Trumbull,  i.,  205. 


558  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1653 

12  June. 


ch.  XVI.  for  instant  war.     The  Greneral  Court  of  Massachusetts, 
however,  again  interposed.     In  an  able  exposition  of  the 
Articles  of  Confederation,  they  declared  that  it  was  not 
competent  "  for  six  commissioners  of  the  other  colonies  to 
put  forth  any  act  of  power  in  a  vindictive  war,  whereby 
they  shall  command  the  colonies  dissenting  to  assist  them 
Massachu-  in  the  samc."    Thus  Massachusetts,  affirming  the  doctrine 
vlntsa^war  of  "  state  rights,"  prevented  New  England  from  commenc- 
Nether-      ing  an  "  offensive  war"  against  New  Netherland.     The 
isjiine.     commissioners,  foiled  in  their  hostile  designs,  sent  a  pee- 
vish reply  to  Stuyvesant,  reiterating  that  the  English  were 
right  and  the  Dutch  were  wrong  on  every  point  in  contro- 
versy, and  telling  him,  with  insulting  pertinacity,  that  his 
"  confident  denials  of  the  barbarous  plot  charged,  will  weigh 
little  in  the  balance  against  such  evidence,  so  that  we  must 
still  require  and  seek  due  satisfaction  and  security."* 

But  if  open  war  was  averted,  covetousness  was  not  re- 
pressed.    Underbill,  finding  his  offer  of  service  neglected, 
availed  himself  of  his  Rhode  Island  commission  to  better 
his  private  estate  at  the  expense  of  his  recent  friends. 
27  June.     Going  to  the  unoccupied  Dutch  Fort  G-ood  Hope,  he  post- 
Foncood  sd  upon  it  a  notice,  declaring  that,  "with  permission  from 
sl'izedby    the  G-eneral  Court  of  Hartford,"  he  did  "  seize  upon  this 
"nderhiii.  j-^Q^gg   ^j^^j  lauds  thcreuuto   belonging,  as   Dutch  goods 
claimed  by  the  West  India  Company  in  Amsterdam,  en- 
emies of  the  commonwealth  of  England,  and  thus  to  re- 
main seized  till  further  determined  by  the  said  court."! 
25  June.         A  special  meeting  of  the  General  Court  of  Connecticut 
5  July.       -^ya^g  jjQ^Y  }iq\^  at  Hartford,  and  a  representation  was  or- 
dered to  be  made  to  "the  Bay,"  humbly  craving  that  "the 
design  may  go  on  according  to  the  consult  of  the  commis- 
sioners," and   that    Connecticut   might   have    liberty  to 

*  Col.  Rec.  Conn.,  244  ;  Hazard,  ii.,  233,  248,  250-256,  268-273  ;  Trumbull,  i.,  206-208 ; 
Hutchinson,  i.,  167,  168. 

t  Hartford  Rec.  Towns  and  Lands,  i.,  77,  81,  86-88  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  234,  570.  Within  four 
months,  Underhill  twice  sold  the  Dutch  fort  and  lands,  as  his  private  prize,  to  citizens  of 
Rhode  Island  and  Hartford.  But  though  he  alleged  that  he  had  permission  from  the  Gen- 
eral Court  to  make  the  seizure,  there  is  nothing  in  the  records  of  Cornecticut  to  justify 
hisi  assertion  ;  on  the  contrary,  Hartford  the  next  year  sequestered  the  properly  for  hei» 
self.— Col.  Rec.  Conn.,  254,  16th  April,  1654 ;  post,  p.  563. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  559 

"  gather  up  volunteers"  in  Massachusetts  ;  and  Haynes  ch.  xvi. 
and  Ludlow  were  appointed  to  confer  with  the  govern- 
ment  of  New  Haven  on  the  subject.     Eaton  and  the  New 2-  j„ng  " 
Haven  court  fully  coincided  with  their  brethren  at  Hart-  7  juiy. 

Connccti- 

ford :  and  messengers  were  sent  to  Massachusetts  to  uri?e  cm  and 

.  New  Ha- 

that  "by  war,  if  no  other  means  will  serve,  the  Dutch,  atvenurge 

.  .        war. 

and  about  the  Manhatoes,  who  have  been  and  still  are  like  s  Ju'y- 
to  prove  injurious  and  dangerous  neighbors,  may  be  re- 
moved."    But  Massachusetts  again  refused  to  act  "  in  so  24  July. 
weighty  a  concernment  as  to  send  forth  men  to  shed  blood,"  setts  again 
unless  satisfied  "that  G-od  calls  for  it;  and  then  it  must"^*^"^*^ ' 
be  clear  and  not  doubtful,  necessary  and  expedient."* 

In  the  mean  time,  Stuyvesant  had  not  neglected  meas- 
ures for  the  security  of  New  Netherland.     A  new  danger 
seemed  to   threaten    the    province    from  Virginia,  where 
Berkeley,  the  royal  governor,  had  been  obliged  to  capitu-   1652. 
late  to  a  parliamentary  expedition,  and  had  been  succeed-  ^^  '^'''"'^''" 
ed  by  Richard  Bennett,  one  of  the  Roundhead  commis-  30  April, 
sioners.     Maryland,  too,  was  reduced  to   subjection,  and  June. 
Lord  Baltimore's  authority  was  abrogated.     In  this  situ- 
ation of  affairs,  Stuyvesant,  in  obedience  to  his  instruc- 
tions to  arrange,  if  possible,  a  treaty  with  Virginia,  sent   1653. 
Van  Tienhoven,  the  fiscal,  and  Van  Hattem,  one  of  the  Embassy  to 
burgomasters  of  New  Amsterdam,  to  negotiate  with  Ben-  "^"■^"'^• 
nett.     But  the  Puritan  governor  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to 
conclude  a  treaty  without  instructions  from  Westminster. 
He,  nevertheless,  agreed  to  submit  Stuyvesant's  proposi- 
tions to  the  home  government ;  and  with  this  promise  the 
Dutch  agents  returned  to  New  Amsterdam. 

It  was  also  thought  necessary  to  send  Allard  Anthony,  5  .Tune. 
one  of  the  schepens,  as  a  special  agent  to  represent  the  sit-iiouana° 
uation  of  affairs  to  the  Amsterdam  Chamber.  The  volun- 
tary loan  raised  by  the  inhabitants  in  the  spring  had  en- 
abled the  municipal  authorities  to  inclose  a  part  of  the 
city  with  palisades.  Fort  Amsterdam,  however,  was  not 
yet  entirely  repaired ;  and  Stuyvesant  called  upon  the  city  28  Juw. 

♦  Col.  Rec.  Conn.,  244  ;  New  Haven  Rec,  3,  8,  11,  12,  27  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  231  ;  Trumbull, 
i.  208,  209. 


560        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVI.  government  for  assistance.     The  corporation  replied  that 

the  citizens  had  done  all  they  had  undertaken  to  do,  and 

29 July.  '  should  not  be  further  burdened,  as  they  were  "altogether 

2  August,   in  the  backsrround."     A  few  days  afterward,  Stuyvesant's 

Disaffree-  j  '  j 

ment  be-    demand  was  submitted  to  a  meetinsr  of  the  principal  burofh- 

tween  the  r  i  o 

director     ers  at  the  City  Hall.     The  meetino:,  considerinsr  that  the 

and  the  city  .  •'.  e-    t        c  i 

govern-  repair  and  maintenance  of  the  fort  was  a  proper  charge 
upon  the  provincial  revenue  alone,  unanimously  resolved 
"not  to  contribute  any  thing  until  the  director  general 
give  up  the  whole  excise  on  wines  and  beers."  With  this 
resolution,  the  burgomasters  waited  upon  Stuyvesant,  who 
peremptorily  refused  to  yield ;  and  the  meeting  promptly 
resolved  not  to  contribute  any  thing  "  unless  the  director 
general  acceded  to  their  terms."* 

Return  of       Van  dcr  Donck  now  prepared  to  return  to  New  Neth- 

Van  der 

Donckfromerland,  from  which  he  had  been  absent  nearly  four  years. 
He  had  taken  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Leyden,  and  had  been  admitted  to  practice  as 
an  advocate  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  Holland.     During 
his  leisure  hours,  he  had  occupied  himself  in  writing  a 
"  De:5cription  of  New  Netherland,"  which  he  submitted  to 
the  West  India  Company  for  their  approval.     The  direct- 
14  May.      ors,  pleased  with  the  book,  recommended  it  to  the  States 
24  May.      Grcneral ;  and  a  copyright  was  granted  to  the  author.    The 
"Descrip-  work,  liowever,  as  it  had  been  prepared,  was  chiefly  a  top- 
Nether-      ographical  description  of  New  Netherland — an  amplifica- 
tion of  parts  of  the  "  Vertoogh."     Wishing  to  give  it  a 
more  historical  character  and  value.  Van  der  Donck  de- 
ferred its  publication,  and  applied  to  the  company  for  per- 
mission to  examine  the  records  in  the  office  of  the  provin- 
cial secretary.     He  also  asked  to  be  allowed  "  to  follow 
his  profession  as  advocate  in  New  Netherland."     The  di- 
rectors referred  Van  der  Donck's  application  to  examine 
s4Juiy.     their  records  to  Stuyvesant,  with  an  intimation  that  the 
permission,  if  given,  should  not  be  so  used  that  "the  com- 
pany's own  weapons  should  be  turned  against  itself,  and 

*  Hazard,  i.,  560-563  ;   Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  117,  122,  165;  viii.,  96,  97;  ix.,  57;  xviil.,  163; 
New  Amst.  Rec,  i.,  199, 219-221 ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  216,  235,  254  ;  Valentine's  Manual,  1850, 451) 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  561 

new  troubles  raised  to  its  annoyance."  As  to  his  other  ch.  xvi. 
demand,  they  resolved  to  permit  him  "to  give  his  advice 
to  all  who  may  desire  to  ohtain  it ;"  but  as  regards  his 
pleading  before  the  courts,  they  could  not  see  "that  it  can 
be  admitted  yet,  with  any  advantage  to  the  director  and 
council  in  New  Netherland."  "  Besides  that,"  wrote  they 
to  Stuyvesant,  "  we  are  ignorant  if  there  be  any  of  that 
stamp  in  your  city  (who,  nevertheless,  before  they  can  be 
admitted,  must  apply  to  your  honor,  or  directly  to  our  de- 
partment) who  can  act  and  plead  against  said  Van  der 
Donck  in  behalf  of  the  other  side."  Pucturning  to  New 
Amsterdam,  he  was  "  suspected  so  vehemently"  by  Stuy- 
vesant, that  he  was  obliged  to  petition  the  municipal  au- 1  Dec. 
thorities  of  the  city,  whose  interests  he  had  so  ably  repre- 
sented in  the  Fatherland,  for  protection  "as  a  citizen  or 
burgher."* 

To  strengthen  the  council  of  New  Netherland  "with24juiy. 

De  Sill6 

another  expert  and  able  statesman,"  the  Amsterdam  Cham-  counselor 
ber  at  the  same  time  commissioned  Nicasius  de  Sille,  "  a 
man  well  versed  in  the  law,  and  not  unacquainted  with 
military  affairs,"  as  first  counselor  to  the  director,  to  reside 
at  Fort  Amsterdam.     Cornelis  van  Ruyven  was  likewise  van  ru> 
appointed  provincial   secretar}',  and  Van   Brugge,  whom  vfncfauef- 
Stuyvesant  had  provisionally  named  to  that  office,  was  or-'^'^'^'^^ 
dered  to  be  employed  in  the  custom-house,  where  he  serv- 
ed before.     Upon  the  arrival  of  these  new  officers,  the  di- 
rector again  endeavored  to  arrange  a  commercial  treaty 
with  Virginia.     Domine  Drisius,  whose  knowledge  of  the  Domine 
English  recommended  him  for  the  position,  was  selected  sent  to  vir 
as  the  envoy  of  New  Netherland,  and  sent  with  specific  le  Dec 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  vii.,  40-47;  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  Ill,  1)2,  135;  viii.,  75;  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i., 
12&-130,  378,  379  ;  ii.,  208,  259  ;  New  Amst.  Rcc,  i.,  321.  Van  der  Donck  appears  never 
to  have  gained  Stuyvcsant's  good  will,  or  even  a  permission  to  examine  the  provincial 
records;  and  we  have  thus  lost  what  would  no  doubt  have  been  an  interesting  history 
of  the  early  days  of  New  Netherland  and  of  Minuit's  and  Van  Twiller's  directorships. 
He  published  his  hook  as  he  wrote  it  in  Holland,  under  the  title  of  "  Beschryvinge  van 
Nieuw  Ncderlandt,"  <fec.  The  first  edition  was  printed  at  Amsterdam  in  1055,  in  which 
year  the  author  himself  died,  leaving  to  his  widow  his  estate  at  Colendonck.  In  1656, 
the  second  edition  was  published.  It  contained  a  map  reduced  from  the  larger  one  of 
Visscher,  which  had  just  appeared,  and  was  embellished  by  a  View  of  New  Amsterdam, 
drawn  by  Augustine  Heermans.  Roth  editions  are  in  ihe  library  of  the  N.  Y.  Historical 
Society,  and  a  translation  Of  the  second  in  ii..  Coll    i ,  120.     S,c  post,  p.  t74,  iiotii 

N  N 


562  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVI.  proposals  to  Bennett  for  the  regulation  and  encourage- 
ment  of  trade  between  the  two  provinces.     The  Domine's 
■  success  in  this  negotiation  prepared  the  way  for  a  more 
formal  treaty  several  years  afterward.* 

In  the  mean  time,  Stuyvesant's  high-handed  proceed- 

1652.  ings  at  Beverwyck  had  been  brought  under  review  in  Hol- 
comriaints  l^ud.  Tlic  proprietors  of  Rensselaerswyck  complained  to 
priewrs'^of  ^^®  Amsterdam  Chamber  that  he  had  extended  the  juris- 
^e?fwyck.  diction  of  Fort  Orange ;  demanded  the  production  of  the 

colonial  records  ;  imprisoned  Van  Slechtenhorst ;  absolved 
Grerrit  Swart,  the  newly-appointed  schout,  from  his  oath 
of  office,  and  obliged  him  to  swear  allegiance  to  the  com- 
pany ;  levied  taxes  and  excises,  for  the  company's  benefit, 
on  the  colonists ;  and  encouraged  a  contraband  traffic  with 
the  savages.  The  company  answered  unsatisfactorily ; 
20  Dec.      and  the  proprietors  of  the  colony  addressed  a  memorial  to 

1653.  the  States  Greneral.  The  directors  soon  sent  their  reply  to 
Rep?yo"hethe  Haguc.  Thcy  were  not  aware  that  the  patroon's  flag 
company.   -^^^  })QGri  haulcd  dowu,  or  his  colonists  released  from  their 

oaths,  or  his  lots  taken  away,  or  that  a  court  of  justice 
had  been  established  in  Fort  Orange.  As  to  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  that  post,  it  had  been  determined  "  before  the  col- 
onic of  Rensselaerswyck  was  granted."  The  schout,  G-er- 
rit  Swart,  had  not  been  absolved  from  his  oath  to  the  pa- 
troon,  but  had  only  been  obliged  to  swear  allegiance  to  the 
company,  "  remaining  subject  to  both  masters."  The  char- 
ter authorized  Stuyvesant  to  demand  the  production  of  the 
colonial  rolls  and  papers,  and  to  levy  taxes  and  excises 
within  the  colonic.  Van  Slechtenhorst  had  been  arrested, 
in  order  to  curb  his  "insufferable  insolence,  effiontery,  and 
abuse  of  power."  In  regard  to  the  sale  of  arms  and  am- 
munition to  the  savages,  "  it  was  deemed  prudent  that  it 
Counter  should  bc  now  and  then  permitted."  The  company  then 
charges.  gj^j^j.gg^  ^.j^g  proprietors  of  the  colonic  with  having  unlaw- 
fully attempted  to  engross  additional  territory  on  the  North 
River  ;  monopolize  trade  ;  assert  an  unfounded  claim  to  a 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  100,  107,  111,  IIT  ;  vii.,  328  ;   ix.,  57-59  ;   O'Call.,  il.,  236,  237  ;  post 
p.  683. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  563 

"staple  right;"  stop  the  vessels  of  private  traders;  gain  cn.xvi. 
possession  of  Fort  Orange ;   grant  licenses  to  private  per- 
sons  to  sail  to  the  coast  of  Florida  ;  and  with  having  forbid- 
den their  colonists  to  remove  within  the  company's  juris- 
diction, furnish  wood  for  Fort  Orange,  pay  the  debts  they 
owed  the  people  at  that  post,  or  appeal  from  the  judgments 
of  the  colonial  court,  as  the  "Exemptions"  had  provided. 
They  had  refused  to  allow  extracts  from  their  records,  or 
the  publication  of  the  directors'  proclamations ;  had  neg- 
lected to  make  the  required  annual  reports  ;  and  had  incit- 
ed their  colonists  and  officers  not  to  obey  the  legal  process 
of  the  provincial  government.     Moreover,  the  oath  which 
their  colonists  were  compelled  to  take  recognized  neither 
the  States  Greneral  nor  the  company,  and  was  therefore 
"  seditious  and  mutinous."    A  rejoinder  was  soon  presented  20  Feb. 
c^n  behalf  of  the  proprietors  ;  but  some  of  the  copartners  19  June. 
beginning  to  quarrel  among  themselves,  no  definite  action 
upon  the  points  in  dispute  with  the  company  seems  to  have 
been  taken  by  the  States  Greneral.     In  writing  to  Stuyve-  e  June 
sant,  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  now  susfgested  whether,  for  tradmg- 

.  .  house 

protection  against  the  Mohawks  and  to  facilitate  the  fur  above  Fen 
trade  with  the  Canadian  Indians,  it  would  not  be  expedi- 
ent to  build  a  trading -house,  eighteen  or  twenty  miles 
above  Fort  Orange.* 

Hostilities  had,  meanwhile,  been  renewed  between  the  The  mo- 

hawks  anil 

Iroquois  and  the  French.     The  Mohawks,  supplied  with  the  French 
fire-arms  by  the  Dutch,  invaded  the  Huron  country  soon 
after  the  death  of  Father  Jogues,  and  attacked  the  Jesuit  1648. 
missions.     The  village  of  Saint  Joseph  was  destroyed,  and^  "''' 
Father  Daniel,  murmuring  the  name  of  Jesus,  perished  in 
the  midst  of  his  converts.     Breboeuf  and  Lallemant  were 
captured  at  Saint  Louis,  and  burned  at  the  stake  with  1649. 
horrid  torture.     G-arnier  was  beheaded  near  Saint  John's, 
and  Chabanel  was  lost  in  the  forest.     The  Huron  missions 
were  broken  up,  and  the  desolated  country  became  a  hunt- 
ing-ground of  the  Iroquois.     "War  parties  of  the  Mohawlvs 

•  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  08 ;   viii.,  59-63,  215-221 ;   IIol.  Doc,  vi.,  303-306 ;  vii.,  1-27,  48-51  ; 
O'Call.,  ii.,  200-210. 


564  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVI.  hovered  along  the  Saint  Lawrence,  and  scornfully  passed 
before  the  walls  of  Q,uebec,     In  vain  did  the  governor  of 

20  June  Canada  call  on  New  England  for  aid.  The  Puritan  felt 
unable  to  help  the  Papist  ;  and  the  commissioners  of  the 
United  Colonies,  alleging  that  the  Mohawks  were  "neither 

ic  Sept.     in  subjection  to,  nor  in  any  confederaticn  with"  them- 
selves, turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  appeal. 
1653.       The  Onondagas  declared  for  peace,  but  the  Mohawks 

Flutief^**'  continued  warlike.     Father  Joseph  Poncet  was  seized  at 

Poncet.  Three  Rivers,  and  hurried  off  through  the  Richelieu  Riv- 
er and  Lake  Champlain  to  the  Mohawk  castles.     The 

8  Sept.  prisoner  was  doomed  to  torture ;  but  his  life  was  saved  by 
adoption  into  the  family  of  an  old  member  of  the  tribe.  A 
few  days  afterward,  word  came  that  peace  was  about  be- 
ing concluded  with  De  Lauzon,  the  governor  of  Canada, 
who  had  required  the  restoration  of  "  the  black  gown"  as 

20  Sept.  a  preliminary  condition  ;  and  Poncet  was  conveyed  to  Fort 
Orange,  to  be  clothed  and  healed.  Notwithstanding  De 
Lauzon's  letters  of  recommendation,  he  was  coldly  received 
by  Dyckman,  the  commissary.  But  "a  worthy  old  Wal- 
loon" colonist  invited  the  father  to  his  house ;  and  a  sur- 
geon, employed  by  a  Scotch  matron  "  who  was  always 
kind  to  the  French,"  dressed  his  wounds.  After  adminis- 
tering the  rites  of  religion  to  two  Roman  Catholic  residents, 

i  October,  the  missionary  took  leave  of  his  generous  friends  at'  Be- 

\b  October,  vcrwyck,  and  returned  to  the  Mohawk  country,  whence  he 
set  out  for  Canada.  Travelling  by  way  of  the  Oswego  and 
Lake  Ontario,  he  descended  the  Saint  Lawi*ence  to  Que- 
bec. Of  Europeans,  Poncet  appears  to  have  been  the  next 
after  Champlam  to  visit  the  borders  of  Onondaga.* 

11  Sept.  At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  commissioners,  Massachu- 

iifeTew"    setts  maintained  her  proud  position  with  a  firmness  which 

govern-  almost  pcrillcd  the  stability  of  the  confederation.  A  bit- 
ter altercation  between  the  representatives  of  the  other  col- 
onies and  the  General  Court  was  terminated  by  an  am- 

20  Sept.     biguous  concession,  which,  nevertheless,  averted  hostilities. 

*  Tanner,  531-543;  Relation,  1648-9,  1652-3,  40-77;  Creuxius,  672-682;  Charlevoix, 
i„  283-316;  Hazard,  ii.,  183;  Bancroft,  iii.,  138-142;  O'Call.,  ii.,  300-302;  Ilildreth,  ii., 
87,  88  ;  Macerata  Relation,  1653  ;  ante,  p.  423. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  5G5 

The  Connecticut  governments  seemed  animated  by  the  ch.  xvi 
most  vindictive  feelings ;  and  their  own  recent  historian        _ 
laments  the  refusal  of  the  Massachusetts  authorities  to  bear 
part  in  an  offensive  war  against  New  Netherland,  as  an 
"  indelible  stain  upon  their  honor  as  men  and  upon  their 
morals  as  Christians."* 

The  commissioners,  however,  had  the  power  to  cause 
some  annoyance  to  the  Dutch ;  and  they  used  their  pow- 
er.    Thomas  Baxter,  a  former  resident  of  New  Amster-  Thomas 
dam,  inflamed  with  zeal  in  the  parliamentary  cause,  turn-  piracies 
ed  pirate,  and  committed  various  outrages  on  Long  Island 
and  the  neighborhood.    Under  an  alleged  commission  from 
Rhode  Island,  he  seized  in  Heemstede  harbor  a  vessel  be- 
longing to  New  Plymouth,  and  also  captured  a  Dutch  boat 
near  Manhattan.     Stuyvesant  promptly  dispatched  two 
vessels  with  a  hundred  men  to  blockade  Baxter  in  Fair- 
field Roads.     But  the  commissioners  declared  it  "  neces- 27  sept 
sary"  that  every  jurisdiction  should  prohibit  all  Dutch  ves-  seisexdmi 
sels  from  coming  into  any  harbor  belonging  to  any  of  the  New  En- 
confederate  colonies,  without  express  license  ;  and  made  bors. 
it  lawful  for  each  colonic  to  "surprise  and  seize"  any  such 
offenders.     The  New  Netherland  blockading  force  was, 
therefore,  obliged  to  retire  ;  and  Baxter  continued  his  dep- 
redations against  both  Dutch  and  English  property,  until 
he  was  eventually  ordered  to  be  arrested  by  the  authorities  2  Dec 
of  New  Haven  and  Hartford.t 

The  hostile  feelings  of  Connecticut  could  scarcely  be  re- 
pressed. It  was  thought  that  Hartford  and  New  Haven 
were  strong  enough  to  subdue  the  Dutch  without  any  aid 
from  Massachusetts ;  and  Stamford  and  Fairfield,  under- 
taking to  raise  volunteers  on  their  own  account,  appointed 
Ludlow  their  leader.  These  irregular  proceedings  were 
suppressed  with  some  difficulty  by  the  government  of  New 
Haven,  and  the  ringleaders  were  punished.     An  address 

*  Hazard,  ii.,  274-283  ;  Trumbull,  i.,  212  ;  North  American  Review,  viii.,  9G-105. 

t  Hazard,  ii.,  285-2S8,  291 ;  Alb.  Rec,  ix.,  117,  120,  155  ;  New  Haven  Rec,  31,  34  ;  Col. 
Rec.  Conn.,  252,  253  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  235 ;  R.  I.  Hist.  Coll.,  v.,  95.  Baxter  was  afterward 
surrendered  on  Stuyvesant's  reqiii.sition  ;  but  escaping  from  jail,  his  vessel  and  house  at 
New  Amsterdam  were  sold. 


06fi  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVI  was  sent  to  Cromwell,  urging  that  "  the  Dutch  be  either 
removed,  or  so  far,  at  least,  subjected  that  the  colonies  may 
ctober.     ^®  ^^^^  horn  injurious  affronts,  and  secured  against  the 


October 
Letters 
the  English 


Letters  to   (jangcrs  and  mischievous  effects  which  daily  grow  upon 


govern 
merit. 


them  by  their  plotting  with  the  Indians  and  furnishing 
them  with  arms  against  the  English."    And  Hooke  wrote 

13  Nov.  from  New  Haven  to  the  Lord  G-eneral,  that  those  of  "  the 
Bay"  had  broken  "  the  brotherly  covenant"  in  declining 
to  draw  the  sword  ;  and  that,  if  the  Dutch  be  not  remov- 
ed, "we  and  our  posterity  (now  almost  prepared  to  swarm 
forth  plenteously)  are  confined  and  straitened."  Two  or 
three  frigates  should,  therefore,  be  sent  "for  the  clearing  of 
the  coast  from  a  nation  with  which  the  English  can  not 
either  mingle,  nor  easily  sit  under  their  government,  nor 
so  much  as  live  by,  without  danger  of  our  lives  and  all  our 
comforts  in  this  world."* 

Libellous        That  nothing  might  be  left  undone  to  excite  animosity 

pubil'sued  in  England,  a  rancorous  pamphlet  was  published  in  Lon- 
'  don,  entitled  "  The  second  part  of  the  Amboyna  Tragedy; 
or  a  faithful  account  of  a  bloody,  treacherous,  and  cruel 
plot  of  the  Dutch  in  America,  purporting  the  total  ruin 
and  murder  of  all  the  English  colonists  in  New  England ; 
extracted  from  the  various  letters  lately  written  from  New 
England  to  different  merchants  in  London."  In  this  ex- 
traordinary publication  the  "  devilish  project"  to  stir  up 
the  savao^es  to  assault  the  New  England  colonists  "on  a 
Sunday,  when  they  would  be  altogether  in  their  meeting- 
houses, and  murder  and  burn  all  which  they  could  effect," 
was  roundly  charged  against  the  Dutch,  and  amplified 
without  scruple,  to  move  popular  hostility.     The  Amster- 

i  Nov.  clam  directors  immediately  ordered  the  translation  of  what 
they  termed  this  "most  infamous  lying  libel,"  a  copy  of 
which  they  sent  to  Stuyvesant  and  his  council,  "that  your 
honors  may  see  what  stratagems  that  nation  employs,  not 
only  to  irritate  the  populace,  but  the  whole  world,  if  pos- 
sible, and  to  stir  it  up  against  us."t 

*  Col.  Ree.  Conn.,  248 ;  New  Haven  Rec,  27  ;  Thurloe's  State  Papers,  i ,  564,  565  , 
Tnirnbull,  i.,  212,  214,  215. 
t  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  121  ;  viii.,  147-150  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  571.    The  original  appears  to  be  rar# 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  567 

The  company,  now  seriously  alarmed  at  the  danger  ch.  xvi. 
which  threatened  their  American  province  on  the  side  of 
New  England,  presented  to  the  States  Gfeneral  a  long  me-  g  Nov. 
morial,  accompanied  by  various  explanatory  papers,  ask-  Jy  a^^.'i^i'u 
ing  for  an  immediate  confirmation  of  Stuy vesant's  provi- Ge„er^i''i'o 
sional  agreement  at  Hartford,  and  that  the  boundary  ques-  fh™'"'' 
tion  might  be  included  in  the  instructions  to  the  ambassa-  '"'"'"'"'■> 
dors  in  England.     The  importance  of  the  trade  to  Barba- 
does  was  also  urged  ;  and  the  directors  warmly  represent- 
ed that  the  Dutch  interests  in  America  and  the  West  In- 
dies were  as  worthy  of  the  favor  of  the  Fatherland  as  were 
those  in  the  East  Indies.     The  subiect  was  seriously  con-  e  Nov. 

•*  ''  Negotia- 

sidered  in  the  meetinj]^  of  the  States  General.     But  the  tion  for 

'-'  ,    .        ,.  .  peace  with 

ambassadors  at  London  were  now  engaged  in  discussing,  England. 
with  the  English  Council  of  State,  the  details  of  a  general 
treaty  of  peace,  under  the  auspices  of  the  new  Pensionary 
of  Holland,  John  de  Witt ;  and,  perhaps  to  avoid  embar- 
rassing the  more  important  negotiation,  the  question  of 
New  Netherland  was  postponed.* 

In  this  critical  situation  of  provincial  affairs,  with  a  11  Nov. 
bankrupt  treasury  and  a  mouldering  fort,  Stuy  vesant  was  affairs  or 

New  A  III" 

at  length  obliged  to  yield  to  the  demands  of  the  burghers  sterdam. 
of  New  Amsterdam.  The  principal  citizens  were  called 
together,  and  informed  that  the  director  had  consented  to 
give  up  a  part  of  the  excise ;  and  the  meeting  unanimous- 
ly resolved  to  submit  to  such  ordinances  as  should  be  made 
for  the  defense  of  the  city.  On  the  same  day,  a  petition 
of  the  inhabitants  was  'presented  to  the  municipal  author- 
ities, praying  that  a  burgher  schout  might  be  chosen,  and 
that  the  company's  fiscal  should  no  longer  act  as  a  city 
officer.  Stuyvesant,  however,  yielded  what  he  had  with 
great  reluctance,  and  with  the  condition  that  the  city  gov- 
ernment should  support  the  two  clergymen,  the  school- 
masters, and  the  secretary.  But  the  burgomasters  and  10  Nov 
schepens,  finding  it  "  incompatible  to  continue  thus,"  unan- 
imously agreed  to  ask  their  dismission  from  office,  unless 
the  whole  city  revenue  should  be  surrendered  to  them. 

*  Hoi.  Doc..,  vii.,  63-103  ;  Vcrbael  van  Beverninck,  603-611  ;  Davief?,  ii.,  722.  724. 


568        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVI.  The  director,  however,  replied  that  he  could  neither  ac- 
cept  their  resignations,  nor  give  up  the  whole  of  the  excise. 
25  Nov.  '  '^^^  demand  was  renewed  ;  and  Stuyvesant  at  last  agreed 
fenderer^o  ^^  Surrender  to  the  city  the  excises  upon  liquors  consumed 
tiiecity.  within  New  Amsterdam,  upon  condition  that  the  burgo- 
masters and  schepens  should  furnish  subsidies  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  city  works,  and  for  the  support  of  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  officers,  and  that  the  excise  should  be  pub- 
licly farmed  out  to  the  highest  bidder,  "after  the  manner 
of  Fatherland."* 
Disaffec-  A  spirit  of  disaffection  had,  meanwhile,  been  spreading 
English  on  amoug  the  English  on  Long  Island.  Notwithstanding  its 
and.  sycophantic  letter  to  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  in  1651, 
Grravesend,  under  the  influence  of  Ensign  Greorge  Baxter 
and  Sergeant  James  Hubbard,  was  now  foremost  in  op- 
posing the  provincial  government.  Contrary  to  its  charter, 
that  town,  instead  of  openly  nominating  for  magistrates 
three  of  its  ablest  "  approved  honest  men,"  had  determined 
to  choose  "  one  leading  man,"  who  should  select  a  second, 
and  they  two  a  third,  and  so  on  until  six  were  chosen. 
Three  of  these  were  to  be  magistrates,  and  the  other  three 
assistants.  The  object  of  this  change  was  to  exclude,  if 
possible,  the  Dutch  from  any  influence  in  the  town  mag- 
istracy. Baxter  had  at  first  opposed  the  innovation,  and 
had  called  on  Stuyvesant  not  to  approve  the  nominations. 
And  the  director  did  not,  in  fact,  approve  them  until  the 
nominees  had  sworn  allegiance  to  the  States  Greneral,  the 
West  India  Company,  and  the  provincial  government  of 
uravesend.  Ncw  Ncthcrland.  This  oath,  however,  sat  very  lightly  on 
the  consciences  of  the  Grravesend  magistrates  when  news 
of  the  war  in  Europe  reached  America.  Nevertheless,  the 
feeling  of  disaffection  was  chiefly  against  Stuyvesant  him- 
self and  his  council.  During  the  summer  of  1653.  the 
numerous  losses  which  the  Long  Island  colonists  had  suf- 
fered from  the  savages  and  from  pirates  induced  them  to 
take  some  measures  for  their  security.  Deputations  from 
Gravesend,  Middelburgh,  and  Heemstede  accordingly  as- 

*  New  Amsterdam  Rec,  i.,  300-310  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  255. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  5(39 

sembled  at  Flushing,  and  opened  a  communication  with  ch.  x\i 
the  municipal  government  of  New  Amsterdam.*  ~ 

This  led  to  a  meeting  of  delegates  at  the  City  Hall,  to  gg  ^^^ 
consider  what  could  be  best  done  "for  the  welfare  of  the |fj,^ggij"| °' 
country  and  its  inhabitants,  and  to  determine  on  some^'^^j^. 
wise  and  salutary  measures  to  arrest  these  robberies." ''*"'■ 
La  Montague  and  Werckhoven  attended  on  the  part  of 
the  provincial  council ;  Kregier  and  Yan  der  Grrist  repre- 
sented New  Amsterdam  ;  Baxter  and  Hubbard  came  from 
G-ravesend  ;  Hicks  and  Feake  from  Flushing ;  and  Coe 
and  Hazard  from  Middelburgh  or  Newtown.     An  order 
from  Stuyvesant  was  read,  directing  the  delegates  sev- 
erally to  communicate,  in  writing,  their  opinions  respect- 
ing the  best  means  of  protecting  the  country  from  robbers. 
But  the  English  delegates,  headed  by  Baxter,  first  required 
to  know  by  what  right  "Werckhoven,  whose  purchase  at 
New  Utrecht  encroached  upon  Grravesend,  sat  in  the  con- 
vention.   They  would  not  recognize  him  as  a  delegate  from 
the  council,  and  refused  to  allow  any  representative  of  the 
provincial  government  to  preside  in  their  meeting.     At  the 
same  time,  they  desired  to  continue  in  allegiance  to  the 
States  General  and  the  company,  and  to  "  enter  into  a  firm 
union  with  the  burgomasters  and  schepens,"     The  New 
Amsterdam  delegates,  however,  would  not  consent  to  such  27  no>. 
an  alliance  until  they  had  consulted  with  the  provincial 
government  and  the  several  villages.     "  If  the  burgomas- 
ters and  schepens  will  not  unite  with  us,"  replied  the  En- 
glish delegates,  "  we  shall  enter  into  a  firm  union  among 
ourselves  on  Long  Island,  for  the  director  general  aftbrds 
us  no  protection."     Stuyvesant  did  not  object  to  the  New 
Amsterdam  delegates  co-operating  with  those  from  the  En- 
glish villages  ;  but  as  the  Dutch  would  be  outvoted  now.  Proposed 
he   announced  his   intention  to   incorporate   Amersfoort,  tion  oftua 
Breuckelen,  and  Midwout,  "so  as  to  possess  with  Fort  Or-  lages. 
ange,  on  all  future  occasions,  an  equal  number  of  votes." 

The  New  Amsterdam  delegates  at  length  recommended  29  not. 
a  remonstrance  to  the  West  India  Company  ;  and  with  a 

*  Alb.  Rec,  viii.,  53 ;  Gravesend  Uec,  9th  Jan.,  1051  ;  19th  March,  1652 ;  ante,  p.  41i2. 


570  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVI.  view  of  learning  the  opinions  of  the  colonists  on  Long  Isl- 
and  and  Staten  Island,  proposed  an  adjournment.     It  was, 
■  therefore,  agreed  to  meet  again  on  the  tenth  of  December. 
A  parting  collation  was  given,  to  which  Stuyvesant  was 
invited,  and  he  was  informed  in  blunt  terms  "  that  they 
should  meet  again  on  the  tenth  of  the  next  month ;  he 
might  then  do  as  he  pleased,  and  prevent  it  if  he  could.'* 
A  conven-  The  city  government  also  formally  notified  the  director  of 
manded.     the  intcntiou  of  the  delegates  to  address  the  West  India 
Company,  and  asked  that  he  would  summon  the  villages 
to  send  representatives  to  the  proposed  convention,  to  assist 
in  the  preparation  of  a  remonstrance. 
3  Dec.  Stuyvesant  very  reluctantly  sanctioned  the   meeting, 

assents^  which  he  could  not  prevent.  The  conduct  of  the  English 
delegates  "  smelt  of  rebellion,  of  contempt  of  his  high  au- 
thority and  commission."  He  had  done  all  he  could  to 
protect  them  from  marauders ;  but  the  colonists  had,  con- 
trary to  orders,  scattered  their  dwellings,  so  that  hundreds 
of  soldiers  could  scarcely  guard  them  from  the  robbers, 
"  who  often  come  as  friends  and  neighbors,  and  are  pro- 
vided with  lodgings  by  the  English."  He  had  doubts 
whether  the  convention  would  be  beneficial ;  for  the  ad- 
ministration of  his  predecessor,  as  well  as  his  own,  had  al- 
ready witnessed  the  evils  of  popular  assemblies.  Never- 
theless, as  he  had  nothing  more  at  heart  than  the  prosperity 
of  New  Netherland  and  the  union  of  her  people,  "without 
any  distmction  of  origin,"  he  assented  to  the  proposed 
meeting.  It  was,  "under  the  direction  of  two  of  the  coun- 
cil," to  agree  upon  an  address  truly  representing  the  con- 
dition of  the  country  to  the  Fatherland ;  but  to  do  noth- 
ing to  prejudice  the  action  of  the  government  in  disapprov- 
8  Dec.  ing  the  conduct  of  the  former  delegates.  Writs  to  this  ef- 
dag""or  feet  wcrc  soou  afterward  sent  to  the  several  neighboring 
cauld."  '"^  villages,  for  the  election  of  representatives  to  meet  in  a 
"  Landtdag,"  or  Diet,  at  New  Amsterdam,  The  season 
was  too  far  advanced  to  communicate  readily  with  the 
colonists  at  Fort  Orange  and  on  the  South  River.* 

*  Alb.  Rec,  ix.,  2,  5,  15-24,  35,  47  ;  New  Amst.  Rec,  i.,  276,  315,  324,  335. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  57I 

The  most  important  popular  convention  that  had  ever  ch.  xvi. 
assembled  in  New  Netherland  accordingly  met  at  New  ^„_^ 
Amsterdam.    The  metropolis  was  represented  by  Van  Hat-  j^  j^^^^' 
tem,  Kregier,  and  Van  der  Grist ;  Breuckelen  by  Lubbert-  fhrconv^n 
sen,  Van  der  Beeck,  and  Beeckman ;  Flushing  by  Hicks  ''""• 
and  Feake ;  Middelburgh,  or  Newtown,  by  Coe  and  Haz- 
ard ;  Heemstede  by  Washburn  and  Somers  ;   Amersfoort, 
or  Flatlands,  by  "Wolfertsen,  Strycker,  and   Swartwout; 
Midwout,  or  Flatbush,  by  Elbertsen  and   Spicer ;    and 
Gravesend  by  Baxter  and  Hubbard.     Of  the  towns  repre- 
sented, four  were  Dutch  and  four  English ;   of  the  dele- 
gates, ten  were  of  Dutch  and  nine  of  English  nativity. 
But  as  Baxter  had  probably  most  experience  in  preparing 
State  Papers,  the  duty  of  drawing  up  the  Remonstrance 
of  the  Diet  was  intrusted  to  him. 

The  next  day,  the  delegates  unanimously  adopted  and  h  Dec. 
signed  the  document  in  which  Baxter  had  ably  embodied  stranee  of 

.  ttiG  convcn 

their  views.  The  authority  of  the  States  Greneral  and  the  t'on. 
"West  India  Company  was  distinctly  recognized ;  and  the 
rights  of  the  colonists  were  claimed  to  harmonize  "  in  ev- 
ery respect  with  those  of  Netherland,  being  a  member  de- 
pendent on  that  state,  and  in  no  wise  a  j^eople  conquered 
or  subjugated."  "  Composed  of  various  nations  from  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  world,  leaving  at  our  own  expense  our 
country  and  countrymen,  we  voluntarily  came  under  the 
protection  of  our  sovereign  High  and  Mighty  Lords  the 
States  Greneral,  whom  we  acknowledge  as  our  lieges ;  and 
being  made  members  of  one  body,  subjected  ourselves,  as 
in  duty  bound,  to  the  general  laws  of  the  United  Prov- 
inces, and  all  other  new  orders  and  ordinances,  which  by 
virtue  of  the  aforesaid  authority  may  be  published,  agree- 
ably to  the  customs,  freedoms,  grants,  and  privileges  of 
the  Netherlands."  With  this  loyal  preface,  the  conven- 
tion proceeded  to  declare  its  view  of  the  evils  which  af- 
flicted New  Netherland,  and  to  demand  redress.  I.  The 
fear  of  the  establishment  of  an  arbitrary  government.  New  , 
laws  had  been  enacted  by  the  director  and  council,  with- 
out the  knowledge  or  consent  of  the  people.     This  wa.:! 


572  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  ^vi.  "contrary  to  the  granted  privileges  of  the  Netherland  gov- 
ernment,  and  odious  to  every  free-born  man,  and  especially 
*  so  to  those  whom  Grod  has  placed  under  a  free  state,  in 
newly-settled  lands,  who  are  entitled  to  claim  laws,  not 
transcending,  but  resembling  as  near  as  possible  those  of 
Statement  the  Netherlands."  It  was,  therefore,  contrary  to  the  priv- 
o^  gnevan  ^^^^^^  ^^  ^j^^  people  of  Ncw  Nethcrlaud  to  enact  laws  with- 
out their  consent.  II.  As  the  provincial  government  does 
not  protect  the  people  against  the  savages,  the  people  must 
look  to  their  own  defense.  III.  Officers  and  magistrates, 
without  the  consent  or  nomination  of  the  people,  "are  ap- 
pointed to  many  places,  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the  Nether- 
lands." IV.  Old  orders  and  proclamations  of  the  director 
and  council,  made  without  the  knowledge  or  consent  of  the 
people,  remain  obligatory,  and  subject  them  to  loss  and 
punishment,  through  ignorance.  V.  Promised  patents,  on 
the  faith  of  which  large  improvements  had  been  made  at 
Middelburgh  and  Midwout,  and  elsewhere,  had  been 
wrongfully  and  suspiciously  delayed.  VI.  Large  tracts  of 
land  had  been  granted  to  favored  individuals,  to  the  great 
injury  of  the  province.  "As  we  have,  for  easier  reference, 
reduced  all  our  grievances  to  six  heads,"  concluded  the 
delegates,  "we  renew  our  allegiance,  in  the  hope  that  sat- 
isfaction will  be  granted  to  the  country  according  to  estab- 
lished justice,  and  all  dissensions  be  settled  and  allayed."* 
12  Dec.  A  copy  of  this  paper  was  delivered  to  Stuyvesant,  and 

of  the  Re-  a  "  catcgorical  answer"  to  each  of  its  heads  was  demand- 
strance.  ed.  Though  drawu  up  by  Baxter,  it  was  approved  and 
signed  by  every  delegate ;  and  it  expressed  the  unanimous 
opinion  of  the  convention.  Its  tone  was  as  affectionately 
loyal  to  the  Fatherland  of  the  Dutch  as  was  the  memorial 
which  Van  der  Donck  had  prepared  in  1649.  In  the  midst 
of  the  war  between  Holland  and  England  ;  with  natural 
leanings  toward  the  side  of  their  countrymen ;  with  hearts 
full  of  bitterness  against  Stuyvesant  and  his  administra- 
,          tion,  yet  with  an  honest  admiration  of  the  government  of 

*  Alb.  Rec,  ix.,  28-33  ;  Hoi.  Doc,  xv.,  168-175  ;  Thompson's  L.  I.,  i.,  Ill,  112;  ii.,  S^'U 
308;  O'Call.,  ii.,  238-246,  263,  264;  Bancroft,  ii.,  306. 


swer. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  573 

the  Republican  Provinces,  the  representatives  of  the  En-  ch.  xvi 
glish  villages  desired  not  to  ingraft  on  New  Netherland  "~7~~~ 
the  Puritan  polity  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  from 
the  severity  of  which  some  of  them  had  themselves  fled, 
but  they  demanded  laws  "resembling,  as  near  as  possible, 
those  of  the  Netherlands."     The  Dutch  colonists  had  been 
taught,  by  the  example   of  their  forefathers,  to  rely  on 
themselves.     The  convention  itself  was  a  "Landtdag,"  or  Not  of  Pu- 
Diet,  known  in  the  Fatherland  long  before  the  first  settle-  gin. 
ment  in  New  England,  suggested  by  the  burgomasters 
and  schepens  of  New  Amsterdam,  and  called  by  the  arbi- 
trary director  whose  government  it  censured. 

This  remonstrance  was  the  severest  blow  which  Stuy- 12  Dec 

Siuvvc- 

vesant  had  yet  received.  To  weaken  its  effect,  he  de- sanfs  an- 
clared  that  Breuckelen,  Midwout,  and  Amersfoort  had  "no 
right  to  jurisdiction,"  and  could  not  send  delegates  to  a 
popular  convention.  The  other  members  were  "  a  few  un- 
qualified delegates,  who  assume,  without  authority,  the 
name  and  title  of  commonalty."  In  that  name  they  had 
no  right  to  address  the  director  or  "  any  body  else."  "  The 
most  ancient  colonic  of  Manhattan,  particularly  reserved 
on  behalf  of  the  company,  the  colonies  of  Rensselaerswyck 
and  Staten  Island,  and  the  settlements  at  Beverwyck  and 
on  the  South  River,  are  too  prudent  to  subscribe  to  all  that 
has  been  projected  by  an  Englishman ;  as  if  among  the 
Netherlands'  nation  there  is  no  one  sagacious  and  expert 
enough  to  draw  up  a  remonstrance  to  the  director  and 
council."  "  It  is  very  doubtful,  indeed,  if  George  Baxter, 
the  author,  himself  understood  what  he  meant."  If  the 
rights  of  the  people  of  New  Netherland  were,  as  represent- 
ed, the  same  as  those  of  the  people  in  the  Fatherland, 
they  might  then  claim  to  send  delegates  to  the  assembly 
of  their  High  Mightinesses.  As  to  the  demand  for  an  ex- 
tension of  franchises,  "  it  must  be  observed  that  these  En- 
glishmen, the  actors,  instigators,  and  leaders  of  these  nov- 
elties, actually  enjoy  greater  privileges  than  the  New 
Netherland  Exemptions  allow  to  any  Dutchman."  The 
English,  especially  at  Gravoscnd,  not  only  nominate  their 


1653 

Stuyve- 
sant's  an 
swer. 


574        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVI.  own  officers,  but  absolutely  "  usurp  their  election,  and 
actually  appoint  whatever  magistrates  they  please,  pay- 
ing no  regard  to  the  religion  these  profess."  At  New  Am- 
sterdam, the  magistrates  are  appointed  by  the  director 
and  council ;  and  this  policy  would  be  continued  until 
other  orders  from  Holland.  If  the  opposite  rule  "  was  to 
become  a  cynosure — if  the  nomination  and  election  of 
magistrates  were  to  be  left  to  the  populace,  who  were  the 
most  interested,  then  each  would  vote  for  one  of  his  oaati 
stamp ;  the  thief  for  a  thief ;  the  rogue,  the  tippler,  and 
the  smuggler  for  his  brother  in  iniquity,  so  that  he  may 
enjoy  more  latitude  in  vice  and  fraud."  The  question 
which  the  convention  had  been  called  to  consider — the 
protection  of  the  province  against  pirates — ^had  been  pass- 
ed by,  and  the  English  delegates  had  declared  their  un- 
willingness to  act  against  their  countrymen.  The  large 
grants  of  land  which  had  been  complained  of  were  made 
by  order  of  the  directors  in  Holland,  who  are  not  respons- 
ible to  their  subjects  for  what  they  do.  If  the  English 
colonists  would  look  at  themselves,  they  would  find  that  a 
large  part  of  the  territory  claimed  by  Heemstede,  Flush- 
ing, and  Grravesend  was  neither  settled  nor  improved  ;  but 
because  the  time  for  the  payment  of  their  debts  was  ap- 
proaching, they  wish  to  repudiate  them,  and  establish  "  a 
new  form  of  government,"  on  the  ground  that  "  the  com- 
pany can  not  or  will  not  protect  them."  And  Stuyvesant 
concluded  his  earnest  defense  of  arbitrary  power  by  repri- 
manding the  city  government  of  New  Amsterdam  for  seiz- 
ing "  this  dangerous  opportunity  to  conspire  with  a  nation 
so  much  suspected  by  them  ;  in  whom  they  lately  said  no 
confidence  could  be  plac3d  ;  who  were  ever  hatching  mis- 
chief, but  never  performing  their  promises ;  and  who  might 
to-morrow  ally  themselves  with  the  North." 

But  the  delegates  were  not  to  be  thus  silenced.     In 

13 Dec.      their  rejoinder  they  appealed  to  the  "Law  of  Nature," 

ofthecou-  which  permits  all  men  to  assemble  for  the  protection  of 

their  liberties  and  their  property ;  and  declared  that,  in 

case  the  director  refused  to  consider  the  several  points  of 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  575 

their  remonstrance,  they  would  protest  to  their  common  ch.  xvi. 
superiors,  the  States  General  and  the  West  India  Company.        ~_ 

Stuyvesant  had  already  exhausted  argument.     All  that        '  '^ 
remained  was  to  exercise  his  prerogative.     The  members 
of  the  convention  were  ordered  to  disperse,  "on  pain  of  h Dec. 
our  highest  displeasure,"  in  a  farewell  message  which  ar-  ve'uion" 
rogantly  declared  that  "  we  derive  our  authority  from  G-od 
and  the  company,  not  from  a  few  ignorant  subjects ;  and 
we  alone  can  call  the  inhabitants  together."     And  letters 
were  sent  to  Breuckelen,  Amersfoort,  and   Midwout,  or-  le  Dec. 
dering  them  to  prohibit  their  delegates  from  appearing,  for 
the  present,  in  any  meeting  at  New  Amsterdam.* 

The  popular  voice,  however,  was  not  stifled.     The  bur- 
gomasters and  schepens  of  New  Amsterdam  addressed  a  24  Dec. 
letter  to  the  West  India  Company,  declaring  that  Stuyve-  burgom°as 
sant's  instructions  of  the  2d  of  February  were  "too  nar- sdfepens to 

,,  1        T  .  »  .    .       ,  ,  .    the  West 

row,"  and  asking  lor  municipal  powers  as  nearly  as  possi-  rndia  com- 
ble  according  to  the  form  of  government  of  the  "  beloved  ^""^' 
city  of  Amsterdam,"  from  which  "  we  have  received  our 
name."     The  city  schout  should  be  chosen  by  and  from 
the  burghers,  and  should  not  be  the  company's  own  fiscal. 
The  whole  of  the  excise,  "  without  any  limitation,"  should 
go  into  the  city  treasury ;  and  as  that  was  insufficient  to 
pay  salaries  and  keep  the  public  works  in  repair,  the  jnu- 
nicipal  government  should  have  power  to  levy  new  taxes,  More  pow- 
and  to  farm  out  the  ferry  between  New  Amsterdam  and*^"^^^  ' 
Breuckelen.     The  city  should  be  empowered  to  ascertain 
its  debts ;  be  enabled  to  convey  lands ;  have  a  seal  sepa- 
rate from  that  of  the  province  ;  be  granted  a  Stadt  Huys, 
or  City  Hall ;   and  sufficient  munitions  of  war  should  be 
provided  for  defense  against  the  "  unfriendly  English."! 

The  Grravesend  magistrates  also  sent  a  letter  protesting  27  Dec. 
their  allegiance  to  the  States  General  and  the  company,  Gmvesen? 
"  under  whose  protection  they  had  placed  themselves,  with- 
out any  intention  to  revolt."     Van  Werckhoven's  grant, 
however,  encroached  on  their  patent,  and  was  a  sore  griev- 

♦  Alb.  Rec,  ix.,  34-56  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  247-252  ;  Bancroft,  ii.,  307  ;  Thompson,  i  ,  113. 
'    New  Amst.  Rec,  i.,  345-350  ;  Alb.  Rec,  viii.,  96-98. 


576        HISTORY  OF  IHE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVI.  ance.  Such  grants  to  private  persons,  under  the  pretense 
of  promoting  colonization,  could  not  contribute  to  the  pros- 

Letter  from  P^^i^y  °^  *^^^  province.     "  As  loHg  as  you  see  through  the 

Gravesend.  gygg  q|-  ^^yg  qj.  i\^qq  persons,  who  perhaps  have  their  own 
profit  only  in  view,  and  are  prompted  by  ambition,  without 
regard  to  the  interests  of  the  commonalty  or  that  of  the 
company,  so  long  you  can  not  obtain  a  true  account  of  the 
real  condition  of  this  province,  nor  of  your  own  private 
concerns."  "  We  appreciate  the  high  value  of  a  lawful 
liberty  which  we  claim,  and  for  which,  if  granted,  and  if 
it  please  God,  in  his  mercy,  to  reconcile  the  differences  be- 
tween the  two  commonwealths,  we  shall  not  only  feel  grat- 
ified, but  thankful."  "  For,  if  your  honors  should  lose  this 
country,  though  we  sincerely  wish  to  be  long  favored  with 
your  protection,  it  will  be  tlnrough  the  means  of  those  who 
are  intrusted  with  the  chief  command." 

A  letter  of  a  similar  tone,  signed  by  Kregier,  Baxter, 

30  Dec.  and  others,  was  also  addressed  to  the  burgomasters  and 
schepens  of  the  city  of  Amsterdam.  All  these  papers 
were  intrusted  to  Francois  le  Bleeuw,  an  advocate,  who 

Agent  sent  was  dispatclicd  as  agent  to  Holland  at  the  expense  of  the 
city,  with  instructions  to  use  every  legitimate  means  to 
procure  the  reforms  which  the  people  demanded.* 

Though  the  building  of  Fort  Casimir  had  seriously  em- 
barrassed the  Provincial  Exchequer,  it  embarrassed  the 

South  Riv-  Swedes  on  the  South  River  still  more.  Printz,  finding 
his  situation  becoming  every  day  more  unpleasant,  applied 
to  his  government  for  permission  to  return  home.  The 
Swedish  colonists  themselves  seemed  inclined  to  submit 
to  the  Dutch  jurisdiction,  and  even  made  overtures  to 

6  October.  Stuyvesaut,  who,  however,  declined  to  act  until  he  had 
learned  the  views  of  the  Amsterdam  Chamber.  His  supe- 
riors, willing  to  protect  all  who  were  obedient  to  their  laws, 

4  Nov.  wrote  to  the  director,  "  The  population  of  the  country,  that 
bulwark  of  every  state,  ought  to  be  promoted  by  all  means, 
so  that  the  settling  of  freemen  may  not  be  shackled." 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  136 ;  viii.,  53-58  ;  IIoI.  Doc,  ix.,  256-260 ,  xv..  165  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  238- 
256,  269. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL  577 

Without  waiting  for  his  leave  to  return,  Printz  executed  ch.  xvi. 
his  design ;  and  leaving  his  son-in-law,  John  Pappegoya, 
in  temporary  charge  of  affairs,  he  embarked  for  Holland,  Departure 
bearing  a  private  letter  from  Stuy  vesant  to  the  West  India  "  ^ov"""' 
Company  "in  favor  of  the  late  Swedish  governor."*    Law- 
rence Charles  Lokenius,  a  Lutheran  clergyman  who  hadLokemu^. 
succeeded  Campanius,  remained  with  the  people  at  Tinni- 
cum  and  Christina. 

The  government  of  Sweden  had  meanwhile  placed  the 
management  of  their  interests  on  the  South  River  in  the 
hands  of  the  "  G-eneral  College  of  Commerce."  Prepara- 
tions were  made  to  dispatch  a  ship  with  two  hundred  per- 11  October, 
sons  to  assist  the  colony,  where  there  were  now  only  six- 
teen men  to  garrison  the  three  Swedish  forts ;  and  John 
Risinff,  formerly  secretary  of  the  College  of  Commerce,  12  Dec. 
was  commissioned  as  deputy  governor  under  Prmtz.     He  pointed 

.,..,..  Ti    deputy 

was  to  endeavor  to  extend  the  Swedish  jurisdiction  on  both  Kovemor. 
sides  of  the  river,  "but  without  a  breach  of  friendship 
with  the  English  and  Dutch,  or  exposing  to  risk  what  we 
already  possess,"  With  respect  to  Fort  Casimir,  which 
the  Dutch  had  just  built,  if  he  could  not  induce  them,  by 
remonstrances,  to  abandon  it,  he  was  to  avoid  resorting  to 
hostilities,  and  rather  to  "  suffer  the  Dutch  to  occupy  the 
said  fortress,  than  that  it  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
English,  who  are  the  more  powerful,  and,  of  course,  the 
most  dangerous  in  that  country."  Another  Swedish  fort 
should  be  constructed  lower  down  the  river  ;  but  the  mild- 
est measures  should  be  pursued,  as,  "  by  a  rupture  with 
the  Dutch,  the  English  may  seize  the  opportunity  to  take 
possession  of  the  aforesaid  fortress,  and  become,  in  conse- 
quence, very  dangerous  neighbors  to  our  possessions." 
With  these  instructions,  Rising,  accompanied  by  another 
clergyman,  Peter  Lindstrom  an  engineer,  and  a  large  mil- 
itary force,  set  sail  for  New  Sweden.! 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  121, 138 ;  Hoi.  Doc,  viii.,  32,  84  ;  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  139, 140, 147, 
148 ;  Plymouth  Rec,  ii.,  87  ;  ante,  p.  484. 

+  Thurloe's  State  Papers,  i.,  524 ;  Reg.  Penn.,  iv.,  374,  399 ;  S.  Ilazarl,  Ann.  Penn., 
141-146 ;  Aerelius,  414. 

Oo 


57S  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1654. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

1654-1655. 

New  Amsterdam  had  now  enjoyed  for  a  year  its  limited 
municipal  government.  But  its  burghers  pined  for  the 
larger  franchises  of  the  cities  of  their  Fatherland ;  and  the 
burgomasters  and  schepens,  whose  term  of  service  was 

27  January,  about  to  expirc,  petitioned  Stuyvesant  for  liberty  to  pre- 

sterdam  af-  scut  a  doublc  sct  of  namcs,  from  among  which  the  mao^is- 
trates  for  the  next  year  should  be  chosen.  They  also  asked 
that  the  magistracy  should  receive  salaries.  The  direct- 
or, however,  "  for  pregnant  reasons,"  declined  a  compliance 

28 January. "respecting  the  nomination,"  but,  "for  the  sake  of  peace 
and  harmony,"  continued  the  old  magistrates  in  office,  and 
appointed  Jochem  Pietersen  Kuyter  and  Oloff  Stevensen 
van  Cortlandt  to  fill  two  vacancies  in  the  board  of  Sche- 
pens.    The  application  for  salaries  was,  however,  granted. 

Salaries  ai- Each  burgomastcr  was  allowed  three  hundred  and  fifty 
guilders  a  year,  and  each  schepen  two  hundred  and  fifty, 
as  they  were,  "  for  the  most  part,  such  persons  as  must 
maintain  their  houses  and  families  by  trade,  farming,  or 
mechanical  labor."^ 

Critical  sit-      The  situation  of  the  province  at  the  beginning  of  this 

uation  of  ^  .  , 

theprov-  year  was  extremely  critical.  Takmg  advantage  of  the 
continued  hostilities  between  Holland  and  England,  pi- 
rates and  robbers  infested  the  shores  of  the  East  River, 
and  committed  unrepressed  excesses  on  Long  Island  and 
around  New  Amsterdam.  The  English  residents  began 
to  mutter  threats  of  mutiny,  and  many  of  them  were  sus- 
pected of  communicating  with  the  freebooters,  who  were 

*  New  Amst.  Rec,  i.,  359,  373-375 ;  Alb.  Rec,  vii.,  279,  288 ;  ix.,  70,  71.  On  the  12lh 
of  January,  the  burgomasters  and  schepens  allowed  their  secretary,  Jacob  Kip,  a  sala.-y 
of  two  hundred  guilders,  as  receiver  of  the  city  revenue. 


ince. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  579 

chiefly  their  own  countrymen.     Gravesend  was  notorious-  ch.  xvii. 
ly  disaffected.     Sir  Henry  Moody  himself  did  not  scruple 
to  join  in  a  certificate  declaring  that  Captain  John  Man- ^jg^^^.^./ 
ning,  who  had  been  playing  the  spy  while  he  was  carry-  Gravesend 
ing  on  an  unlawful  trade  between  New  Haven  and  Man- 
hattan, "  had  tendered  himself  and  vessel  to   serve  the 
commonwealth  of  England."* 

But  New  Amsterdam   nobly  maintained  her  loyalty. 
The  city  government  recommended  that  a  vessel  be  sta- 10  Feb. 
tioned  at  "  Minnewit's  Island,"  and  likewise  proposed  to 
Stuyvesant  to  raise  a  militia  force  of  some  forty  men  among  Miiitia 
the  several  villages  and  settlements,  according  to  a  ratable  portioned 
proportion.!     John  Scott,  of  Long  Island,  and  others,  were 
arrested  and  examined  as  suspected  persons,  at  the  instance  ig  Marcii. 
of  the  fiscal.     Breuckelen,  Amersfoort,  and  Mid wout  were 
specially  invited  by  the  metropolis  "to  lend  their  aid  at 23 March. 
this  critical  conjuncture,  to  further  whatever  may  advance 
the  public  defense."     The  Dutch  villages  heartily  agreed 
"  to  assist  with  all  their  might."     Every  third  man  was 
detailed  to  act  as  a  minute-man,  whenever  required  ;  and  28  March, 
their  whole  population  was  pledged  to  be  ready  to  defend  7  a^^tii. 
their  firesides  in  case  of  invasion. 

The  provincial  government  immediately  commissioned  8  April, 
several  yachts  to  act  against  the  pirates.     A  proclamation  agalnst^pi- 
was  issued  prohibiting  all  persons,  under  the  penalty  of 
banishment  and  the  confiscation  of  goods,  from  harboring 
the  outlaws,  for  each  of  whom  a  reward  of  one  hundred 
thalers  was  offered ;  and  all  strangers  without  passports 
were  directed  to  be  detained  until  they  gave  satisfactory 
accounts  of  themselves.     To  prevent  any  misunderstand-  u  April. 
ing  with  the  neighboring  governments,  Burgomaster  Kre- 
gier  and  Fiscal  Van  Tienhoven  were  sent  to  New  Haven, 
to  explain  that  the  only  object  of  the  Dutch  proceedings 

*  New  Haven  Rec,  40-49  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  204  ;  Trumbull,  i.,  213.  Manning  was  arrested 
md  tried  at  New  Haven  in  April,  1054,  and  his  vessel  condemned  and  sold,  "  by  inch  of 
:andle,"  as  a  lawful  prize.    See  al.so  post,  p.  743. 

t  This  proportion  was,  .Manhattan,  eiglit ;  Heemstede,  four ;  Vlissengen,  three  ;  Graves- 
end, three  ;  Middelburgh  and  Mespath  Kill,  three  ;  Breuckelen,  the  Ferry,  and  the  Wal- 
loon quarter,  four  ;  Midwout,  two;  Amersfoort,  two;  Staten  Island,  two;  Paulus'Hook, 
one  ;  lieverwyck,  four  ;  colonic  of  Rensselaerswyck,  four.— New  Amst.  Rec,  i.,  378. 


580  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  xvii.  was  the  protection  of  their  commerce  and  the  punishment 

~~  of  robbery  * 

The  prompt  loyalty  of  Breuckelen,  Amersfoort,  and  Mid- 
wout  now  received  its  reward  ;  and  Stuyvesant  executed 
the  purpose  he  had  announced  the  autumn  before,  of  giv- 
ing them  such  municipal  privileges  as  would  counterbal- 
ance the  political  influence  of  the  English  villages.    Breuck- 

Apni.        elen  had  already  two  schepens  ;  two  more  were  now  added, 

ien,Amers-and  David  Provoost,  the  former  commissary  of  Fort  Hope, 

Ibort,  and  i     t         r      i  i  i  -mr-i  i 

Midwout    was  made  her  nrst  separate  schout.     Midwout  was  granted 

obtain  mu-     t  .    i  •  i  i 

nicipai  gov-  the  right  to  nommate  three  schepens.     Amersfoort  obtain- 

ernments.  '^ 

ed  two.  Ihe  powers  of  these  local  magistrates  were  some- 
what similar  to  those  of  the  municipality  of  New  Amster- 
dam. A  superior  "  district  court"  was  also  organized, 
composed  of  delegates  from  each  town  court,  together  with 
the  schout.  This  district  court  had  general  authority  to 
regulate  roads,  build  churches,  establish  schools,  and  make 
local  laws  for  the  government  of  the  district,  subject  to  the 
approval  of  the  provincial  government.  This  arrangement 
continued  until  1661. t 

Up  to  this  time,  the  Dutch  on  Long  Island  had  been 
without  a  church  or  a  minister  ;  and  to  attend  public  wor- 
ship they  had  been  obliged  to  cross  the  East  River  to  New 
Amsterdam.  The  metropolitan  clergymen  occasionally 
preached  at  private  houses  in  the  Dutch  villages ;  but  the 
want  of  a  settled  minister  at  length  became  so  serious  an 
9  Feb.       embarrassment,  that  Domine  Megapolensis  and  a  commit- 

Church  at  -,  ..,  .,  ji\r-T 

Midwout  or  tee  01  the  provincial  council  were  sent  over  to  Midwout 
to  assist  the  people  in  organizing  a  church.     On  their  part, 

23  Feb  the  West  India  Company  did  what  they  could  to  remedy 
the  evil.  Six  hundred  guilders  were  appropriated  for  a 
salary ;  and  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam  was  requested  to 
select  a  qualified  preacher  "to  watch  over  the  public  re- 

*  New  Amst.  Rec,  i.,  376-427  ;  Alb.  Roc,  vii.,  261-266  ;  ix.,  80,  81,  107-120  ;  O'Call., 
ii.,  258  ;  Thompson's  L.  I.,  i.,  113. 

t  Alb.  Rec.,ix.,  16,  35,47,  118,  226;  x.,  16,  36,  47.  79,  115,  240,302,  345;  xi.,  187;  xix., 
91,  444;  O'Call.,  ii.,  271,  272,  429;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  1.,  633-655;  Flatbush  Rec;  ante, 
p.  422,  569.  New  Utrecht  and  Boswyck,  or  Bushwick,  were  joined  to  Breuckelen,  Ain- 
ersfoorf,  and  Midwout  in  1661,  when  the  district  was  called  the  "Five  Dutch  Towns." 
Provoost  remained  schout  of  Breuckelen  until  1656,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Pster 
Tonneman,  who  hold  the  office  until  1660.    Adriaen  liegeman  was  then  appointed 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  5^;j 

ligion  there."     But  before  a  proper  clergyman  was  found  ch.  xvii 

willins:  to  emigrate  from  Holland,  Domine  Johannes  The- 

.  .  1654 

odorus  Polhemus,  who  had  heen  for  some  time  stationed  Dommc 

at  Itamarca,  in  Brazil,  arrived  in  New  Netherland,  and  ac-  fa,'ed'"'^'' 
cepted  the  call  of  the  people  of  Midwout.  The  magistrates 
of  Midwout  and  Amersfoort  petitioned  the  council  for  as- 
sistance in  their  enterprise ;  and  permission  was  accord-  n  oitci.or 
ingly  given  them  to  employ  Domine  Polhemus,  "  until  an 
answer  be  received  from  Holland,"  and  to  raise  funds  for 
his  support  by  a  general  collection,  A  small  wooden 
church  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  about  sixty  feet  long  and 
twenty-eight  wide,  was  ordered  to  be  constructed  at  Mid- 1-  Deo. 
wout ;  and  Megapolensis,  with  two  of  the  magistrates  of  Fiatbusu. 
the  village,  were  appointed  "to  promote  the  work  to  the 
best  advantage  of  the  public."  Upward  of  three  thousand 
guilders  were  contributed  by  the  Dutch  inhabitants  of  New 
Amsterdam,  Fort  Orange,  and  Long  Island ;  and  Stuyve- 
sant  added  four  hundred  more  out  of  the  provincial  treas- 
ury. The  West  India  directors  approved  of  the  arrange- 
ment ;  but  intimated  that  the  people  of  Midwout  must 
pay  the  salary  of  their  clergyman  without  recourse  to  the 
company.  In  this  first  Reformed  Dutch  church  on  Long 
Island,  Domine  Polhemus  preached  every  Sunday  morn- 
ing, and  in  the  afternoon  at  Breuckelen  and  Amersfoort 
alternately.  Thus  afiairs  remained  until  1660,  when 
Domine  Henry  Selyns  arrived  from  Holland,  and  became 
the  pastor  of  the  people  at  Breuckelen.* 

The  Lutherans  had  now  become  so  numerous  at  NewLmhernns 
Amsterdam,  that  they  proposed  to  call  a  clergyman  of  Amsttr- 
their  own  denomination.  To  this  end  they  asked  formal 
permission  of  Stuyvesant  to  worship  publicly  in  a  church 
by  themselves.  The  director,  however,  who  was  a  zeal- 
ous Calvinist,  declined,  for  the  reason  that  he  was  bound 
by  his  oath  to  tolerate  openly  no  other  religion  than  the 
Reformed.  The  Lutherans  then  addressed  themselves  di- 
rectly to  the  West  India  Company  and  to  the  states  of 

*  Cor.  Classis  Amst. ;  Letters  of  20th  February,  and  11th  November,  1654  ;  Mcgapo 
lensis  to  Classis,  16th  March,  1655;  New  Amst.  Rcc. ;  Alb.  Rec.,  iv.,  170;  ix.,  102,  236, 
302;  X.,  332  ;  xiv.,  80,  81 ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  272  ;  Thompson's  L.  I.,  ii.,  202-204. 


5S2  HISTORY  OF  'I  HE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

(11.  XVII.  Holland.     But  the  Dutch  clergymen  at  Manhattan,  and 
the  Classis  of  Amsterdam  represented  that  such  a  compli- 
iiiiberai     ^T^co  would  producc  had  consequences  ;  for  the  Anabap- 
orTheLu-  tists  and  English  Independents,  of  whom  there  were  many 
iherans.     ^^  ^^iq  proviuce,  would  thcu  demand  the   same  liberty. 
The  directors,  therefore,  resolved  that  they  would  encour- 
age no  other  doctrine  in  New  Netherland  than  "the  true 
]2 March.  E-cformed  ;"  and  Stuyvesant  was  instructed  to  use  "all 
moderate  exertions"  to  allure  the  Lutherans  to  the  Dutch 
churches,  "  and  to  matriculate  them  in  the  public  Re- 
20  Feb.      formed  religion."     In  communicating  this  resolution  to 
Megapolensis  and  Drisius,  the  Classis  expressed  their  hope 
that  the  Reformed  religion  would  now  "  be  preserved  and 
maintained,  without  hindrance  from  the  Lutheran  and 
other  errors."     This  departure  from  the  policy  of  the  Ba- 
tavian  Republic  was  a  triumph  of  bigotry  over  statesman- 
ship ;  and  one  of  the  crowning  glories  of  the  Fatherland 
was,  for  a  season,  denied  to  New  Netherland.* 

1653,  The  representations  which  Connecticut  and  New  Haven 
2^  Dec.     i^ad  addressed  to  Cromwell  strongly  influenced  the  ambi- 

(Jromwell  ,  "  •' 

Protector,  tious  soldicr,  who  had  just  assumed  the  office  of  Protector. 
Though  negotiations  for  peace  were  in  progress,  England 
was  still  at  open  war  with  the  United  Provinces ;  and  a 
favorable  opportunity  of  engaging  the  support  of  the 
friends  of  New  England,  by  seizing  New  Netherland,  was 

1654.  now  offered  to  Oliver.     He,  therefore,  advised  the  govern- 
Fcbruarv.  ^^.^  ^£  ^|^^  Ncw  England  colonies  that  the  number  and 

strength  of  the  ships  destined  for  those  parts  had  been  in- 
creased, and  called  upon  them  to  give  their  "utmost  as- 
sistance for  gaining  the  Manhattoes,  or  other  places  under 
ii  Feb.      the  power  of  the  Dutch."     At  the  same  time,  Major  Rob- 
ag'a'lnst"""  crt  Scdgwick  and  Captain  John  Leverett  were  instructed 
eriand.^^*  to  procecd,  with  four  ships  of  war,  to  some  good  port  in 
New  England,  and  ascertain  whether  the  colonial  govern- 
ments would  join  in  "  vindicating  the  English  right  and 
extirpating  the  Dutch."     "  Being  come  to  the  Manhat- 

*  Cor.  CI.  Amsterdam  ;  Letter  of  Megapolensis  and  Drisius,  6tU  0:tober,  1653  ;  Letter 
of  Classis,  26th  February,  1654  ;  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  130  ;  ante,  p.  312,  432. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  5^3 

toei,"  wrote  Secretary  Thurloe,  "you  shall,  by  way  of  sur-  ch.  xvh 
prise,  open  force,  or  otherwisej  *  *  *  endeavor  to  take  in 
that  place  for  the  use  of  his  Highness  the  Lord  Protector  ii,struc- 
of  the  Commonwealth  of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland ;  "°"'' 
and  you  have  power  to  promise  and  give  them  fair  quar- 
ter, in  case  it  be  rendered  upon  summons,  without  hostile 
opposition.     The  like,  also,  you  shall  do  to  the  Fort  of  Au- 
ranea,  or  any  other  place  upon  Hudson's  River."    "  If  the 
Lord  give  his  blessing  to  your  undertaking,  that  the  forts 
and  places  be  gained,  you  shall  not  use  cruelty  to  the  in- 
habitants, but  encourage  those  that  are  willing  to  remain 
under  the  English  government,  and  give  liberty  to  others 
to  transport  themselves  for  Europe."     With  these  instruc- 
tions, Sedgwick  and  Leverett  promptly  set  sail  for  New 
England.    But  the  squadron  running  southwardly  to  Fay- 
al,  the  Protector's  commissioners  did  not  reach  Boston  un-  f^  June. 
til  the  beginning  of  the  next  summer.* 

In  the  mean  time,  the  cupidity  of  Connecticut  had  been  sequestra- 
partially  gratified  by  the  formal  sequestration  of  the  Dutch  Good  iiop^ 
fort  at  Hartford.     Disregarding  Underbill's  volunteer  seiz-  ticut. 
ure,  and  referring  to  an  order  from  the  parliamentary  Coun- 
cil of  State  to  act  against  the  Dutch  "  as  against  those  that 
have  declared  themselves  enemies  to  the  commonwealth 
of  England,"  the  G-eneral  Court  directed  that  "  the  Dutch  tV^p"'''- 
house,  the   Hope,  with  the  lands,  buildings,  and  fences 
thereunto  belonging,  be  hereby  sequestered  and  reserved, 
all  particular  claims  or  pretended  right  thereunto  notwith- 
standing ;"  and  with  hasty  thrift  it  claimed  the  disposal 
of  all  "  rent  for  any  part  of  the  premises."! 

One  of  the  vessels  which  had  been  dispatched  from  En-  May. 

News  of 

gland  arriving  at  Boston  early  in  May,  brought  intelli- the  eh- 
gence  of  the  projected  expedition  against  New  Netherland.  ciition. 
Informed  of  his  danger  by  Isaac  Allerton,  Stuyvesant  in- 29  May. 
stantly  summoned  a  meeting  of  the  council  at  Fort  Am- 
sterdam, to  consider  the  state  of  the  province.     The  direct- 
or was  full  of  apprehension.     He  did  not  expect  that  "  the  so  Ma.- 

*  Thurloe,  i.,  721,  722  ;  ii.,  418,  419, 425.    The  English  usually  spelled  "  Fort  Orange" 
as  the  Dutch  pronounced  it — "  Fort  Auranea."    See  also  Bradford's  Plymouth,  p.  234. 
t  Col.  Rec.  Conn.,  254  ;  Trumbull,  i.,  217;  O'Call.,  ii.,  200;  ante,  p.  558. 


584  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK, 

ch.xvii.  people  residing  in  the  country — not  even  the  Dutch" — 
~  would  assist  him  in  case  of  an  unexpected  attack.  "  The 
■  English,  although  they  have  sworn  allegiance,  would  take 
up  arms  against  us  and  join  the  enemy."  "  To  invite 
them  to  aid  us  would  be  bringing  the  Trojan  horse  within 
our  walls."  Shall  we  abandon  Fort  Casimir,  and  recall 
all  Dutch  subjects  from  the  South  River  ?  Shall  we  allow 
the  King  Solomon  to  sail  ?  If  we  do,  the  people  will 
clamor,  "  for  we  have  no  gunners,  no  musketeers,  no  sail- 
ors, and  scarcely  sixteen  hundred  pounds  of  powder." 

As   a  last  resource,  Stuyvesant  proposed  that  a  loan 
should  be  raised,  to  repair  and  garrison  Fort  Amsterdam. 
The  burgomasters  and  schepens  of  New  Amsterdam,  and 
the  magistrates  of  Breuckelen,  Amersfoort,  and  Midwout, 
2  June.      therefore,  met  with  the  director  and  council  at  the  fcn-t. 
The  joint  meeting  resolved  to  enlist  a  force  of  sixty  or  sev- 
enty men,  "  in  silence,  and  without  beat  of  drum,"  and  to 
borrow  money  to  pay  them,  and  provide  supplies  for  the 
13  June,     city,  iu  casc  of  a  siege.     It  was  also  resolved  "  not  to  aban- 
iterdam'    dou  Fort  Casimir  for  the  present,  neither  to  call  its  garri- 
siaie  of  de-  SOU  from  there  to  re-enforce  that  of  this  city  ;  and  as  to  the 
ship  King  Solomon,  she  is  to  remain,  to  gratify  the  inhab- 
itants."    The  patriotism  of  the  people  was  aroused.     The 
fund  which  the  representatives  of  the  commonalty  had 
sanctioned  was  quickly  raised.     The  Dutch  inhabitants, 
spade  in  hand,  worked  heartily  at  the  fortifications  ;  and, 
though  treason  yet  lurked  within  her  walls.  New  Amster- 
dam was  soon  put  in  a  state  of  defense. 

In  truth,  Stuyvesant's  government,  which  had  weaned 
from  him  the  affections  of  the  Dutch,  had  entirely  alien- 
ated the  English.  Many  of  the  adopted  citizens  of  New 
Amsterdam  were  now  observed  "  stirring  to  mutiny  the 
otherwise  well  disposed,"  sending  off  their  effects,  commu- 
nicating with  privateers,  and  in  active  correspondence  with 
July.  New  England.  All  persons,  "  of  whatever  rank,"  found 
removing  their  property  were,  therefore,  declared  subject 
to  banishment  and  the  confiscation  of  goods,  and  the  au- 
thors and  propagators  of  false  reports  to  severe  punishment 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  555 

On  Long  Island,  it  was  rumored  that  the  Dutch  had  hired  ch.  xvii. 
Frenchmen  and  savages  to  massacre  the  inhabitants  of 
the  English  villages  ;  and  the  magistrates  of  Gravesend, 
Heemstede,  and  Middelburgh  were  summoned  to  give  an 
account.     Loyalty  to  Holland  was  renounced  as  soon  asMiddei- 

/-ii  T 1  ■  f  TVT  -r-111  burgh  and 

news  of  the  proposed  expedition  irom  JNew  J^ngland  ar-  cravesend 
rived.  Middelburgh  proposed  to  "  open  the  ball."  Graves- 
end  wrote  to  Boston,  oftering  to  seize  the  ship  King  Solo- 
mon, lying  at  New  Amsterdam,  and  carry  her  off  to  Vir- 
ginia. The  right  of  the  director  and  council  to  pass  upon 
nominations  was  disowned  ;  and  twelve  men  were  appoint- 
ed to  manage  the  affairs  of  the  town,  and  to  choose  mag- 
istrates and  local  officers.* 

The  Protector's  letters  roused  New  England  to  action.  JL  june. 
New  Haven  sent  delegates  to  Boston,  and  eagerly  pledged 
herself  to  the  most  zealous  efforts.     Connecticut  promised  igjune. 
two  hundred  men,  and  even  five  hundred,  "  rather  than 
the  design  should  fall."     The  "council  of  war"  at  Plym-§ijune. 
outh  ordered  fifty  men  to  be  pressed  into  the  service  ;  and, 
averring  that  they  only  concurred  in  hostile  measures 
against  their  ancient  Dutch  neighbors  at  Manhattan  "  in 
reference  unto  the  national  quarrel,"  intrusted  the  com- warlike 
mand  of  these  forces  to  Captain  Miles  Standish  and  Cap-tionsm 
tain  Thomas  Willett,  the  latter  of  whom  Stuyvesant  had  giand. 
so  unwisely  made  one  of  his  negotiators  at  Hartford,  in 
1650.     Massachusetts,  however,  showed  less  zeal.     The 
General   Court,  declaring  their   readiness   to   attend   the  /^  June 
Protector's  pleasure,  as  far  as  they  could  "  with  safety  to 
the  liberty  of  their  consciences  and  the  public  peace  and 
welfare,"  simply  consented  that  Sedgwick  and  Leverett 
might  raise  five  hundred  volunteers   against  the  Dutch 
within  their  jurisdiction.! 

In  the  mean  time,  the  negotiations  for  peace  between 
Holland  and  England  had  been  vigorously  prosecuted. 
Upon  assuming  the  Protectorate,  Oliver,  receding  from  the 

*  New  Amst.  Rec,  i.,  405-494  ;  Alb.  Rec,  ix.,  132-171  ;  x.,  71  ;  xi.,  12  ;  O'Call.,  ii., 
261-205;  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  151. 

+  Hazard,  i.,  567-589,  595,  596  ;  Col.  Rec.  Conn.,  259,  200  ;  Hutcliinson,  i.,  108  ;  Trura- 
buU,  i.,  219. 


586 


HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1654. 


A  April. 
Treaty  of 
peace  be- 
tween En- 
gland and 
Holland. 


S8  April. 
8  May. 


To  May- 
Orders 
counter- 
manded. 


M  June- 
Effect  in 
New  En- 
gland. 


parliamentary  proposition  for  a  coalition  between  the  com- 
monwealth and  the  republic,  which  the  States  G-eneral 
had  unanimously  rejected,  proposed  more  acceptable  terms 
to  the  Dutch  ambassadors.  New  obstacles  arose  ;  but  at 
length  the  treaty,  by  which  England  quietly  abandoned 
most  of  her  pretensions,  was  definitely  signed.  The  Pro- 
tector, however,  insisted  upon  the  exclusion  of  the  Prince 
of  Orange  from  the  office  of  stadtholder  as  the  condition 
of  his  ratification  of  the  treaty.  The  States  G-eneral  would 
have  rejected  this  condition ;  but  the  adroitness  of  the 
grand  pensionary,  John  de  "Witt,  prevailed  with  the  states 
of  Holland.  An  act  of  the  desired  tenor  was  passed  in  that 
body,  and  sent  to  the  ambassadors  in  England.  Upon  its 
delivery,  Oliver  ratified  the  treaty,  and  issued  a  proc- 
lamation restraining  all  English  subjects  from  committing 
any  further  acts  of  hostility  against  the  Dutch.  And  or- 
ders were  promptly  dispatched  to  Sedgwick  and  Leverett 
countermanding  their  previous  instructions  to  surprise  the 
Dutch  possessions,  and  requiring  them  "to  desist  from  that 
design."* 

These  important  documents  reached  Boston  a  few  days 
after  the  arrival  of  the  Protector's  commissioners.  The 
delegates  of  Connecticut  and  New  Haven,  assembled  at 
Charlestown,  apprehending  that  "  a  satisfying  account 
could  not  be  given  of  any  further  acting  in  this  design 
against  the  Dutch,"  reluctantly  agreed  to  dismiss  their 
session.  The  forces  intended  to  act  against  New  Nether- 
land  were  sent  to  dislodge  the  French  from  the  coast  of 
Maine  ;  and  for  ten  years  longer  the  coveted  province,  the 
possession  of  which  the  English  government  had  now  vir- 
tually resigned  to  the  Dutch,  continued  under  the  sway 
of  Holland.! 

The  joyful  intelligence  of  peace  between  the  Fatherland 
and  England  reaching  New  Amsterdam  a  few  days  after- 

*  Basnage,  i.,  319,  333-339  ;  Aitzema,  iii.,  858,  659,  930  ;  Verbael  van  Beveminck,  35T- 
422;  Tliurloe,  ii.,  219,  238,  253,  259;  Lingard,  xi.,  187-191  ;  Davies,  ii.,  727-730.  The 
State  Papers  collected  by  Secretary  Thurloe  show  that  the  English  government  had 
constantly  the  best  intellige(hce  of  what  was  going  on  in  Holland.  Even  the  dispatches 
to  and  from  the  Dutch  ambassadors  appear  to  have  been  opened  and  copied. 

t  Tliurloo,  ii.,  4-:0;  Hutchinson,  i.,  ir>9;  Hazard,  i.,  589,  590  ;  Bancroft,  i.,  445. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  587 

ward,  was  published  from  the  City  Hall  "with  ringing  ch. xvii. 
of  bell."     The  twelfth  of  August  was  appointed  as  a  day 
of  general  thanksgiving;    and  Stuyvesant  piously  called  ,gjuij. 
on  all  the  inhabitants  to  praise  the  Lord,  who  had  se- Ji^f ','g  ]', 
cured  their  gates,  and  blessed  their  possessions  with  peace,  ^runif  ^"^ 
"  even  here,  where  the  threatened  torch  of  war  w^as  light- 
ed, where  the  weaves  reached  our  lips,  and  subsided  only 
through  the  power  of  the  Almighty."* 

With  the  news  of  peace  came  also  the  determination  of 
the  "West  India  Company  upon  the  various  demands  of  re- 
form which  the  agent,  Le  Bleeuw,  had  carried  to  Holland, 
His  errand  not  being  "  suited  to  the  taste"  of  the  direct- 
ors, he  was  forbidden  to  return  to  New  Netherland.    "  We 
are  unable,"  wrote  they  to  Stuyvesant,  "  to  discover  in  the  is  May. 
whole  remonstrance  one  single  point  to  justify  complaint."  the  co.ni.a 
"You  ought  to  have  acted  with  more  vigor  against  the  vesant.  "^' 
ringleaders  of  the  gang,  and  not  have  condescended  to  an- 
swer protests  with  protests,  and  then  to  have  passed  all  by 
without  further  notice."     "  It  is,  therefore,  our  express 
command  that  you  punish  what  has  occurred  as  it  de- 
serves, so  that  others  may  be  deterred  in  future  from  fol- 
lowing such  examples."     As  to  "  the  seditious"  of  Graves- 
end,  they  were  to  be  punished  "  in  an  exemplary  manner." 
To  the  burgomasters  and  schepens  of  New  Amsterdam  the  is  May. 
directors  wrote  recommending  and  charging  "that  you  the  city  au- 
oonduct  yourselves  quietly  and  peaceably,  submit  your- New  Am- 
selves  to  the  government  placed  over  you,  and  in  no  wise 
allow  yourselves  to  hold  particular  convention  with  the 
English  or  others  in  matters  of  form  and  deliberation  on 
affairs  of  state,  which  do  not  appertain  to  you,  and  what 
is  yet  worse,  attempt  an  alteration  in  the  state  and  its 
government." 

The  directors  at  the  same  time  consented  that  the  office 
of  city  schout  should  be  separated  from  that  of  the  provin- 
cial fiscal,  but  they  would  not  give  the  burgomasters  and 
schepens  the  power  of  appointment.     A  commission  was  Kuyter  a^v 
accordingly  inclosed  for  Jochem  Picterscn  Kuyter,  whoschoui. 

*  Alb.  Roc,  viii.,  101  ;  ix.,  180;  New  Anist.  Rcc,  i.,  495. 


588        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.xvii.  had  formerly  suffered  so  much  from  Stuyvesant's  vindic- 

^      tiveness,  and  to  whom  it  was  perhaps  now  felt  that  some 

■  amends  should  be  made.     The  city  authorities  were  also 

required  to  pay  the  public  salaries  out  of  the  wine  and  beer 

excise ;  and,  if  permitted  by  the  provincial  government, 

they  might  impose  other  taxes  "  with  the  consent  of  the 

commonalty."     They  were  empowered  to  mortgage  and 

convey  real  estate  within  the  limits  of  the  city,  and  were 

City  Hall    granted  the  use  of  the  City  Hall.     "  We  have  decreed  that 

a  seal  for  the  city  of  New  Amsterdam  shall  be  prepared 

and  forw^arded,"  added  the  directors  ;  but  as  for  arms  and 

ammunition,  they  must  be  obtained  from  the  provincial 

government.      The  city  authorities,  gratefully  acknowl- 

edijinof  the  "benefits"  which  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  had 

:;:  Juiy.      bestowed,  at  the  same  time  earnestly  justified  their  own 

Reply  of    conduct,  and  repudiated  the  charge  of  disaffection.     "  We 

thormL^"' have  never  thought  of  any  thing,"  wrote  they,  "but  of 

discharging  our  duties  to  the  utmost ;"  and  of  exhibiting, 

"to  the  best  of  our  ability,  the  situation  and  necessity  of 

this  country." 

Kuyter,  however,  did  not  live  to  receive  the  tardy  atone- 
ment by  which  the  company  proposed  to  wipe  out  the 
memory  of  Stuyvesant's  early  tyranny.     Not  long  after 
Kuyter      liis  appointment  as  a  schepen  of  New  Amsterdam,  he  had 
been  murdered  by  the  Indians.     The  office  of  city  schout 
21  July,      was  therefore  offered  by  Stuyvesant  to  Jacques  Cortelyou, 
a  tutor  in  Van  Werckhoven's  family.     But  Cortelyou,  ow- 
ing to  scruples  respecting  his  instructions,  declined  the  ap- 
pointment.    The  burgomasters  and  schepens,  finding  that 
no  other  steps  were  taken,  urged  that  the  schout  might 
be  appointed  "  in  conformity  with  the  orders"  of  the  Cham- 
ber at  Amsterdam.     Yet,  notwithstanding  all  the  efforts 
»-an  Tien-  of  the  municipal  authorities,  Stuyvesant  obstinately  per- 
timie"  as"  sistcd  in  Continuing  the  two  offices  of  city  schout  and  pro- 
vincial fiscal  in  the  hands  of  Van  Tienhoven.* 

*  Alh.  Rec,  iv.,  l.'iS-lia;  viii.,  06-99;  ix.,  174;  New  Amsterdam  Rec,  i.,  497-506; 
O'Call..  ii.,  265-266,429;  Uoct.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  397;  Valentine's  Manual,  1847,  373; 
1848,  378.  Not  long  afterward  Cortelyou  began  the  settlement  of  New  Utreclu,  on  Long 
Islatui  -^p'lst,  p.  693. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  539 

Up  to  this  time  there  had  been  such  "  daily  confusion"  ch.xvii, 
among  the  ferrymen  on  Manhattan  Island,  that  the  in- 
hahitants  often  waited  "  whole  days  before  they  could  ob-  j  jy,y 
tain  a  passage,  and  then  not  without  danger,  and  at  an  MmiLuan 
exorbitant  price."     The  director  and  council,  therefore,  or-  '■«suiated. 
dained  that  "  no  person  shall  ferry  from  one  side  of  the 
river  to  the  other  without  a  license  from  the  magistrates  ;" 
that  "  the  ferryman  shall  always  keep  proper  servants  and 
boats,  and  a  lodge  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  to  protect 
passengers  from  the  weather;"  that  he  should  not  "be 
compelled  to  ferry  any  thing  over  before  he  is  paid,"  nor 
"be  obliged  to  ferry  during  a  tempest  or  when  he  can  not 
sail ;"  and  it  was  expressly  provided  that  "  the  director 
and  members  of  the  council,  the  court  messenger,  and 
other  persons  invested  with  authority,  or  dispatched  by 
the  executive,  are  to  be  exempt  from  toll."* 

In  a  few  days  a  new  difficulty  arose.     Stuyvesant,  com-  2  August. 
plaining  that  the  burgomasters  and  schepens  had  beencuuies 
"  prodigal  of  fine  promises,  without  any  succeeding  action,  municipal 
durinof  the  last  year,"  required  them  to  make  provision  for  mem  of 

New  Am- 

the  maintenance  both  of  the  political  and  ecclesiastical  sterdam. 
ministers,  and  of  the  troops  which  the  company  had  sent 
over  in  the  last  ships,  as  well  as  those  which  were  soon 
expected  ;  and  to  give  an  account  of  the  income  and  dis- 
bursement of  the  excise  which  the  city  had  received.  The 
account  was  promptly  rendered,  and  the  city  magistrates  10  Augus-,. 
informed  the  director  that,  having  estimated  the  last  and 
present  year's  expenditure  for  "outside  and  inside  works" 
at  sixteen  thousand  guilders,  they  would  make  up  their 
quota  along  with  "the  other  courts  of  justice  ;"  and  they 
agreed  to  contribute  three  thousand  guilders  as  their  pro- 
portion, provided  they  should  be  authorised  to  lay  a  tax 
on  all  real  estate  under  their  jurisdiction.  But  Stuyve- 
sant was  dissatisfied.  The  municipal  authorities  had  not 
paid  the  salaries  of  the  clergymen,  and  besides,  they  had 

*  Alb.  Rec,  vii.,  267  ;  ix.,  163  ;  Val.  Man.  for  1848,  385,  386.  Tho  rates  of  toll  were  aa 
follows :  for  a  wagon  and  horses,  2  guilders  10  stuyvcrs,  or  one  dollar ;  a  one-horse  wag- 
on, 2  guilders,  or  80  cents  ;  a  horse  or  horned  boast,  one  guilder  10  stuyvers,  or  50  cents ; 
"  a  savage  male  or  female,"  6  stuyvers  ;  "  each  other  i)crson,"  3  stuyvers. 


590        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.xvii.  credited  their  account  with  the  expenses  of  the  agent,  Le 
^        Bleeuw,  whom  they  had  sent  to  Holland.     The  provincial 
13  Au'-Tist  government,  therefore,  determined  to  resume  the  control  of 
the  surrendered  excise,  and  farm  it  out  for  the  benefit  of 
24  August,  the  company.     A  special  war  tax  of  twenty  stuyvers  on 
laid.         every  morgen  of  arahle  land,  the  hundredth  penny  on  each 
house  and  lot  in  New  Amsterdam  and  Beverwyck,  one 
guilder  on  every  liorned  beast,  and  ten  per  cent,  on  all 
merchandise  exported  during  the  season,  was  soon  after- 
ward decreed  by  the  provincial  government,  to  meet  the 
loan  w^hicli  had  been  contracted  in  the  spring.     Under 
these  circumstances,  the  burgomasters  and  schepens  again 
SI  August,  addressed  the  director  and  council.    They  formally  offered 
to  support,  at  the  expense  of  the  city,  one  of  the  ministers, 
a  "  foresinger,"  to  act  also  as  schoolmaster,  and  a  dog-whip- 
per  or  sexton,  of  the  ecclesiastical  officers  ;  and  of  the  civil 
department,  the  schout,  both  the  burgomasters,  the  five 
schepens,  the  secretary,  and  the  court  messenger.     With 
respect  to  the  support  of  the  soldiers,  the  burghers  were 
not  able  to  contribute,  and  should  be  excused ;  they  had 
already  "  continually  engaged  in  the  general  w^orks,  sub- 
mitting to  watchings  and  other  heavy  burdens,"  and  had 
already  proved  their  bravery  and  willingness  in  times  of 
calamity.     But  the  provincial  government  was  still  dis- 
satisfied.    The  city  authorities  had  expended  the  moneys 
borrowed  in  defenses  for  the  city,  and  not  in  repairs  to 
Fort  Amsterdam  ;  they  had  not  fixed  their  quota  of  three 
thousand  guilders  high  enough ;   and  they  had  failed  in 
their  undertakings  respecting  subsidies  and  salaries.     The 
16  Sept.     director  and  council,  therefore,  insisted  upon  resuming  the 
resumed  by  excisc.     It  was  farmed  out  to  the  highest  bidder  ;  the  sal- 
sant.         aries  of  the  clergymen  were  paid  up  ;  and  the  city  govern- 
22  Sept.     ment  again  appealed  to  the  Amsterdam  Chamber.* 
16  April.         Stuyvesaht  had,  meanwhile,  revisited  Fort  Orange,  and, 
ForTor-'    to  put  au  cud  to  the  unsettled  question  of  jurisdiction,  had 
*"^*^'        formally  demanded  of  the  patroon's  officers  to  fix  the  point 

*  Alb.  Rcc,  ix.,  182,  189,  204-224;   New  Amsterdam  Rec,  i.,  507,  517;   ii.,  16-16; 
O'Call.,  ii.,  269,  270;  Valentine's  Manual,  1847,  375;  1848,  378. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECl'OR  GENERAL.  591 

of  departure  for  the  boundaries  of  the  colonie  according  to  ch.  xvii 
the  charter  of  Freedoms.    These  boundaries,  however,  were      ~ 
not  to  include  "the  limits  of  Fort  Orange,"     But  the  co- 
lonial   officers,  being  uninstructed  by  their  superiors  in 
Holland,  asked  delay.     The  next  month  fresh  difficulties 
occurred.     Commissary  Dyckman  was  ordered  to  levy  ani3Ma>. 
excise  upon  all  liquors  retailed  "  within  a  circuit  of  one 
thousand  rods  from  the  fort ;"  and  the  right  to  collect  tithes 
within  that  district  was  also  asserted  on  behalf  of  the  "West 
India  Company.     But  the  colonial  officers  issued  orders  to 
refuse  the  payment  of  the  excise,  alleging  that  the  provin- 
cial government  did  not  contribute  any  thing  toward  their 
local  expenses.     And  as  to  the  claim  of  tithes,  neither  the  Taxes  ai 
colonists  nor  the  inhabitants  of  Beverwyck  "could  be  in-wyck 
duced,  either  by  monitions  or  persuasions,  to  pay  them."* 

The  peace  with  the  French,  which  the  Mohawks  hadTi.ciro- 
confirmed  in  the  autumn  of  1653  by  the  restoration  of  tue  French 
Father  Poncet,  was  more  the  result  of  policy  than  of  a  de- 
sire to  be  at  rest.     They  were  anxious  to  attract  the  Hu- 
rons  from  the  north  to  supply  the  places  of  the  warriors 
whom  they  had  lost.     In  this  sentiment  some  of  the  other 
Iroquois  tribes  participated,  especially  the  Onondagas,  who 
began  to  feel  unfriendly  toward  the  Mohawks  for  treating 
them  ill  when  they  passed  through  that  country  to  the 
Dutch  at  Fort  Orange.     The  Onondagas,  therefore,  sought 
the  friendship  of  the  French,  and  sent  an  embassy  to  the  5  Feb. 
governor  of  Canada,  asking  that  a  Jesuit  mission  might  be  dagas. 
established  in  their  country.!     Father  Simon  le  Moyne, 
who  had  already  had  eighteen  years  experience  as  a  mis- 
sionary among  the  Hurons,  accordingly  set  out  from  Que- 1  Juiy. 
bee  for  Onondaga,  in  the  hope  "of  winning  the  whole  West 
and  North  to  Christendom."     Ascending  the  Saint  Law- 
rence, and  coasting  along  Ontario,  or  "the  Lake  of  the 
Iroquois,"  he  landed  on  the  southern  shore,  and  visited  the 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  213  ;  ix.,  121-120 ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  304  ;  New  Amst.  Rec,  i.,  419. 

t  "The  word  Onnonta,  which  in  the  Iroquois  tongue  signifies  a  mountain,  has  given 
the  name  to  the  village  called  Onnonta6,  or,  as  others  call  it,  Onnontagu6,  because  it  is 
on  a  mountain,  and  tlie  people  who  inhabit  it  con.sequently  style  themselves  Onnonta6- 
ronnons.  or  Onnontagufironnons."— Relation,  1657-8,  30  ;  i.,  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  44  ;  amte, 
p.  83,  5f4. 


d02  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVII.  principal  village  of  the  Onondagas,  where  he  was  treated 
"  as  a  brother."     Deputies  from  three  of  the  neighboring 
10 August,  tribes  soon  met  in  council.     A  chief,  speaking  for  "five 
Moyneat^  entire  nations,"  invited  the  French  to  establish  a  settle- 
onondaga.  ^ent  on  the  banks  of  the  lake,  and  to  fix  themselves  "  in 
12  August,  the  heart  of  the  country."    "With  pious  joy,  the  Jesuit  Fa- 
ther now  recovered  the  New  Testament  once  belonjrinw  to 
BrebcEuf,  and  a  book  of  devotion  used  by  Gamier.     Just 
before  his  return  to  Canada,  Le  Moyne  immortalized  his 
name  by  discovering  what  was  afterward  to  form  one  of 
16  August,  the  largest  sources  of  the  wealth  of  New  York.     Coming 
of  the  Salt  to  thc  cntraucc  of  a  small  lake,  full  of  salmon-trout  and 
other  fish,  he  tasted  the  water  of  a  spring  which  his  In- 
dian guides  did  not  dare  to  drink,  "saying  that  there  was 
a  demon  within  which  renders  it  offensive."     The  Jesuit, 
however,  found  it  to  be  "  a  fountain  of  salt  water,"  from 
which  he  actually  made  salt  "  as  natural  as  that  of  the 
sea."     Taking  with  him  "a  sample,"  Le  Moyne  descend- 
ed the  Oneida,  and,  retracing  his  way  along  Lake  Ontario 
11  Sept.     and  the  Saint  Lawrence,  arrived  safely  at  Q,uebec  with 
the  news  of  his  great  discovery.* 

The  Mohawks,  in  the  mean  time,  had  sent  a  deputation 
4  July.       to  Canada.     Findinof  that  they  had  been  anticipated  bv 

.Jealousy  of    i^,  ,  ,  ii--' 

the  Mo-  the  Onondagas,  they  openly  expressed  their  vexation. 
"We  of  the  five  nations,"  said  their  orator,  "have  but  one 
cabin,  we  make  but  one  fire,  and  we  have  always  dwelt 
under  the  same  roof."  "  You  do  not  enter  by  the  door, 
which  is  on  the  first  floor.  We  Mohawks  are  that  door. 
You  enter  by  the  roof  and  chimney,  for  you  begin  with 
the  Onondagas."  The  irritation  of  the  Mohawks  was 
promptly  appeased ;  and  the  embassy  returned  with  the 
assurance  that  Father  Le  Moyne  would  visit  their  valley.t 

May.  A  crisis  had  now  occurred  on  the  South  River.     On 

reaching  New  Sweden,  Rising,  in  violation  of  his  instruc- 

*  Relation,  1653-1,  p.  13, 14,  51-97  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  i.,  33-44.  In  Clark's  Onondaga, 
i,  130-138,  Le  Moyne's  visit  is  erroneously  dated  in  1653 ;  and  the  reference,  in  vol.  ii., 
p.  8,  to  the  Relation  of  1645-6,  should  be  to  that  of  1655-6,  as  quoted  in  vol.  i.,  p.  150. 

t  Relation,  1653^,  p.  54;  Creuxius,  705-716;   Charievo  x,  i.,  271,  316-320;    BancDft, 

iii.,  142  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  303  ;  Ilildreth,  ii.,  66  ;  ante,  p.  62. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  593 

tions,  determined  at  all  hazards  to  possess  himself  of  Fort  ch.  xvii. 
Casimir.     Gerrit  Bikker,  the  commandant  of  the  Dutch 
fort,  perceiving  a  strange  sail  in  the  offing,  sent  Adriaen  j^isms  at 
van  Tienhoven  with  a  small  party  "to  investigate."     The^lVe"""* 
next  day  the  messengers  returned  with  news  "that  it  wasfj^'f^^^" 
a  Swedish  ship  full  of  people,  with  a  new  governor,  and 
that  they  wanted  to  have  possession  of  this  place  and  the 
fort,  as  they  said  it  was  lying  on  the  Swedish  govern- 
ment's land."     The  Dutch  residents  called  on  Bikker  to 
defend  the  fort ;  but  the  commander  only  replied,  "  What 
can  I  do? — there  is  no  powder."     An  hour  afterward,  a 
boat  from  the  Swedish  ship  landed  twenty  or  thirty  sol- 
diers, headed  by  Swen  Schute.     Bikker  received  them  civ- 
illy on  the  beach,  and  "  bade  them  welcome  as  friends." 
But  the  Swedes,  finding  the  gate  open,  hurried  into  the 
fort,  and  made  themselves  masters   of  the  place.     Van 
Tienhoven  and  another  commissioner  were,  however,  al- 
lowed to  go  on  board  the  Swedish  ship  to  obtain  an  ex- 
planation.     Rising  informed  them  that  he  was  obeying 
the  orders  of  his  government,  whose  representative  at  the 
Hague  had  been  told  that  neither  the  States  Greneral  nor 
the  West  India  Company  had  authorized  the  erection  of 
this  Dutch  fort  on  the  territory  of  the  Swedish  crown. 
Two  shotted  guns  were  then  fired  over  the  fort  as  a  sig-  capture  01 
nal,  and  the  ten  or  twelve  Dutch  soldiers  in  garrison  were  imr. 
immediately  disarmed.     Seven  or  eight  of  these,  with  Van 
Tienhoven,  were  sent  to  Manhattan;  the  others,  with  Bik- 
ker, remained,  and  took  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  Sweden. 
The  capture  of  Fort  Casimir  happening  on  Trinity  Sun- 
day, the  name  of  the  post  was  changed  to  "  Trefalldig-  Nam ^i 
heet,"  or  Trinity.     It  was  soon  rebuilt  under  the  superin-  uy  by  the 
tendence  of  Lindstrom  the  engineer,  who  also  constructed 
a  large  map,  including  both  sides  of  the  river  as  far  as  San- 
kikan,  or  the  Falls  at  Trenton.     Swen  Schute  was  install- 
ed as  commander  of  Fort  Trinity ;  and   Rising,  after  an- 
nouncing to  Stuy vesant  his  arrival  and  the  capture  of  the  2- May 
Dutch  fort,  relieved  Pappegoya  of  his  temporary  authority,  ®  •'""® 
and  assumed  the  government  of  New  Sweden.     A  meet- 

r  p 


594  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVII.  ing  was  soon  held  with  the  Indian  sachems  at  Tinnicum, 
and  a  treaty  of  friendship  was  arranged  with  the  natives. 

ij^  '  The  next  month,  Rising  informed  his  government  that, 
from  seventy  persons  whom  he  found  in  New  Sweden, 
the  population  there  had  now  risen  to  three  hundred  and 
sixty-eight,  "including  the  Hollanders  and  others."  "I 
hope,"  he  added,  "  we  may  he  able  to  preserve  them  in 
order  and  in  duty,  and  to  constrain  them,  if  necessary.  I 
will  do  in  this  respect  all  that  depends  upon  me.  We 
will  also  endeavor  to  shut  up  the  river."* 

June.  The  news  of  the  surprise  of  Fort  Casimir  reached  Stuy- 

vesant  in  the  midst  of  his  preparations  to  defend  New 
Netherland  from  the  expected  attack  of  the  English.  It 
was  out  of  the  question  to  attempt  the  recovery  of  that 
distant  post,  in  the  threatening  aspect  of  public  affairs  at 

27  July.      New  Amsterdam  ;  but  the  mortified  director  took  care  to 

sant's  re-  communicatc  to  his  superiors  in  Holland  all  the  details  of 
Bikker's  pusillanimous  conduct  in  "  this  dishonorable  sur- 
render of  the  fort."t 

22  Sept.         Not  long  afterward,  an  opportunity  of  retaliating  was 

ship  seized  afforded  to   Stuyvesant.      A  Swedish   ship,  the   Golden 

lan.  Shark,  in  charge  of  Hendrick  van  Elswyck,  bound  to  the 

South  River,  entered  Sandy  Hook  Bay  by  mistake,  and 
anchored  behind  Staten  Island.  Discovering  his  error,  the 
captain  sent  a  boat  up  to  Manhattan  for  a  pilot.  The 
director  instantly  ordered  the  boat's  crew  to  the  guard- 

25  Sept.  house  ;  and  sent  soldiers  down  to  seize  the  ship,  and  bring 
the  factor  a  prisoner  up  to  Fort  Amsterdam. 

1  October.  Stuyvcsaut  uow  invited  the  Swedish  governor  to  visit 
New  Amsterdam,  "  to  arrange  and  settle  some  unexpect- 
ed differences ;"  and  promised  him  "  a  cordial  reception, 
with  comfortable  lodgings,  and  a  courteous  treatment." 
But  Rising,  preferring  his  lodgings  at  Tinnicum,  declined 
the  Dutch  director's  proffered  hospitality.  The  Shark  was 
therefore  detained,  and  her  cargo  removed  to  the  compa- 

*  Hoi.  Doc.,  viii.,  45,  46,  85-90,  106,  107;  Alb.  Rec,  ix.,  242  ;  Acrelius,  414  ;  Campa 
nius,  76-78,  82  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  274,  275  ;  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  148-155,  158.  Bozman,  ii.. 
469,  490,  misled  by  Chalmers'  absurd  account,  632,  falls  into  a  series  of  very  cnriou* 
blunders.  t  IIoI.  Doc,  viii.,  88;  Alb.  Rec,  ix.,  271. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  595 

ny's  magazine,  "until  a  reciprocal  restitution  shall  have  ch.xvu. 
been  made."  The  Swedish  factor  sent  a  long  protest  to 
Stuy vesant,  complaining  of  his  conduct,  and  defending  g-  October. 
that  of  Rising  ;  and  the  Dutch  authorities,  in  reply,  com- 
mented severely  upon  the  proceedings  of  the  Swedish  gov- 
ernor, who  had  surprised  Fort  Casimir  "  at  a  moment  when 
we  and  our  nation  were  in  great  distress,  and  utterly  in- 
capable to  resist  at  the  same  time  two  such  powerful  neigh- 
bors in  their  attacks  from  two  opposite  quarters."* 

In  the  mean  time,  news  had  reached  Fort  Amsterdam  settlement 
that  some  Englishmen  from  the  New  Haven  colony  had  at  wesf 
begun  a  settlement  near  "  Vredeland,"  in  West  Chester, 
where  Anne  Hutchinson  had  formerly  lived.     The  leader 
of  these  persons  was  Thomas  Pell,  of  Norfolk,  an  adherent 
to  the  royal  cause,  who,  on  emigrating  to  New  Haven,  had 
refused  to  swear  allegiance  to  the  colonial  authorities,  and 
had  been  twice  fined  for  contempt.     Fiscal  van  Tienho- 
ven  was,  therefore,  sent  to  forbid  the  English  intruders  5  xov. 
from  settling  themselves  on  the  lands  "  long  before  bought 
and  paid  for,  near  Vredeland."      But  Pell,  disregarding 
Stuyvesant's  mandate,  soon  afterward  purchased  from  the  ii  Nov. 
sachem,  "Ann  Hook,"  and  five  others  of  his  tribe,  a  large 
tract,  including  the  present  town  of  Pelham,  in  West  Ches- 
ter, and  began  to  build. t 

A  tract  of  land  on  Oyster  Bay,  which  from  the  time  of  oyster 
the  Hartford  treaty  New  England  seems  to  have  consid- 
ered a  debatable  territory,  having  been  purchased,  in  1653, 
from  the  Sachem  of  Mattinnecock,  by  Wright,  Mayo,  Lev- 
eridge,  and  several  other  Englishmen  from  Sandwich,  the 
purchasers  applied  to  New  Haven  to  be  received  under 
that  jurisdiction.  But  Stuyvesant,  viewing  the  settlement 
as  an  encroachment  upon  the  Dutch  boundary,  complained 
to  the  New  England  authorities.  No  notice,  however,  was 
taken  of  the  complaint,  and  the  English  intruders  remain- 
ed quietly  in  their  new  settlement. 

*  Alb.  Rec,  ix.,  236,  241-246,  263-272 ;  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  155-166  ;  Now  Amst. 
Rec,  ii. 

t  Alb.  Rec,  ix.,  275;  Bolton's  West  Chester,  i,,  515-522;  ii.,  156;  O'Call.,  ii,,  283; 
ante,  p.  366. 


596  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Oh.  XVII.  The  seditious  proceedings  at  G-ravesend,  which  the 
West  India  Company  had  directed  to  be  punished  "  in  an 
23  j^ov  '  exemplary  manner,"  had  meanwhile  been  chastised  by  the 
fantir  removal  from  the  magistracy  of  the  arch  traitors  Baxter 
Gravesend.  ^j^^j  Hubbard.  To  allay  any  popular  discontent,  Stuyve- 
sant  now  visited  that  settlement  in  person,  and  became 
the  guest  of  Lady  Moody.  The  people  were  called  to- 
gether, and  told  that  they  might,  if  they  pleased,  nomin- 
ate new  magistrates,  or  might  remain  until  the  time  for 
the  next  election  under  the  existing  board,  consisting  of 
William  Wilkins,  commissary,  John  Maurice,  sheriff,  and 
John  Tilton,  town  clerk.  Or,  a  fourth  member  might  be 
immediately  added  to  the  court,  if  it  should  be  desired. 
But  the  people  preferred  that  things  should  remain  as  they 
were  for  the  present ;  and  Stuyvesant,  recommending  to 
them  "  to  unite  with  their  fear  of  God  the  honor  of  their 
magistrates,  and  to  pay  obedience  to  both,"  returned  to 
New  Amsterdam,  in  the  vain  hope  that  sedition  had  been 
quelled,  and  covetousness  repressed,  and  the  Dutch  terri- 
tory effectually  secured  against  the  plotting  of  its  English 
inhabitants.* 

The  internal  condition  of  New  Netherland  was  now 
such,  in  the  director's  judgment,  as  to  warrant  him  in 
leaving  the  province  and  undertaking  a  voyage  to  the 
West  Indies  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  trade  with 
those  islands.  In  taking  this  step,  however,  he  acted  en- 
tirely upon  his  own  responsibility,  and  "  without  the 
knowledge  or  approbation"  of  the  Chamber  at  Amsterdam. 
8 Dec.  A  "gay  repast"  was  given  to  him  at  the  City  Hall,  where 
coat  of  he  delivered  to  the  presiding  burgomaster,  Martin  Kregier, 
New  Am.  tlic  palutcd  coat  of  arms,  the  seal,  and  the  silver  signet  of 
New  Amsterdam,  which  had  just  been  received  from  the 
directors  in  Holland.  The  city  government  again  endeav- 
ored to  obtain  from  him  the  right  to  nominate  proper  per- 
sons from  among  whom  the  new  magistrates  for  the  next 
year  should  be  chosen.     Stuyvesant,  however,  declined : 

*  Alb.  Rec,  ix.,  75,  106,  166,  230,  256,  287  ;   New  Haven  Rec    i,,  63,  96  ;  O'Call.,  i: , 
267,  261,  262 ;  Thompson's  L.  1.,  i.,  4S3 ;  ii.,  173. 


Bterdam. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  597 

and  the  old  board  was  continued,  with  Allard  Anthony  as  ch.  xvh 
a  new  hurgomaster,  and  Johannes  Nevius  as  schepen.  "~~T~" 
Leaving  the  government  of  the  province  in  the  hands  of  34  Dec, 
De  Sille  and  his  colleagues,  the  director  set  sail  for  the sausfor^h' 
West  Indies  on  Christmas  eve*  Zf! ^"' 

The  burgomasters  and  schepens,  finding  that  a  better   165-3. 
police  was  necessary,  now  appointed  the  notary,  Dirck  van  vifn'scue!- 
Schelluyne,  to  be  the  high  constable  of  New  Amsterdam,  c"nsi^ai!le' 
and  furnished  him  with  detailed  instructions  for  the  exe-  stTjuTi^'" 
cution  of  his  duties.     The  City  Hall,  which  had  hitherto 
been  encumbered  by  the  storage  of  a  quantity  of  salt,  and 
by  various  "  lods^ers,"  was    ordered  to  be  repaired   and  1  March. 

,.,.,11,,  1    •  /•  -n      ^  '-">■  J^*" 

"Imed  with  boards,    and  its  former  tenants  were  notified  repaired 
to  depart,   "  so  that  the  Stadt  Huys  be  not  wholly  ruined 
by  the  salt,  nor  occupied  by  others. "t 

Serious  embarrassments  annoyed  the  provincial  council 
from  the  moment  the  administration  fell  into  its  hands. 
Baxter,  who,  on  being  superseded  in  his  magistracy  at 
Grravesend,  had  gone  to  New  England,  returned  to  Long 
Island  early  the  next  year,  and  spread  reports  that  the  Pro-  January. 
teotor  had  ordered  the  governors  of  the  New  England  col-ancesat 

^  Gravesen  1 

onies  to  take  the  whole  of  that  island  from  the  Dutch,  and 
by  force  if  necessary.     Fiscal  Van  Tienhoven  was  there- 
fore sent,  with  Burgomaster  Anthony,  to  the  English  vil- 
lages to  quell  the  threatened  disturbances.     The  commis- 
sioners reached  Grravesend  just  as  Baxter,  Hubbard,  and  o  March. 
Grover  were  hoistin^  the  British  flaf^,  and  readincf  a  sedi-  iiubbpni, 
tious  paper  declaring  Hiat  "we,  as  free-born  British  sub-ver. 
jects,  claim  and  assume  to  ourselves  the  laws  of  our  na- 
tion and  Republic  of  England  over  this  place,  as  to  our 
persons  and  property,  in  love  and  harmony,  according  to 
the  general  peace  between  the  two  states  in  Europe  and 
this  country."     The  chief  traitors,  Baxter  and  Hubbard, 

*  Alt).  Rcc,  iv.,  13fi,  151,  180;  viii.,  08  ;  ix.,  297,  298,  306 ;  x.,26,70;  New  Amst.  Rec, 
ii.,  59,  CO  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  397 ;  Val.  Man.,  1851,  420.  The  city  seal  consisted  of 
the  arms  of  Old  Amsterdam — tliree  crosses  saltier — with  a  beaver  for  a  crest.  On  tlie 
mantle  above  were  the  initial  letters  G.  W.  C.,  for  "  Chartered  West  India  Company," 
to  which  the  island  of  Manhattan  especially  belonged.  Underneath  was  the  legend 
"SioiLLUM  Amstellodamensis  IN  Novo  Belgio,"  and  around  the  border  was  a  wreatU 
of  laurel.  t  New  Amst.  Rec.  ii.,  76,  77-81,  92  ;  Val.  Man.,  1848,  .^84. 


598        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVII.  were  instantly  arrested,  and  sent  to  the  keep  at  Fort  Arn- 
tp~~    sterdam,  where  they  remained  imprisoned  until  the  next 

Baxter  and  jear.     The  time  for  the  election  of  new  magistrates,  which 

iVnpnsoned.  ^1^^  hccn  postponcd  the  previous  autumn,  was  near  at 
hand.      But  the  "loyal  inhabitants,"  thinking  that  the 

23  March.  pubUc  mind  was  too  much  excited,  just  then  petitioned 
that  it  might  be  further  deferred  "  until  it  shall  please 
God  Almighty  to  bless  our  governor  the  director  general 
with  a  safe  return." 

oysterBay.  Thc  English  wlio  had  settled  themselves  at  Oyster  Bay, 
notwithstanding  Stuyvesant's  complaint,  had  continued 
during  the  winter  in  possession  of  their  purchase.     To  as- 

23  March,  scrt  thc  jurisdiction  of  the  Dutch,  a  protest  was,  therefore, 
served  upon  Leveridge  and  his  companions,  threatening 
them  with  legal  proceedings  if  they  persisted  in  their  un- 
lawful occupation. 

In  spite  of  the  director's  warning  in  the  previous  au- 
tumn. Pell's  colonists  at  West  Chester  had  also  continued 

19  April,  to  occupy  tlicir  settlement.  The  council,  therefore,  sent 
their  marshal,  Claes  Van  Elsland,  with  a  protest.    The  En- 

22  April,     glish  arms,  carved  on  a  board,  were  found  hansrinij  on  a 

The  En-      ^  '  '  no 

giish  set-    tree  ;  find  armed  men  appeared  at  the  creek  to  prevent  the 

llcrs  at         ,         ,.  1        T\ 

vvcstchcs- landing  of  the  Dutch  messenE^er.  "  I  am  cold,  let  me  <ro 
ashore,"  said  Van  Elsland,  as  he  sprung  on  the  beach, 
followed  by  "  Albert  the  Trumpeter."  The  English  com- 
mander came  up  with  a  pistol  in  his  hand,  and  accompa- 
nied by  eight  or  nine  armed  men,  to  whom  Van  Elsland 
read  his  protest.  "I  can  not  understand  Dutch,"  replied 
the  Englishman  ;  "  when  the  fiscal  sends  English,  I  will 
answer.  We  expect  the  determination  on  the  boundaries 
by  the  next  vessel.  Time  will  tell  whether  we  shall  be 
under  the  Dutch  government  or  the  Parliament.  Until 
then  we  remain  here,  under  the  state  of  England."* 

Fort  Or-  Early  this  year.  Commissary  Dyckman,  whose  violent 
conduct  at  Fort  Orange  had  already  given  occasion  of  sus- 
picion, became  insane ;    and  the   local  magistrates  wore 

*  Alb.  Rec,  X.,  8-10,  29-32  ;  Hoi.  Doc,  ix.,  1C5,  232,  261-267  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  260-263,  342  ; 
Bolton's  West  Chester,  11.,  157. 


PE'lER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  51)9 

obliged  to  inform  the  provincial  government  of  his  condi-  ch.  xvn. 
tion.     Johannes  de  Decker,  a  young  man  of  high  charac-  _ 

ter,  who  had  formerly  been  a  public  notary  at  Schiedam, 
had  just  arrived  from  Holland,  with  a  letter  from  the  di- April. 
rectors  recommending  him  for  the  first  vacant  "honorable 
office."     The  provincial  authorities  at  New  Amsterdam, 
therefore,  appointed  De  Decker  to  succeed  Dyckman  assuunt 
vice-director,  "to  preside  in  Fort  Orange  and  the  village  appointed 

^  .  .       commissa- 

of  Beverwvck,  in  the  Court  of  Justice  of  the  commissaries  ry  at  Fort 

•'        '  Orange. 

aforesaid,  to  administer  all  the  affairs  of  police  and  justice 
as  circumstances  may  require,  in  conformity  to  the  instruc- 
tions given  by  the  director  general  and  council,  and  to  pro- 
mote these  for  the  best  service  of  the  country  and  the  pros- 
perity of  the  inhabitants."* 

Gravesend  had  now  become  so  tranquil,  that  the  provin- 
cial government  felt  safe  in  directing  the  schout  and  Lady  is.iane. 
Moody,  "as  the  oldest  and  first  patentee,"  together  with cravesend 
the  other  inhabitants,  to  nominate  their  magistrates.     The 
nomination  was  made,  and  sent  to  Fort  Amsterdam  for  ap-  8  .luiy. 
proval.     But  the  Dutch  settlers  protested  against  a  con-  9  juiy. 
firmation.     They  had  not  been  duly  notified  of  the  elec- 
tion ;  traitors,  and  those  who  had  fled  the  country  "  tor- 
tured by  their  consciences,"  had  voted ;  no  hired  Dutch- 
man had  been  permitted  to  vote  in  the  ahsence  of  his  mas- 
ter ;  persons  had  declared  that  if  any  Dutchmen  were 
elected  they  w^ould  leave  the  country ;  and  obedience  to 
magistrates  who  had  been  exiled  or  imprisoned  for  their 
misconduct  was  required,  which  the  Dutch  inhabitants 
would  not  promise  to  yield,  unless  compatible  with  the 
welfare  of  the  state.     The  council,  however,  considering 
the  magistrates  to  have  been  nominated  by  "a  majority Eiedion 
of  the  inhabitants,"  from  motives  of  public  policy  confirm- 
ed the  election.     The  West  India  Company,  upon  receiv- 
ing intelligence  of  Baxter's  unexpected  treachery,  express- 

*  All).  Rgc,  iv.,  171,  207  ;  x.,  68 ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  305.  De  Decker  revisited  Holland  in  the 
winter  of  1056,  and  in  May,  1057,  returned  to  New  Netherland  as  receiver  general  and 
member  of  the  council.  lie  was  one  of  the  Dutch  commissioners  who  signed  the  capitu- 
lation to  the  English  in  1064  ;  and  many  of  his  descendants  are  still  living  in  Now  Jersey, 
where  hi.s  name  survives  in  that  of  the  settlement  of  "  Deckerville."     See  2'oal,  6S5. 


GOO        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVII.  ed  their  astonishment,  and  ordered  Stuyvesant  to  keep 
~  him  and  his  accomplices  in  confinement.  And  strict  in- 
•26 May  structions  were  added  "to  avoid  bestowing  any  office  of 
tK.nro'f  the  trust  upon  foreigners  who  are  not  interested  in  the  coun- 
company.'^  try,  and  who  but  seldom  can  deserve  our  confidence."* 

The  peace  with  England  now  induced  the  hope  that  the 
open  question  of  the  boundary  between  New  Netherland 
-iQKA     and  New  England  might  be  arranged ;  and  the  College 
17  Sept.      of  the  XIX.,  being  desired  to  send  to  the  Hague  a  con- 
ary  ques-    dcuscd  statement  of  the  Dutch  title,  immediately  submit- 
ted to  the  States  General  a  memorial,  accompanied  by  a 
map  of  New  Netherland.     These  documents,  together  with 
copies  of  the  papers  which  the  company  had  communica- 

29  Sept.     ted  the  previous  November,  were  transmitted  to  the  am- 

bassadors at  London,  with  instructions  to  arrange  the 
boundary  question  upon  the  basis  which  they  proposed.! 

9  October.  But  the  ambassadors  found  themselves  surrounded  with 
difficulties.  The  West  India  Company's  papers  were  dis- 
covered to  be  defective ;  they  did  not  even  contain  a  copy  of 
the  provisional  treaty  at  Hartford  in  1650.  In  the  former 
discussion,  the  English  had  declined  to  consider  the  bound- 
ary question  ;  and  it  was  now  clear  that  nothing  would 
be  done  by  the  government  at  Whitehall  without  the  con- 

57  Nov.  sent  of  New  England.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  am- 
bassadors recommended  a  convention,  referring  the  whole 
question  to  the  arbitration  of  the  Dutch  and  English  co- 
lonial authorities  in  North  America ;  and  this  suggestion 

9  Dec.  was  communicated  to  the  West  India  Company.  The 
directors,  however,  had  not  yet  received  a  copy  of  the 

30  Dec.      Hartford  treaty ;  but  ihey  sent  to  the  States  General  a 

compilation  from  various  papers  in  their  archives,  showing 
the  priority  of  the  Dutch  discovery  and  possession  of  New 
Netherland,  explaining  the  "unjust  and  violent"  usurpa- 
tions of  the  English  within  their  territories,  and  intimat- 
ing that  although  they  thought  the  question  could  be  best 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  189 ;  x.,  67-76 ;  xi.,  6-21 ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  2SI  ;  Thompson's  L.  I.,  ii.,  173. 

t  Hoi.  Doc,  vii.,  104-107;  Verbael  van  Beverninck,  602 ;  Lambrechtsen,  IOC.  I  en- 
deavored to  procure  the  map  sent  to  the  ambassadors  at  London  on  this  occasion,  but 
without  success. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  QQl 

settled  in  England,  upon  the  basis  of  "  uti  possidetis  ita  ch.  xvii. 
possideatis,"  they  were  willing  to  refer  it  back  to  the  re- 
spective  colonial  governments.     These  documents  were  all  q  ja,,uJry 
sent  to  the  Dutch  ambassador  at  London.     By  the  next 
ships,  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  wrote  to  Stuy  vesant  to  be  26  Apm. 
upon  his  guard  against  the  English  on  Long  Island,  andtionsto 
ordered  a  fort  to  be  constructed  "at  the  east,  on  the  mostsam. 
eligible  spot."     The  director  was  also  censured  for  not 
having  sent  over  to  Holland  any  of  the  official  documents  se  May. 
respecting  the  Hartford  treaty.     The  States  Greneral  again  3i  May. 
calling  to  their  ambassador's  attention  the  boundary  ques- 
tion, Nieuport  had  an  interview  with  Thurloe.     But  the  4  June. 
secretary  replied,  that  the  New  England  authorities  "hadwiuitiie 
sent  him  as  yet  no  iniormation  at  all ,     and  that,  upon  the  govem- 
sole  allegations  of  one  side,  the  Lord  Protector,  having  no 
knowledge  of  the  affair,  covild  not  be  expected  to  come  to 
a  positive  decision.* 

Upon  receiving  intelligence  of  the  "  infamous  surrender"    1654. 
of  their  Fort  Casimir,  the  Amsterdam  directors  immedi-  orSVor 
ately  ordered  Stuy  vesant  to  "exert  every  nerve  to  avenge  ery  o^Fon 
that  injury,  not  only  by  restoring  affairs  to  their  former  ^''^"""^ 
situation,  but  by  driving  the  Swedes  from  every  side  of 
the  river."     Two  armed  ships,  the  King  Solomon  and  the 
Grreat  Christopher,  were  put  into  commission ;  the  drum 
was  "beaten  daily"  in  the  streets  of  Amsterdam  for  volun- 
teers ;  and  orders  were  given  for  the  instant  arrest  of  Bik- 
ker,  who  had  "  acted  in  his  office  very  unfaithfully,  yea, 
treacherously."     The  next  week  the  directors  again  wrote  22  >o 
that  they  hardly  knew  whether  they  were  "  more  aston- 
ished at  the  audacious  enterprise  of  the  Swedes  in  taking 
our  tort  on  the  South  River,  or  at  the  cowardly  surrender 
of  it  by  our  commander,  which  is  nearly  insufferable  ;" 
and  Stuyvesant  was  directed  to  send  over  authenticated 
copies  of  all  documents  relating  to  that  occurrence,  and  to 
the  Dutch  title  to  the  territory. 

The  proceedings  of  the  municipal  authorities  of  New 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  vii.,  108-174  ;  Alb.  Rec  ,  iv.,  177,  187  ;  Thurloo,  ii.,  638  ;  iii.,  477  ;  Bevcr- 
ninck,  612,  688,  693  ;  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  172. 


602        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVII.  Amsterdam  respecting  the  excise  were  at  the  same  t.me 
severely  criticised.     Stuyvesant  was  reproved  for  not  hav- 
23  Nov  '  ^^^o  "made  use  of  his  authority,"  and  was  instructed  to  en- 
New '\m-^'  force  thc  collection  of  taxes  for  the  benefit  of  the  company 
b'/en-""°  ®^®^  against  the  will  of  the  people,  "so  that  these  men 
forced.       shall  uo  longcr  indulge  themselves  in  the  visionary  dream 
that  contributions  can  not  be  levied  without  their  consent." 
1655.       The  next  spring,  the  directors  commended  Stuyvesant's 
26  April,     a  prudence"  in  arresting  Elswyck's  vessel  and  cargo,  but 
expressed  their  "  small  contentment"  that  he  had  under- 
taken his  voyage  to  the  "West  Indies  without  their  "  knowl- 
edge or  approbation."     A  large  vessel  of  thirty-six  guns, 
"the  Vigilance,"  was  also  chartered  from  the  burgomas- 
ters of  Amsterdam,  and  added  to  the  squadron  already 
26  May.     scut  to  Ncw  Nctherlaud.     Besides  dispatching  this  force, 
against  the  the  directors  renewed  their  instructions  to  the  provincial 
government  to  engage  vessels  at  Manhattari,  compelling, 
if  necessary,  the  owners  and  schippers  to  submission,  as 
"no  excuse  nor  private  interests  can  be  admitted."    At  the 
same  time,  the  orders  of  November  were  somewhat  modi- 
fied, and  Stuyvesant  was  directed  to  allow  the  Swedes  "to 
hold  the  land  on  which  Fort  Christina  is  built,  with  a 
garden  to  cultivate  the  tobacco,  because  it  appears  that 
they  made  this  purchase  with  the  previous  consent  of  the 
company,  provided  said  Swedes  will  conduct  themselves 
as  good  subjects  of  our  government."* 
26  May.  A  spccial  dispatch  was  also  addressed  to  the  burgomas- 

the  burgo-  tcrs  and  schepens  of  New  Amsterdam,  enjoining  submis- 
Nevv  Am-  siou,  and  announcing  that  as  they  had  applied  a  part  of 
the  excises  which  had  been  granted  them  in  paying  an 
agent  to  Holland,  and  in  other  private  affairs,  "to  the  in- 
jury and  discontent  of  the  company,"  that  revenue  should 
now  be  restored  to  the  provincial  treasury.! 

The  purpose  of  Stuyvesant's  voyage  to  the  "West  Indies 
had,  meanwhile,  been  entirely  defeated  through  Crom- 
well's jealous  policy.    A  few  days  before  the  director  sailed 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  157-159,  163,108,  180,  186,  191,  193;  O'Call.,  ii,,  284  ;  S.  Hazard,  Ann. 
Penn.,  168-170,  178,  179.  t  New  Amst.  Rec,  ii.,  172-174  ;  Alb.  Roc,  viii.,  125. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  C03 

from  Manhattan,  commiss)ioner.s  were  appointed,  "  under  ch.  xvii. 
the  broad  seal  of  England,"  for  the  management  of  British  _ 

affairs  in  the  West  Indies.  These  commissioners,  on  their 
arrival,  laid  an  embargo  upon  all  the  shipping  they  found ; 
and  eight  Dutch  vessels,  including  the  three  which  Stuy- 
vesant  had  brouarht  from  New  Netherland,  were   seized  itfcj. 

Stuyvesaiil 

at  Barbadoes,  notwithstanding  "the  islanders'  there  didinthew.jsi 

'  ^  Indies. 

"  much  desire  commerce  with  strangers."  Stuy  vesant  at- 
tempted "to  plead  the  cause  of  his  countrymen;"  but  the 
English,  who  were  more  in  fear  that  he  should  discover  le  Manu. 
their  weakness.  "  than  all  the  world  besides,"  continued 
the  embargo,  and  "  spoiled  the  sport"  of  a  "  fair  trade." 
After  several  months  delay,  finding  the  English  inexora- 
ble, the  disappointed  director  succeeded  in  leaving  Barba- 
does, and  returned  to  New  Amsterdam  about  the  middle  ii  jujy 
of  the  summer.* 

Stuyvesant  lost  no  time  in  executing  the  orders  of  his 
superiors  to  reduce  the  Swedes.     As  both  he  and  Coun- 
selor La  Montague  were  unwell.  Vice-director  De  Sille  and  le  August. 
Fiscal  Van  Tienhoven  were  appointed  to  superintend  the  tions 
preparations,  in  conjunction  with  "the  valiant  Frederick  swedes. 
De  Koninck,"  captain  of  the  flag-ship  "  The  Balance."    The 
twenty-fifth  day  of  August  was  solemnly  set  apart  as  a 
day  of  fasting  and  prayer,  "  to  implore  the  only  bountiful 
Grod  that  it  may  please  him  to  bless  the  projected  enter- 
prise, undertaken  only  for  the  greater  security,  extension, 
and  consolidation  of  this  province,  and  to  render  it  pros- 
perous and  successful,  to  the  glory  of  his  name."     An  in- 
vitation was  given  "  to  any  individuals  loving  the  increase,  lo  August 
welfare,  and  security  of  this  now  flourishing  province  of  Eniist- 
New  Netherland,"  to  enlist  in  the  expedition  at  reasona- 
ble wages,  with  a  promise  that  all  the  wounded  should  re- 
ceive "due  compensation."     Proper  pilots  were  engaged;  at  August. 
each  ship  in  harbor  was  required  to  furnish  two  men,  and 
supplies  of  ammunition  and  provisions  ;  and  three  North 
River  yachts  were  chartered.     A  French  privateer,  L'Es- 
perance,  which  had  just  arrived  at  New  Amsterdam,  was  si  August 

*  Thurloe,  iii.,  16,  142,  251  ;  iv.,  034  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  285. 


604  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW   YORK. 

ch.  XVII.  also  engaged  for  the  expedition.  The  question  whether 
~7~7I~the  Jewish  residents  should  be  enlisted  was  decided  by 
Jews  taxed,  ^sclaring  them  exempt,  and  by  levying  instead  a  tax  of 

sixty-five  stuyvers  a  month  upon  all  between  sixteen  and 

sixty  years  of  age.*" 
5 Sept.  On  the  first  Sunday  in  September,  "after  the  sermon," 

the  e.\Dedi-  the  squadrou  of  seven  vessels,  with  a  force  on  board  of  be- 

tion.  *      _ 

tween  six  and  seven  hundred  men,  set  sail  for  the  South 
River.  Stuyvesant  commanded  the  expedition  in  person, 
and  was  accompanied  by  Vice-director  De  Sille  and  Dom- 
ine  Megapolensis.  The  next  afternoon  they  anchored  be- 
fore Fort  Elsingburg,  which  was  in  ruins  and  deserted. 
Here  the  squadron  was  reviewed,  and  divided  into  five 

10  Sept.  sections.  Wind  and  tide  being  propitious,  on  Friday  morn- 
ing the  Dutch  sailed  up  just  beyond  Fort  Casimir,  and 
landed  their  forces.  Stuyvesant  instantly  dispatched  En- 
sign Smit,  with  a  drummer,  toward  the  fort,  "to  claim 
the  direct  restitution  of  our  own  property."  Swen  Schute, 
the  Swedish  commandant,  though  re-enforced  from  Fori 
Christina,  now  asked  permission  to  communicate  with  Ri 
sing.  This  was  refused ;  the  passes  between  Fort  Casimir 
and  Fort  Christina  were  occupied  by  fifty  Dutch  soldiers ; 
and  the  Swedes  were  twice  summoned  to  surrender.  A 
delay  till  early  the  next  morning  was  "  humbly  suppli- 
cated," and  granted  by  the  director,  because  his  batteries 

ii  Sept.      were  not  quite  ready.     When  morning  came,  Schute,  see- 

Surrender  ^  *'  .  o  '  ? 

If  Fort  ing  the  folly  of  further  resistance,  went  on  board  the  Bal- 
ance,  and  signed  a  capitulation  with  Stuyvesant.  The 
Swedes  were  allowed  to  remove  all  the  artillery  belonging 
to  the  crown ;  twelve  men,  with  their  full  arms  and  ac- 
coutrements, were  to  march  out  of  the  fort  with  the  com- 
mandant, as  his  life-guard,  and  the  rest  with  their  side 
arms  only  ;  and  the  officers  were  to  retain  their  personal 
property.  About  noon  the  Dutch  troops,  "  with  flying  col- 
ors," marched  into  the  fort.  Some  thirty  of  the  Swedes 
immediately  submitted  themselves  to  the  government  of 
New  Netherland,  and  asked  to  be  sent  to  Manhattan.     The 

*  Alb.  Rec,  xi.,  28-42;  New  Amst.  Rec,  ii.,  177  ;  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  179-182. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  gQS 

next  day  being  Sunday,  Domine  Megapolensis  preached  a  ch.  xvh 
sermon  to  the  troops ;  and  Stuy  vesant  dispatched  an  account  _ 

of  his  success  to  the  council  at  Fort  Amsterdam,  with  di-  jj  ggj,^ 
rections  for  the  appointment  of  a  day  of  thanksgiving. 

Finding  that  he  was  also  to  he  attacked.  Rising  en- 
deavored to  strengthen  his  position  at  Fort  Christina.     In  15  sept. 
a  few  days,  the  Dutch  forces  established  a  battery  on  thetinainvcn- 
opposite  bank  of  the  Christina  Creek  ;  and  taking  posses- 
sion of  the  "  Third  Hook,"  they  invested  the  Swedish  fort 
on  all  sides.     The  ships  were  anchored  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Brandywine ;    and  Stuyvesant  demanded  of  Rising 
"  either  to  evacuate  the  country,  or  to  remain  there  under 
Dutch  protection."     The  Swedes,  however,  determined  to 
hold  out ;  and  the  Dutch  forces  pillaged  the  people  outside 
of  the  fort.     At  length,  the  garrison  beginning  to  showssseri. 
signs  of  mutiny,  a  parley  was  held.     The  next  day  the  24  Sept. 
Dutch  guns  were  brought  into  battery,  and  a  drummer 
summoned  the  Swedish  fort  to  surrender  within  twenty- 
four  hours.     The  following  morning,  articles  of  capitula-  25  sept. 
tion  were  signed  "  on  the  paved  place,"  between  the  Swed-  of  Fort 
ish  fort  and  the  Dutch  camp,  by  Stuyvesant  and  Rising  ; 
the  Swedes  marched  out  "with  their  arms,  colors  flying, 
matches  lighted,  drums  beating,  and  fifes  playing ;  and 
the  Dutch  took  possession  of  the  fort,  hauled  down  the 
Swedish  flag,  and  hoisted  their  own." 

According  to  the  terms  of  the  surrender,  private  prop- Terms  of 
erty  was  to  be  respected,  and  such  of  the  Swedes  as  wish-tion 
ed  to  leave  the  country  might  do  so.  Those  that  remained 
were  to  enjoy  religious  freedom,  and  a  minister  to  instruct 
them  in  the  Augsburg  doctrine,  upon  condition  of  swear- 
ing allegiance  to  the  Dutch  authorities.  It  was  also  stip- 
ulated that  Rising  and  Elswyck  should  be  landed  either 
in  England  or  France,  and  that  three  hundred  pounds 
Flemish  should  be  advanced  to  Rising,  upon  the  security 
of  the  goods  and  effects  at  Fort  Christina.  In  obedience 
to  the  instructions  of  the  "West  India  Company,  Stuyve- 
sant, immediately  after  the  surrender,  offered  to  restore 
Fort  Christina  to  the  Swedes,  "  on  honorable  and  reason- 


606  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  xvil  ble  terms."     But  this  offer  was  declined  by   Rising,  who 

77"  preferred  to  adhere  to  the  capitulation. 
I600.       rpj^^^g  fgjj  the  Swedish  power  on  the  South  River.     The 
bloodless  campaign  was  achieved  by  the  largest  army  and 
the  most  powerful  squadron  that  had  ever  gone  into  action 
in  North  America.     Resistance  would  have  been  absurd. 
After  a  distinct  existence  of  a  little  more  than  seventeen 
years,  New  Sweden  reverted  to  New  Netherland.    A  proc- 
25  Sept.     lamation  was  immediately  issued,  granting  permission  to 
ment  of  the  all  wlio  Were  disposcd  to  remain,  upon  condition  of  their 
er  on  the    taking  an  oath  of  allegiance  ;  and  some  twenty  Swedes 
er.  availed  themselves  of  the  offer.     Two  of  the  Lutheran  cler- 

gymen on  the  river  were  sent  back  to  Sweden ;  but  Lo- 
kenius  was  retained  to  instruct  the  Swedes  and  Finns,  two 
hundred  of  whom  were  living  a  few  miles  up  the  river, 
above  Fort  Christina.  One  of  the  motives  for  what  Slega- 
polensis  thought  "too  easy"  terms  in  the  capitulation  was, 
that  the  Dutch  had  no  Reformed  preacher  who  understood 
the  language  of  the  Swedes  to  establish  there.  Another 
was  the  intelligence  that  trouble  had  broken  out  at  Man- 
hattan with  the  Indians,  "  and  men  required  quick  dis- 
patch" to  repair  matters  there.  Leaving  Ensign  Dirck 
Smit  as  temporary  commandant  on  the  South  River,  Stuy- 
vesant  hastened  back  to  Fort  Amsterdam.* 

Ten  years  had  passed  away  since  Kieft's  treaty  at  Fort 
Amsterdam,  during  which  interval  the  relations  between 
the  Dutch  and  the  savages  had  generally  been  friendly. 
A  new  provocation  now  roused  the  red  man  to  vengeance. 
Van  Dyck,  the  superseded  schout-fiscal,  having  killed  a 
squaw  whom  he  had  detected  in  stealing  some  peaches 
from  his  garden,  her  tribe  burned  to  avenge  her  death. 
The  neighboring  savages  shared  in  the  sentiment;  and 
aware  of  the  absence  of  the  Dutch  forces,  they  resolved  to 
attack  their  defenseless  settlements.  A  party  of  Mahi- 
cans,  Pachamis,  Esopus  Lidians,  Hackinsacks,  and  Tap- 

*  Alb.  Rec,  X.,  134  ;  xiii.,  348-361  ;  IIol.  Doc,  viii.,  49,  108-116  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll., 
i.,  109,  418,  443-448 ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  105 ;  Acrelius  ;  Lambrechtsen,  69 ;  Ferris, 
87-105;  Bancroft,  ii.,  297;  O'Call.,  ii.,  286-2S9 ;  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  163-197;  Loud 
Doc,  iv.,  171 ;  N.  y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  343. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECl'OR  GENERAL.  607 

pans,  with  some  others  from  Stamford  and  Onkeway,  sup-  ch.  ^vii, 
posed  to  number  nineteen  hundred,  of  whom  from  five  to  """.TT" 
eighteen  hundred  were  armed,  suddenly  appeared  before  jg  gg^j'  ' 
New  Amsterdam  in  sixty-four  canoes.     Landing  before  ^'J^^Jq",  "{■ 
the  break  of  day,  they  scattered  themselves  through  the  ^lerdat".'' 
streets,  while  most  of  the  inhabitants  were  yet  asleep ;  and, 
under  the  pretense   of  searching  for  "  Indians  from  the 
north,"  broke  into  several  houses.     The  council,  the  city 
magistrates,  and  some  of  the  principal  inhabitants,  assem- 
bling in  Fort  Amsterdam,  called  the  chief  sachems  before 
them,  and  made  them  promise  to  leave  Manhattan  at  sun- 
set, and  pass  over  to  Nutten  Island.     But  when  evening 
came  the  savages  broke  their  word.     Yan  Dyck  was  shot 
with  an  arrow  in  the  breast,  and  Van  der  Grist  was  strvTck 
down  with  an  axe.     The  town  was  instantly  aroused  ;  and 
the  soldiers  and  the  burgher  guard,  sallying  from  Fort  Am- 
sterdam, attacked  the  Indians  and  drove  them  to  their  ca- 
noes.    Passing  over  to  the  Jersey  shore,  the  savages  laid  noboken, 

11  i-r->  •  11-I11  1  Pavonia, 

waste  Hoboken  and  ravonia,  and  killed  or  captured  most  and  state. 

r    ^        •    1      T  •  o  Till  •  Island  laid 

of  the  inhabitants,  fetaten  Island,  where  ninety  colonists  waste, 
were  cultivating  eleven  flourishing  bouweries,  was  deso- 
lated. In  three  days  one  hundred  of  the  Dutch  inhabit- 
ants were  killed,  one  hundred  and  fifty  were  taken  pris- 
oners, and  three  hundred  more  ruined  in  estate.  Twenty- 
eight  bouweries,  besides  several  plantations,  were  destroy- 
ed ;  and  the  colonists  computed  their  damages  at  two  hund- 
red thousand  guilders. 

Again  terror  seized  the  land.     Most  of  the  farmers  fled 
to  Manhattan  as  to  a  city  of  refuge.     The  English  villages  Long  isi- 
on  Long  Island  sent  word  that  the  savages  had  threatened 
to  kill  the  Dutch  who  lived  there.     Lady  Moody's  house 
at  Grravesend  was  again  attacked.     The  few  families  who  Esopus  do 
had  settled  themselves  at  Esopus  abandoned  their  farms 
in  alarm.     Even  Manhattan  itself  was  not  secure.     Prowl-  Manhat- 
ing  bands  of  savages  wandered  over  the  island,  destroying  '" 
all  that  came  in  their  way.    "  As  the  citizens  were  reluct- 
ant to  go  a  great  distance  from  the  fort,"  ten  Frenchmen 
were  enrolled  to  guard  the  house  and  family  of  the  absent 


608        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 

ch.  XVII.  director  ;  and  an  express  was  sent  to  the  South  River  to 

call  Stuy vesant  immediately  home  to  New  Amsterdam. 
12  October  ^^®  rctum  of  the  energetic  director  revived  the  spirits 
famrre-  of  ^he  colonists.  Soldicrs  were  sent  to  the  neighboring 
^"'■"-  settlements ;  the  ships  in  port  were  detained ;  and  such  of 
their  passengers  as  could  hear  arms  were  forbidden  to  leave 
the  province  "  until  it  should  please  God  to  change  the 
Prompt      aspect  of  affairs."     Those  who  protested  were  fined,  and 

measures  *"  .  .  .  ,,        a  ii 

for  defense,  bid  to  "  posscss  their  souis  m  paticncc.  Ail  persons  were 
forbidden  to  go  into  the  country  without  special  permis- 
sion, nor  unless  in  sufficient  numbers  to  secure  their  safe- 
ty. To  prevent  the  savages  from  scaling  the  wall,  a  plank 
"  curtain"  was  built,  and  upward  of  six  thousand  guilders 
were  assessed  upon  and  contributed  by  "the  merchants, 
traders,  schippers,  factors,  passengers,  and  citizens  gener- 
ally," to  pay  the  expense. 

The  savages  finding  the  captives  a  burden,  now  sent  back 
Pos,  the  superintendent  at  Staten  Island,  with  proposals 
17  October,  for  their  ransom  ;  and  a  few  days  afterward,  the  chief  of 
the  Hackinsacks  liberated  fourteen  of  his  prisoners,  asking 
for  some  powder  and  ball  in  return.     Stuyvesant  imme- 
diately sent  the  chief  a  present  of  ammunition  and  two  In- 
21  October,  dians  in  exchange.    Twenty-eight  more  "  Christians"  were 
raTsomed.  brouglit  back,  and  a  message  that  others  would  be  restor- 
ed for  a  proper  ransom.     It  was  not,  however,  the   red 
man's  practice  to  exchange  prisoners;  and  no  Europeans 
26  October,  would  be  givcu  up  for  Indians.     Several  more  captives 
were  soon  ransomed  by  a  stipulated  payment  in  powder 
25  Sept.      and  lead.     The  commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies  in 
of  tTie  N.E.  session  at  New  Haven,  hearing  that  the  savages  had  taken 
l^m7rs'    many  Dutch  prisoners,  agreed  to  send  "two  or  three  meet 
messengers  to  endeavor  their  redemption."     But  news 
coming  that  "  the  worst  was  passed,"  and  that  the  Dutch 
were  in  treaty  with  the  Indians,  the  commissioners  "  ceased 
any  further  prosecution."* 

Rising  now  coming  to  New  Amsterdam,  on  his  return 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  218;  viii.,  158;  x.,  133-165;  New  Amst.  Rec,  ii.,  216-225;  Relation, 
1655-6,  11  ;  Hazard,  ii.,  336 ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  290-294  ;  Thompson's  L.  I.,  ii.,  173  ;  ante,  p.  525. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  C09 

to  Europe,  charged  Stuyvesant  with  a  breach  of  the  capit-  (h.  xvii 
ulation  on  the  South  River.     The  director  vindicated  him- 
self  with  dignity  and  effect.     A  few  days  afterward,  the^j  ^p,J[^J^ 
late  governor  of  New  Sweden  embarked  with  his  suite  in  |{f^!,"„''^'/*' 
two  vessels  of  the  West  India  Company  ;  and,  landing  at^'"^"'" 
Plymouth,  he  communicated  the  recent  occurrences  to  the  26  Dec. 
Swedish  minister  at  London. 

A  subordinate  government  was  immediately  organized  29  Nov. 
on  the  South  River.     John  Paul  Jacquet,  who  had  been  in  mem  or- 
the  company's  service  at  Brazil,  was  commissioned  as  vice-  the  souni 
director ;  Andries  Hudde  was  made  secretary  and  survey- 
or ;  and  Elmerhuysen  Klein  was  adjoined  as  counselor. 
These  three  officers,  with  two  of  the  "  most  expert  free- 
men," were  to  form  the  Court  of  Civil  Justice.     Fort  Cas- 
imir,  now  regaining  its  original  name,  was  to  be  the  seat 
of  government,  above  which  no  trading  vessels  were  to  go. 
The  Swedes  were  to  be  closely  watched,  and  if  any  should 
be  found  disafTected,  they  were  to  be  sent  away  "  with  all 
imaginable  civility,"  and,  if  possible,  be  induced  to  come 
to  Manhattan.     The  vice-director   was   also  required  to  3  Dec. 
"  maintain   and  protect  the  Reformed  religion,  as  it  is 
learned  and  taught  in  this  country,  in  conformity  to  the 
word  of  God  and  the  Synod  of  Dordrecht,  and  to  promote 
it  as  far  as  his  power  may  extend." 

On  reaching  the  South  River,  Jacquet  found  that  the  is  Dec. 
whole  population  consisted  of  only  about  a  dozen  families,  vice-di- 

,  ,  *'  rector. 

Police  regulations  were  immediately  adopted ;  and  Fort 
Casimir,  on  a  survey,  was  found  to  be  in  very  "disrupted 25 De?. 
and  tottering  condition."  A  deputation  of  the  neighbor- 
ing sachems  soon  visited  the  new  vice-director,  and  a  lib- 
eral commercial  treaty  was  arranged,  with  the  assistance  29  Dec. 
of  the  inhabitants.  In  the  absence  of  a  Dutch  clergyman, 
Lokenius,  the  Lutheran  minister  at  Christina,  occasion- 
ally came  down  to  Fort  Casimir  to  conduct  divine  service.* 

The  vessels  which  conveyed  Rising,  carried  out,  also,  a  October. 
"  simple  and  true  narrative"  of  the  recent  Indian  troubles, 

*  Alb.  Rec,  X.,  135-140,  173,  186-191,  399,  403-407;  xi.,  127-133;  xiii.,  345-367;  IIol. 
Poc,  viii.,  1,  IB;  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  197-209. 


610  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  PsEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVII.  in  the  form  of  a  petition  to  the  States  Greneral,  the  West 
77"  India  Company,  and  the  city  government  of  Amsterdam. 
\ssistance  T^^'  defenseless  condition  of  the  country  was  explained, 
Hoii'and.'""  ^^^^  assistance  was  earnestly  implored.    In  the  mean  time, 
the  popular  mind  was  ill  at  ease ;  and  Stuyvesant  took 
10  Nov.      the  opinions  of  his  council  respecting  the  propriety  of  a 
war   with  the  Indians,  the   best  means   to  recover  the 
Dutch  who  still  remained  prisoners  among  the  Weckquaes- 
geeks  and  the  Highland  tribes,  and  the  replenishment  of 
the  treasury,  which  had  been  exhausted  by  the  South 
River  expedition  and  the  ransom  of  the  Christian  captives. 
The  only  counselor  in  favor  of  war  was  Van  Tienhoven. 
Stuyvesant  himself,  attributing  the  recent  outbreak  to  the 
rashness  of  a  few  "hot-headed  individuals,"  thought  a 
Precaution-  War  inexpedient.     The  people  should  rather  reform  them- 
ures  prcf-    sclvcs,  abate  all  irregularities,  and  promote  the  settlement 
^°*^  ■       of  villages  with  proper  defenses.     A  block-house  should 
be  built  at  Hackinsack,  and  another  at  Weckquaesgeek, 
and  all  armed  Indians  should  be  excluded  from  the  settle- 
ments of  the  Europeans.     To  raise  a  fund  for  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  remaining  captives,  he  proposed  an  increase  of 
the  taxes  on  lands,  houses,  and  liquors ;  as,  in  his  judg- 
ment, the  luxurious  habits,  and  high  wages  common  in 
the  province  did  not  argue  an  inability  to  contribute  for 
the  public  service,  but  "  rather  a  malevolent  unwilling- 
ness, arising  from  an  imaginary  liberty  in  a  new,  and,  as 
some  pretend,  a  free  country."     But  the  council,  in  view 
of  the  condition  of  the  province,  resisted  any  addition  to 
the  direct  taxes.     The  excise,  however,  was  increased  ; 
Excises     that  of  New  Amsterdam  was  farmed  out,  for  a  year,  at 
'  five  thousand  and  thirty  guilders,  and  that  of  Bever\\'yck, 
including  Rensselaerswyck,  Katskill,  and  Esopus,  at  two 
27  Nov.     thousand  and  thirteen.     A  delegation  from  the  Long  Isl- 
andln-^      and  Indians  now  visited  Manhattan,  declaring  that,  since 
peaceful,    tlic  general  peace  of  1645,  they  had  done  the  Dutch  no 
harm,  "  not  even  to  the  value  of  a  dog."     They  had  been 
twelve  years  at  war  with  the  enemies  of  the  Hollanders ; 
and  they  now  sent  a  bundle  of  wampum  as  a  token  of  the 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  (3  [j 

friendship  of  the  Eastern  chiefs.     The  River  Indians,  nev-  ch.  xvii. 
ertheless,  continuing  sullen,  kept  the  captive  Christians  as  _ 

pledges  to  secure  them  from  the  vengeance  of  the  Dutch.* 

The  close  of  this  year  was  marked  by  a  new  display  of 
Stuyvesant's  imperious  character.  Through  all  their  so- 
cial and  political  trials,  the  Dutch  colonists  had  preserved 
their  hereditary  elasticity  of  spirit :  and  bringing  with  them 
the  cheerful  habits  of  their  nation,  they  naturally  desired  to  ' 

enjoy  in  New  Netherland  the  pastimes  in  which  they  had  • 

joined  at  "  Pinckster"  and  other  holidays  in  Holland.     But 
the  severe  director  would  not  tolerate  within  his  govern- 
ment those  frivolities  which,  in  the  Fatherland,  were  "look- 
ed at  through  the  fingers."     An  ordinance  was  according-  31  Dec. 
ly  published,  declaring  that  "  from  this  time  forth,  within  anTwaj-'^ 
this  province  of  New  Netherland,  on  New  Year,  or  May-  prohXTeif. 
days,  there  shall  be  no  fhing,  nor  planting  of  May-poles, 
nor  any  beating  of  drums,  nor  treating,"  under  penalty  of 
twelve  guilders  for  the  first  offense,  double  for  the  second, 
and  "  arbitrary  correction"  for  the  third.! 

On  his  way  from  Q,uebec  to  the  Mohawk  country,  the  September. 
Jesuit  Father  Le  Moyne  visited  Beverwyck,  where  he  was  Moyne  at" 
hospitably  received  by  the  Dutch  colonists  and  by  De  Deck-  wj  ck. 
er,  the  new  vice-director.     The  Mohawks  welcomed  the  visits  the 
Canadian  missionary  to  their  castles;  and  the  gentle  spirit 
of  Christianity  seemed  at  last  to  have  won  that  warlike  na- 
tion to  peace  with  the  French. 

News  of  the  outbreak  of  the  Indians  around  Manhattan  October. 
soon  reached  Fort  Orange  ;  and  the  authorities,  alarmed inZ L-' 
lest  the  Iroquois  might  make  common  cause  with  their  red  dI^Ticii  aifd 
brethren  at  the  South,  prudently  renewed  the  ancient  al-  hawks! 
liance  between  the  Dutch  and  the  Mohawks.     The  next  is  Nov 
month,  a  hundred  warriors  of  that  tribe  visited  Fort  Or- 
ange, to  announce  that  they  were  about  to  attack  the  Hu- 
rons,  and  to  ask  the  Dutch  to  remain  neutral.    At  the  same 
time,  they  complained  that  they  were  not  treated  as  hos- 
pitably at  Fort  Orange  as  the  Hollanders  were  at  the  Mo- 

*  Alb.  Rec,  X.,  130-142  ;  150-173  ;  Ilecmstede  Rec,  i.,  25  ;  OXall.,  ii.,  296-298. 
t  New  Amstcniam  Rec,  i.,  36,  407  ;  ii.,  209. 


612        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVII.  hawk  castles ;  and  that  for  the  most  triflhig  repairs  to  their 
73~  guns  they  were  obliged  to  pay  in  wampum.     This  was  not 
The  Dm*ch  ti"6^ting  them  as  brethren.     The  Dutch  authorities  prom- 
Mohawks  ^^®^  neutrality,  and  explained  that  their  people  visited  the 
Mohawk  country  only  in  small  numbers ;  if  their  red  breth- 
ren would  observe  a  similar  rule,  they  would  be  handsome- 
ly entertained  at  Beverwyck.    The  Hollanders  earned  their 
own  bread  ;  and,  as  they  were  accustomed  to  receive  the 
rewards  of  labor,  their  Mohawk  brothers  should  not  com- 
plain at  being  treated  as  the  Christians  treated  each  other. 
These  explanations  were  satisfactory ;  and  the  red  men, 
laying  their  wampum  belts  at  the  feet  of  the  Dutch,  re- 
ceived presents  of  powder  and  lead,  "with  their  customary 
barbarous  applaudings,"  and  departed  in  great  joy. 
19  Sept.         Light  now  gleamed  over  the  regions  west  of  the  Mo- 
29  October,  hawks.     Two  Jcsuit  missionaries,  Joseph  Chaumonot  and 
and  ua-     Claudc  Dablou,  setting  out  from  Quebec,  passed  up  the 
Saint  Lawrence,  and  landed  at  Oswego.     In  a  few  days 
5  Nov.       the  Fathers  were  hospitably  welcomed  at  the  principal  vil- 
lage of  the  Onondagas  ;  and  a  site  for  a  permanent  settle- 
9  Nov.      ment  was  chosen  at  "  Laivc  Genentaha,"  near  the  Salt 
neiuaha.    Springs  which  Le  Moyne  had  visited  the  year  before.    "With 
fervid  eloquence,  Chaumonot  preached  the  word  ;  and  the 
excited  crowd  sang  the  chorus,  led  by  their  chief,  "  G-lad 
tidings  !  glad  tidings  !  it  is  well  that  we  have  spoken  to- 
18  Nov.      gether."     The  zeal  of  the  natives  built  a  temporary  chapel 
chapel  at    of  bark  iu  a  single  day ;  the  solemn  service  of  the  Roman 
Church  was  chanted  in  the  silent  forest ;  and  the  emblem 
of  Christianity  and  the  banner  of  France  were  simultane- 
ously raised  in  Onondaga.* 

*  Relation,  1655-6,  7-23;  1657-8,30;  lournal  de  Dablon  ;  Creuxius,  739-775  ;  Charle- 
voix, i.,  320-322 ;  Bancroft,  iii.,  142-144  Renss.  MSS. ;  Fort  Orange  Ree. ;  O'Cal!.,  ii., 
292,  306  ;  Clark's  Onondaga,  i.,  139-151,  171,  172 ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  i.,  44 ;  ante,  p.  592 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  613 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 
1656-1658. 

The  Indian  ravages  of  1655  repeated  to  the  people  of  ch.  xviii. 
New  Netherland  the  lesson  which  they  had  first  learned  in 
1643.     Their  losses  were  mainly  owing  to  the  isolated  sit- 
aation  of  the  farmers.     To  prevent  future  calamity,  Stuy-  is  Jan. 
vesant  issued  a  proclamation,  ordering  all  who  lived  in  se- tion  to  forin 
eluded  places  in  the  country  to  collect  themselves  together  '  ^°^'" 
by  the  next  spring,  and  to  form  villages  "  after  the  fashion 
of  our  New  England  neighbors." 

The  burgomasters  and  schepens  of  New  Amsterdam  now  it  jau. 
renewed  the  demand  to  be  allowed  the  right  to  name  their 
successors.    Almost  all  the  villages  in  New  Netherland  pos- 
sessed this  privilege.    Why  should  it  be  denied  to  the  cap- 
ital of  the  province  ?     The  director  explained  that  the  priv- 
ilege had  been  conferred  on  those  places  on  account  of  their 
distance  from  the  seat  of  government.     He  would  nowisjai. 
make  the  same  concession  to  New  Amsterdam,  provided  yields iiiu 
the  magistrates  actually  in  office  should  always  be  under-  ters'alid" 
stood  as  nominated  for  approval ;  that  only  persons  vrell 
qualified,  and  not  unfriendly  to  the  provincial  authorities, 
should  be  named ;  and  that  a  member  of  the  council  should 
have  the  right  to  assist,  when  the  nominations  were  made. 
The  city  authorities  accepted  these  conditions,  and  propos-  31  Jan. 
ed  their  candidates.     But  Stuyvesant  objecting  to  some  of  his  proin- 
them,  "  on  account  of  former  disputes,"  refused  to  sanction 
the  nomination.     The  question  was  earnestly  discussed 
in  the  council ;  but  the  director  maintained  his  ground. 
Eventually,  five  of  the  old  officers  were  continued  for 
another  year ;  and  Willem  Beeckman  and  Hendrick  Kip  2  Feb. 
were  appointed  now  schepens,  to  fill  two  vacancies.* 

'  Alb.  Rcc,  X,,  220,  2G0  ;  \ii.,  109  ;  New  Amst.  Rec,  i  ,  37  ;  ii.,  323-.142. 


G14  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1656." 

Religious 
artairs. 


ch.  xviii.  New  Netherland  was  now  to  witness  within  her  own 
borders  a  gross  violation  of  the  rights  of  conscience.  Un- 
til 1654,  the  ecclesiastical  policy  of  her  government  had 
not,  practically,  departed  from  that  of  the  Fatherland, 
where,  notwithstanding  the  establishment  of  a  national 
Reformed  Church,  we  have  seen  that  all  other  sects  were 
tolerated,  and  allowed  the  use  of  their  several  forms  of 
worship.  The  West  India  Company  recognized  the  au- 
thority of  the  Established  Church  of  Holland  over  their  co- 
Auuiority  lonial  possessions ;  and  the  specific  care  of  the  Transatlan- 
ciassis  of  tic  churches  was  early  intrusted  by  the  Synod  of  North 

Amster-  •'  %i  j 

dam.  Holland  to  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam.  By  that  body  all  the 
colonial  clergy  were  approved  and  commissioned.  With 
its  committee,  "  ad  res  exteras,"  they  maintained  a  con- 
stant correspondence.  The  Classis  of  Amsterdam  was,  in 
fact,  the  Metropolitan  of  New  Netherland.  For  more  than 
a  century  its  ecclesiastical  supremacy  was  affectionately 
acknowledged ;  and  long  after  the  capitulation  of  the  prov- 
ince to  England,  the  power  of  ordination  to  the  ministry, 
in  the  American  branch  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church, 
remained  in  the  governing  Classis  in  Holland,  or  was  ex- 
ercised only  by  its  special  permission.* 

Colonial  The  clergymen  commissioned  by  the  Classis  of  Amster- 
dam were,  of  course,  Calvinists.  They  were  generally  men 
of  high  scholarship  and  thorough  theological  training ;  for 
the  people,  who  at  Leyden  preferred  a  university  to  a  fair, 
insisted  upon  an  educated  ministry.  The  colonial  clergy 
had  much  work  to  do,  and  peculiar  difficulties  to  encoun- 
ter. A  lax  morality,  produced  by  the  system  of  govern- 
ment and  the  circumstances  of  the  province,  undoubtedly 
prevailed  among  many  of  the  New  Netherland  colonists. 
It  was  difficult  to  minister  the  offices  of  religion  to  scat- 
tered farmers  and  isolated  traders.  It  was  still  more  dif- 
ficult to  teach  the  word  to  the  savages.     Yet,  Megapolen- 

*  Dr.  Gunn's  Memoirs  of  Dr.  Livingston,  78-92;  Dr.  De  Wilt,  N.  Y.  11.  S.  Proc,  1S44. 
68-76.  While  in  Holland,  in  1841,  I  had  an  interview,  in  behalf  of  the  General  Synoii, 
with  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam,  and  obtained  from  its  archives  e.xtracts  of  its  proceed 
ings,  and  much  valuable  correspondence  with  the  clergy  and  churches  in  Xew  Netherland 
and  New  York,  from  1041  to  1775,  of  which  I  have  availed  myself  in  this  work. 


elersy. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  615 

sis,  contemporaneously  with  Jogues,  had  attempted  to  in-  ch.  xviu 
struct  the  Mohawks  several  years  before  Eliot  began  his 
missionary  labors  near  Watertown  and  Dorchester.  At 
Manhattan,  too,  the  work  was  tried,  but  with  very  indif- 
ferent success.  The  Dutch  colonists  themselves  gladly  Fcciincsdi 
listened  to  the  Gospel  which  they  had  heard  in  the  Father- 
land ;  and  churches  were  built,  partly  by  voluntary  con- 
tributions of  the  commonalties,  at  Manhattan,  Beverwyck, 
and  Midwout.  To  these  churahes  the  country  people  made 
toilsome  journeys,  to  bring  their  children  to  baptism,  to 
hear  the  words  of  the  preacher,  and  to  join  in  that  simple 
but  majestic  music  which  they  had  first  sung  far  across  the 
sea,  where  the  loud  chorus  overpowers  the  diapasons  of 
Haerlem  and  Amsterdam. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1656,  there  were  four  Re-  cierKjmen 
formed  Dutch  clergymen  in  New  Netherland.     Megapo- es"au\e'w 
lensis  and  Drisius  were  colleagues  at  New  Amsterdam  ;  aim,  Bev- 
Schaats  ministered  at  Beverwyck  ;  and  Polhemus  had  theandLoiij: 
joint  charge  of  Breuckelen,  Midwout,  and  Amersfoort.    Be- 
sides his  regular  services  at  New  Amsterdam,  Drisius  oc- 
casionally visited  Staten  Island,  where  a  numher  of  Vau- 
dois  or  Waldenses  soon  settled  themselves  ;  and  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  French  language  enabled  him  to  preach  satis- 
factorily to  these  faithful  men,  who  fled  to  Holland  and 
to  America  from  the  tyranny  of  their  despotic  sovereign. 
Flushing,  which  had  obliged  Doughty  to  quit  the  place  and  Kiushms. 
go  to  Virginia,  had  been  for  more  than  a  year  without  a 
minister.     At  Heemstede,  where  there  were  many  Dutch  neemstciB 
and  English  Calvinists,  Richard  Denton,  a  Presbyterian 
clergyman,  and  "an  honest,  pious,  and  learned  man,"  had 
preached  since  1644.     He  had  "  in  all  things  conformed" 
to  the  Established  Church  of  the  province.     The  Puritan 
Independents  of  the  place  "listened  attentively"  to  his 
preaching ;  but  when  he  began  to  baptize  the  children  of 
such  parents  as  were  not  communicants,   "  they  some- 
times burst  out  of  the  church."     At  Middelburgh,  or  New-  Middei 
town,  where  the  Independents  outnumbered  the  Presbyte-  "^^" 
rians,    John  Moore,   who  did  not  administer  sacraments, 


616        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

cu.  xviii.  preached  with  acceptance.  The  people  of  Grave jend  were 
understood  to  be  "  Mennonists,"  or  Anabaptists.     They  re- 

Gravesend.  jectcd  infant  baptism,  the  Sabbath,  the  office  of  preacher, 
and  the  teachers  of  Grod's  word,  "saying  that  through  these 
have  come  all  sorts  of  contention  into  the  world."  When- 
ever they  met  together,  one  or  other  "  read  something  for 

West        them."     The  English  settlers  at  West  Chester  were  Puri- 

Cbester.  ^ 

tan  Independents.  They  had  no  preacher,  but  held  Sunday 
meetings,  "  reading  a  sermon  from  an  English  book,  and 

Esopua.  making  a  prayer."  At  Esopus,  or  "Atkarkarton,"  the  few 
Dutch  inhabitants,  having  no  clergyman,  had  conducted 
divine  service  themselves  on  Sunday,  one  of  them  reading 
"  something  out  for  a  postille,"  or  commentary.     On  the 

South  Riv-  South  River,  Lokenius,  the  Lutheran  clergyman,  continued 
his  ministrations  to  the  Swedes  and  Finns  near  Fort  Chris- 
tina. He  was  represented  to  lead  "  a  godless  and  scandal- 
ous life,"  and  to  be  "more  inclined  to  look  into  the  wine 
kan  than  to  pore  over  the  Bible."  At  Fort  Casimir,  the 
Dutch  residents,  being  without  a  minister,  appointed  a  lay- 

unondaga.  man,  "  who  should  read  every  Sunday."  In  the  Far  West, 
Jesuit  missionaries  preached  to  the  Onondagas.     So  stood 

.Schools.  New  Netherland  with  regard  to  religion.  As  to  popular 
education,  excepting  at  Manhattan,  Beverwyck,  and  Fort 
Casimir,  there  was  no  schoolmaster.  Though  the  people 
at  large  were  anxious  that  their  children  should  be  in- 
structed, they  found  great  difficulty,  because  many  of  them, 
coming  "naked  and  poor  from  Holland,"  had  not  sufficient 
means,  and  because  there  were  few  qualified  persons,  ex- 
cept those  already  employed,  who  could  or  would  teach.* 

Jealousy  of      In  their  correspondence  with  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam, 

poiitan      the  Dutch  clerevmen  at  Manhattan  had  frequentlv  refer- 

clergy.  .  j.  ., 

red  to  the  increase  of  Mennonists  and  Lutherans  in  the  prov- 
ince. At  New  Amsterdam,  the  Lutherans,  as  we  have 
seen,  had  been  refused  permission  to  worship  publicly  in 
a  church  of  their  own.  Nevertheless,  the  directors  of  the 
Amsterdam  Chamber  did  not  sanction  in  their  province 

*  Letters  to  Classis,  5th  Aug.  and  22d  Oct.,  1657  ;  Doct.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  103-108,  189, 
190  ;  Dr.  De  Witt,  in  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Proc,  1844,  69,  70:  Thomps.  1.  I.,  ii.,  20;  ante,  p.  375 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  617 

a  sectarian  persecution  unknown  in  the  liberal  Father-  ch.  xvih. 
land. 

The  immediate  cause  of  the  first  exhibition  of  religious 
intolerance  in  New  Netherland  was  ecclesiastical  jealousy, 
and  a  too  rigid  constuction  of  official  duty.  Early  in  the 
year  1656,  the  metropolitan  clergymen,  Megapolensis  and 
Drisius,  complained  to  the  director  general  that  unquali- 
fied persons  were  preaching  and  holding  conventicles  at 
Middelburgh,  "  from  which  nothing  could  be  expected  but 
discord,  confusion,  and  disorder  in  Church  and  State." 
Stuy  vesant  was  himself  a  zealous  son  of  the  Church.  He 
was  an  over-strict  constructionist,  and  loved  the  display 
of  arbitrary  power.  A  proclamation,  assuming  "  to  pro- 1  Feb. 
mote  the  glory  of  Grod,  the  increase  of  the  Reformed  relig-  \,m  ^"^^' 
ion,  and  the  peace  and  harmony  of  the  country,"  soon  ap-  amhonzed 
peared,  forbidding  preachers, "  not  having  been  called  there-  cre"!*^" '' 
to  by  ecclesiastical  or  temporal  authority,"  from  holding 
conventicles  not  in  harmony  with  the  established  religion 
as  set  forth  by  the  Synod  of  Dort,  "  and  here  in  this  land, 
and  in  the  Fatherland,  and  in  other  Reformed  churches 
observed  and  followed."  Every  unlicensed  preacher  who 
should  violate  this  ordinance  was  subjected  to  a  penalty 
of  one  hundred  Flemish  pounds ;  and  every  person  who 
should  attend  such  prohibited  meetings  became  liable  to  a 
penalty  of  twenty-five  pounds.  The  ordinance,  however, 
expressly  disclaimed  "  any  prejudice  to  any  patent  hereto- 
fore given,  any  lording  over  the  conscience,  or  any  prohi- 
bition of  the  reading  of  Grod's  holy  word,  and  the  domestic 
praying  and  worship  of  each  one  in  his  family."  A  simi-  lo  Manii. 
lar  proclamation  was  immediately  published  by  De  Deck- 
er, the  vice-director  at  Fort  Orange. 

The  invidious  law  was  enforced.    Recusants  were  fined 
and  imprisoned.     Complaints  to  Holland  followed ;  and  the 
West  Inaia  Company  promptly  rebuked  their  director  for 
his  bigoted  zeal.     "  We  would  fain  not  have  seen,"  wrote  h  June, 
they  to  Stuyvesant,  "your  worship's  hand  set  to  the  pla- tlmis  ofthc 
card  against  the  Lutherans,  nor  have  heard  that  you  op-  company" 
pressed  them  with  the  imprisonments  of  which  they  have 


618        HISTO'dY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVIII.  complained  to  us,  because  it  has  always  been  our  intention 
to  let  them  enjoy  all  calmness  and  tranquillity.  Where- 
fore,  you  will  not  hereafter  publish  any  similar  placards 
without  our  previous  consent,  but  allow  to  all  the  free  ex- 
ercise of  their  religion  within  their  own  houses."* 

Information  had  meanwhile  reached  the  provincial  gov- 
ernment that  the  English  intruders  at  West  Chester  not 
only  sheltered  and  encouraged  fugitives  from  justice,  but 
had  kept  up  a  constant  correspondence  with  the  Indians 
during  the  late  "  dismal  engagements  with  the  savages." 

0  March.     To  defend  the  rights  of  the  West  India  Company,  Captain 

sent  to       De  Koninck,  Captain  Newton,  and  Van  Tienhoven,  the 

Chester,  schout-fiscal,  wcrc  now  sent  thither  with  a  sufficient  force, 
and  ordered  to  apprehend  the  leaders  and  compel  the  other 
settlers  to  remove  thence  with  their  property.  The  expe- 
dition was  met  with  a  show  of  resistance  by  Lieutenant 
Wheeler  and  an  armed  force ;  but  the  English  were  prompt- 
ly disarmed,  and  twenty-three  of  them  were  conveyed  as 
prisoners  to  New  Amsterdam,  and  secured  on  board  the 

14  March,  ship  Balance.  The  runaways  from  the  Dutch  were  sent 
to  prison ;  those  from  New  England  and  elsewhere  were 

16  March,  put  Under  civil  arrest.  Wheeler  and  his  party  soon  offered 
to  submit  themselves  to  the  Dutch  government,  upon  con- 
dition of  being  allowed  to  elect  their  magistrates,  make 
laws  not  contrary  to  those  of  the  province,  divide  the  lands 
among  the  townsfolk,  and  have  their  arms  restored.  Stuy- 
vesant  replied  that  they  should  have  the  same  privileges 
"  as  the  freemen  of  the  villages  of  Middelburgh,  Breucke- 
len,  Midwout,  and  Amersfoort  were  enjoying."     The  pris- 

25  March,  oucrs  wcre  thcu  released  ;  and  a  few  of  the  English  who 
had  taken  up  arms  were  "commanded  to  depart  the  limits 
of  New  Netherland,  unless  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  Yrede- 
land  adopt  them  and  become  bail  for  their  good  behavior." 
A  few  days  afterward,  a  double  nomination  of  magistrates 
was  sent  to  Stuyvesant,  with  a  petition  that  the  settlers 
might  have  certain  local  privileges,  that  they  might  be 

*  Cor.  Classis  Amsterdam  ;  Letters  of  6th  October,  1653 ;  25th  .luly,  1654  ;  18lli  March, 
1055  ;  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  130,  212  ;  vii.,  355-357 ;  New  Amst.  Rec,  i.,  41,  42 ;  ii.,  350 ;  Fort 
Orange  Re«.  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  317,  320 ;  Bancroft,  ii.,  300  ;  ante,  p.  101,  102,  582. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  619 

furnished  with  a  copy  of  the  laws  of  the  province  "  drawn  ch.  xvni. 
out  in  Enarlish,"  and  that  the  writinars  passed  between  them      ~ 
and  the  provincial  authorities  might  be  in  English,  so  that 
they  might  "  fully  and  perfectly  understand  them."    Stuy- 
vesant  promptly  selected  Thomas  Wheeler,  Thomas  New-  28  March. 

iTiTir  1  •  1        r  First  mag- 

man,  and  John  Lord,  irom  the  nommees,  as  the  nrst  mag- istraies 01 

1.1  1        •        1     1  Oost-dorp, 

istrates  of  West  Chester,  which  now  obtamed  the  name  of  or  west 
"  Oost-dorp,"  or  East  Village.     A  decision  upon  the  peti- 
tion was,  however,  postponed  for  further  consultation.* 

Another  village  was  now  incorporated  on  Long  Island. 
Upon  the  petition  of  several  of  the  inhabitants  of  Heem- 
stede  for  permission  to  begin  a  plantation  about  midway 
between  that  village  and  Amersfoort,  Stuyvesant  readily 
granted  them  free  leave  to  establish  a  town  with  such  priv-  21  March. 
ileges  "as  the  inhabitants  of  New  Netherland  generally  do 
possess  in  their  lands,  and  likewise  in  the  choice  of  their 
magistrates  as  in  the  other  villages  or  towns."     The  new 
settlement  was  named  by  the  Dutch  "  Rust-dorp,"  or  "  Qui-  Rust-dorp, 
et  Village."     The   settlers  themselves  wished  to   call  it""^ 
"  Jemeco,"  after  the  Indian  name  of  the  beaver  pond  in  its 
neighborhood.    The  village  is  now  known  as  Jamaica.    At 
the  first  regular  town  meeting,  in  the  spring  of  the  next 
year,  Daniel  Denton,  the  oldest  son  of  the  Presbyterian  Daniei 
clergyman  at  Heemstede,  was  appointed  clerk,  "to  write  town  cierk 
and  enter  all  acts  and  orders  of  public  concernment  to  the 
town."    A  few  years  afterward,  he  published  the  first  orig- 
inal English  "  Description  of  New  York,  formerly  called 
New  Netherland."! 

Baxter  and  Hubbard  had  now  been  nearly  a  year  in  the 
keep  of  Fort  Amsterdam.  At  the  intercession  of  Sir  Hen- 
ry Moody  and  the  Gravesend  magistrates,  Stuyvesant  re- 
leased Hubbard,  and  transferred  Baxter,  upon  bail,  to  the 
debtor's  room  at  the  court-house  until  the  Amsterdam 
Chamber  should  decide  upon  his  case.     A  few  weeks  aft- 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  187  ;  x.,  38,  250,  315-346 ;  xi.,  283-321  ;  xvi.,  .303  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  312- 
314  ;  Bolton's  West  Chester,  ii.,  157-161  ;  ante,  p.  601. 

t  Alb.  Rec,  X.,  339  ;  xiv.,  12 ;  Jamaica  Roc. ;  Thompson's  L.  I.,  ii.,  20,  90,  97  ;  O'Call., 
ii.,  323.  Denton's  work  was  printed  at  London  in  1070,  and  a  handsome  edition,  with 
notes  by  Mr.  Furman,  was  republished  here  in  1845. 


620  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVIII.  erward,  the  faithless  Englishman  forfeited  his  bail  and  es- 
„        caped  to  Grravesend,  where  he  again  began  to  plot  against 
Baxter  at"  ^^^  former  patrons.     Several  of  the  inhabitants  were  in- 
Gravesend.  jy^ed  by  him  to  sign  a  memorial  praying  Cromwell  to  take 
them  under  the  protection  of  England,  and  emancipate 
them  from  the  dominion  of  the  Dutch.    The  memorial  was 
carried  to  London  by  James  Grrover,  who,  with  Baxter  and 
Hubbard,  had  hoisted  the  English  colors  at  Grravesend  the 
year  before.     To  public  treason  Baxter  now  added  private 
dishonesty.     Besides  other  debts,  he  owed  two  hundred 
guilders  to  the  poor  fund ;  and  his  cattle  were  under  seiz- 
ure.   These  he  secretly  removed  at  night.     His  defrauded 
creditors  became  clamorous ;  his  farm  and  other  effects 
Escapes  to  werc  scized  in  execution  ;  and  the  bankrupt  traitor  fled  to 
gland.       New  England  to  work  all  the  mischief  he  could  against 
New  Netherland.* 

On  the  South  River  the  Swedes  remained  generally  loy- 
al ;  though  some  of  them,  found  plotting  with  the  savages, 
were  ordered  to  be  sent  to  Fort  Amsterdam,  and  such  as 
would  not  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  be  transported. 
Swedish     Early  in  the  spring,  the  Mercury,  a  ship  which  had  been 
South  Riv-  dispatched  from  Sweden,  with  one  hundred  and  thirty  em- 
igrants, before  news  of  the  surrender  had  been  received, 
arrived  at  Fort  Casimir ;  and  Stuyvesant,  on  learning  the 
29  March,  circumstanccs,  directed  Jacquet  to  prevent  the  landing  of 
the  Swedes,  but  to  allow  the  Mercury  to  come  to  Manhat- 
tan for  a  supply  of  provisions.     Huygh,  the  Swedish  cap- 

11  April     tain,  then  proceeded  overland  to  New  Amsterdam,  and  laid 

his  case  before  the  director.     But  Stuyvesant  would  allow 
no  foreigners  to  settle  themselves  on  the  South  River ;  and 

12  April,     a  messenger  was  dispatched  thither  with  directions  to  send 

the  Swedish  ship  to  Fort  Amsterdam.  Meanwhile,  sev- 
eral Swedes  and  Indians,  headed  by  Pappegoya,  had  board- 
ed the  Mercury  and  conveyed  her  up  the  river  as  far  as 
Mantes  Hook.  The  rumor  soon  reaching  New  Amster- 
27  April     dam.  Ensign  Dirck  Smit  was  sent  with  a  re-enforcement 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  265  ;  v.,  367  ;  x.,  180,  234,  299  ;  xi.,  119,  162,  266  ;  xii.,  321  ;  IIo'.  Doc, 
U.,  165  ;  0"CaIl.,  ii.,  342  ;  ante,  p.  597. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  621 

cf  twelve  or  fifteen  soldiers  across  the  country  to  the  South  ch.  xvni 
River ;  and  a  few  days  afterward,  the  ship  Balance  was 
dispatched,  with  two  memhers  of  the  council  and  the  j, nought  ,"o 
Swedish  captain,  to  secure  the  vessel,  and  "soothe  the  an- fjerdl^II!' 
imosities  between  the  Christians  and  the  savages."     The""'"'*' 
Mercury  was  soon  recovered  and  anchored  before  Fort  Am- 
sterdam, whence,  after  her  cargo  had  been  sold,  she  return- 
ed to  Sweden.* 

The  States  General,  hearing  of  the  arrival  in  England 
of  the  Swedish  soldiers  whom  Stuyvesant  had  sent  home, 
ordered  the  Amsterdam  directors  to  inform  them  fully  of  e  Jan. 
the  circumstances.     A  few  days  afterward,  the  company 
submitted  a  long  "deduction,"  with  voluminous  appendi-24Jan 
ces,  explaining  all  the  proceedings  on  the  South  River  from 
the  year  1638  ;  and  soliciting  help  to  secure  them  in  pos- 
session of  their  recovered  territory.     These  documents  were  as  jan 
referred  to  a  committee  of  their  High  Mightinesses,  in  se- 
cret session.! 

Having  at  last  received  a  copy  of  the  Hartford  treaty,  the  22  Feb 
Amsterdam  Chamber  applied  to  the  States  G-eneral  to  rati-  tion  of  the 
fy  it  on  their  part,  and  thus  promote  the  settlement  of  the  treaty. 
long-delayed  boundary  question.     A  formal  act  was  there- 
fore passed,  under  the  seal  of  their  High  Mightinesses,  ap- 
proving and  ratifying  the  arrangement ;  and  the  West  In- 
dia Company  was  at  the  same  time  directed  "to  take  care 
that  the  like  act  of  ratification  of  the  said  articles  be  ob- 
tained of  the  Lord  Protector  of  England."    But  this  injunc- 
tion seems  never  to  have  been  fulfilled  ;  and  the  affair  re- 
mained thus  in  suspense  until  the  restoration  of  Charles  11.$ 

Intelligence  of  the  conquest  of  New  Sweden  now  reach- 
ing Stockholm,  the  king  directed  his  resident  at  the  Hague 
to  bring  the  subject  before  the  Dutch  government.     Ap- 

*  Alb.  Rec,  X.,  351-384,  4n^21  ;  xi.,  320-374,  433  ;  xiii.,  1-7,  374  ;  Lond.  Doc,  iv.,  172  ; 
N.  Y.  Col.  Rcc,  iii.,  343;  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  211-219;  Acrelius,  419. 

t  IIoI.  Doc,  viii.,  1-117.  Appended  to  these  papers,  as  they  exist  in  the  archives  at  the 
Hague,  is  a  copy  of  an  engraved  map  of  New  Netherland,  published  just  before  at  Am- 
sterdam, entitled  "  Novi  lielgii,  Nova  que  Anglitp.,  nee  non  partis  VirginiiB  Tabula,  multis 
in  locis  emendata,  a  Nicolao  Joannis  Vissckero." 

t  Alb.  Uec,  iv.,207;  Hoi.  Doc,  viii.,  119-129;  ix.,  98,  99;  x.,  15;  Thurloe,  iv.,  526 , 
Letters  of  De  Witt,  iii.,  192;  Hazard,  ii.,  549  ;  Groot  Placaatbook,  ii.,  1278;  Lambrooht- 
sen,  106  ;  ante,  p.  520,  545 ;  post  p.  685. 


622  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1656. 

22  March. 
Memorial 
of  the 


cii.  XVIII.  pelboom  accordingly  presented  a  memorial  setting  forth  the 
right  of  the  Swedes  on  the  South  River,  "  optimo  titulo 
juris,"  and  praying  that  the  injuries  which  they  had  suf- 
fered from  the  West  India  Company  might  be  redressed. 
fesufint'at  Swcdcn,  howcvcr,  was  now  at  war  with  Poland ;  Oxen- 
ihe  Hague,  y^^igj-ng,  was  uo  morc ;  and  the  throne  of  the  victorious  Ctus- 
tavus  was  filled  by  the  less  fortunate  Charles  the  Tenth. 
The  complaints  of  Sweden,  though  renewed  during  eight 
years,  never  moved  the  government  at  the  Hague.     But 
the  Swedish  colonists  remained  on  the  shores  of  the  Dela- 
ware ;  at  Stockholm  they  were  remembered  with  affection- 
ate regard ;  and  in  the  New  World  where  they  had  chosen 
their  home,  a  part  of  their  descendants  "still  preserve  their 
altar  and  their  dwellings  round  the  graves  of  their  fathers."* 
13  May.  The  Wcst  India  Company  now  sent  directions,  to  Stuy- 

ed  to  be  vcsaut  to  build  a  fort  at  Oyster  Bay,  and  maintain  by  force 
Oyster  of  arms,  if  necessary,  the  integrity  of  the  Dutch  province, 
the  boundaries  of  which  had  just  been  formally  confirmed 
by  the  States  Greneral.  "We  do  not  hesitate,"  they  add- 
ed, "to  approve  of  your  expedition  on  the  South  River,  and 
its  happy  termination,  while  it  agrees  in  substance  with 
our  orders.  We  should  not  have  been  displeased,  however, 
if  such  a  formal  capitulation  for  the  surrender  of  the  forts 
had  not  taken  place,  but  that  the  whole  business  had  been 
transacted  in  a  manner  similar  to  that  of  which  the  Swedes 
set  us  an  example  when  they  made  themselves  masters  of 
Fort  Casimir."! 
13  May.  At  thc  samc  time,  the  company,  yielding  to  the  "reit- 

hovendi"'-  crated  complaints"  of  the  people  of  New  Netherland,  gave 
orders  to  Stuyvesant  no  longer  to  employ  either  Cornells 
van  Tienlioven  or  his  brother  Adriaen  in  the  public  serv- 
ice. The  schout-fiscal  was  declared  to  be  "the  prominent 
cause  of  that  doleful  massacre"  the  previous  autumn,  and 
his  brother  was  detected  in  fraud  as  receiver  general.  Ni- 
De  siiie  ap-  casius  de  Sille  was  appointed  schout-fiscal  of  the  province, 
!us"prace"  and  De  Decker  confirmed  as  commissary  at  Fort  Orange. 

*  IIoI.  Doc,  viii.,  130-135;  x.,  22-41  ;  Letters  of  De  Witt,  i.,  2T6;  iii.,  201,  202;  Thur- 
loe,  iv.,  599,  612;  Aitzema,  iii.,  1260;  v.,  247;  Hoi.  Mer.,  1656,  p.  30;  0"Call.,  ii..  327, 
573  ;  Bancroft,  ii.,  297,  298.        t  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  204-207  ;  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  209 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  623 

Hearing  of  Van  Tienhoven's  disgrace,  the  burgomasters  ch.  xvm 
and  schepens  of  New  Amsterdam  petitioned  Stuy  vesant  to 
appoint  "  an  intelligent  and  expert"  person  from  among  the  g,,  ^,.,y  ' 
citizens  as  schout  of  the  city.     The  director,  however,  re-  ^i^niam' 
ferring  to  the  company's  instructions,  declined ;  and  De  '"'^^"^^■ 
Sille,  the  new  provincial  fiscal,  was  commissioned  as  city  26  June. 
schout.     In  the  following  autumn,  the  municipal  govern- r  Nov. 
ment  again  applied  to  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  for  further 
privileges.     Stuyvesant  himself,  however,  now  saw  the  ne- 
cessity of  some  change,  and  the  burgomasters  and  sche- 
pens were  allowed  an  enlarged  criminal  jurisdiction,  in  21  Dec 
cases  of  "  minor  degree."     New  police  regulations  were 
adopted  ;  and,  for  fear  of  the  savages,  a  patrol  was  estab- 
lished during  divine  service.     The  number  of  children  at  rubuc 
the  public  school  having  greatly  increased,  further  accom- 
modation was  allowed  to  Harman  van  Hoboken  the  school- 
master.    A  survey  of  the  city,  made  by  Captain  De  Ko-  suney  and 

,        .    .  ,  ,      ,  population 

ninck  at  the  request  of  the  authorities,  showed  that  there  of  the  me- 
were,  at  this  time,  one  hundred  and  twenty  houses  and 
one  thousand  souls  in  New  Amsterdam.* 

Opposition  to  the  excise  at  Beverwyck  continuing,  De  is  May 
Decker  was  ordered  to  arrest  such  of  the  tapsters  as  refus-  Bever- 
ed  to  pay,  and  convey  them  to  New  Amsterdam.     One  of 
them  was  accordingly  lodged  in  Fort  Orange  until  the  sloop  24  May. 
should  be  ready  to  sail.     The  prisoner  escaping,  however, 
fled  to  the  patroon's  house ;  and  Van  Rensselaer,  going 
down  to  the  capital,  protested  against  Stuyvesant's  exac- 
tions.    The  West  India  Company  had  not  fulfilled  its  ob-  20  June. 

....  /-\        I  1      ^^"  Rens- 

ligation  to  protect  the  inhabitants.     On  the  contrary,  the  seiaer  pro 

,111-  1  •  ^1  tests  to 

colonists  had  thrice  come  to  the  assistance  01  the  compa-  stuyve- 
ny's  officers  ;  once  during  the  French  and  Indian  war, 
again  in  the  troubles  with  New  England,  and  lately  dur- 
ing the  outbreak  of  the  savages  around  Manhattan.  The 
colonic  had  always  been  the  first  to  purchase  the  friend- 
ship of  the  Indians,  and  its  proprietors  had  borne  all  the 

*  A!b.  Rcc,  iv.,  206,  218;  xi.,  424;  xiii.,  208,  302-319;  xv.,  166;  New  Amst.  Rec,  ii., 
341,  363,  377.  433,  467-488,  640,  690  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  322,  540.  Van  Tienhoven  and  his  broth- 
er goon  afterward  absconded  from  the  province.  Tliere  was  formerly  a  street  outside  of 
the  wall,  known  as  "  Tienhoven's"  street ;  but  the  name  is  now  extinct. 


624 


HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


Ch.  XVIII. 

1656. 

27  June. 


Rensselaer 
fined,  and 
ordered  to 
give  bond. 


6  July. 


7  August. 
Tapsters 
convicted. 


»New 
church  sJ. 
Bever- 
wyck. 
t  June, 


expense  of  ministers  and  officers  of  justice.  It  was,  there- 
fore, unjust  for  the  company  to  appropriate  the  excise  and 
demand  tithes.  Stuyvesant,  however,  pronounced  Van 
Rensselaer's  protest  to  be  "  frivolous,"  and  fined  him  twen- 
ty guilders  for  making  such  "absurd  assertions."  By  the 
eighteenth  girticle  of  the  "  Freedoms  and  Exemptions"  of 
1629,  the  patroon's  colonists,  after  ten  years,  were  as  much 
bound  as  the  other  inhabitants  of  New  Netherland  to  con- 
tribute to  the  public  revenue.  As  Van  Rensselaer  him- 
self was  the  instigator  of  the  opposition  of  the  "  contuma- 
cious tapsters,"  he  was  ordered  to  give  a  bond  in  three 
thousand  guilders  for  their  appearance  at  New  Amsterdam, 
or  else  remain  there  himself  under  civil  arrest. 

A  proclamation  was  soon  afterward  issued,  forbidding 
the  removal  of  crops  in  any  town  or  colonic  within  the  prov- 
ince until  the  company's  tithes  had  been  paid.  The  au- 
thorities of  Rensselaerswyck  refused  to  publish  this  pla- 
card ;  but  the  tapsters  were  sent  down  to  New  Amsterdam. 
They  pleaded  that  they  had  acted  under  the  orders  of  their 
feudal  superiors.  This  defense,  however,  was  overruled  ; 
and  one  was  fined  two  hundred  pounds,  and  the  other  eight 
hundred  guilders. 

Measures  had  been  taken,  in  the  mean  time,  to  build  a 
new  church  at  Beverwyck,  in  place  of  the  small  one  which 
had  been  used  since  1643.  The  court  at  Fort  Orange  ap- 
propriated fifteen  hundred  guilders,  and  the  proprietors  of 
Rensselaerswyck  subscribed  one  thousand.  A  site  was 
chosen  in  middle  of  the  highway,  at  the  intersection  of 
what  were  long  known  as  Yonker's  and  Handelaar's  Streets, 
and  afterward  as  State  and  Market  Streets.  The  corner- 
stone was  laid,  in  the  presence  of  the  authorities  and  the 
inhabitants,  with  appropriate  ceremony,  by  Rutger  Jacob- 
sen,  one  of  the  oldest  magistrates  of  the  colonic.  The 
work  went  rapidly  on ;  and  the  inhabitants  subscribed 
twenty-five  beavers,  worth  about  two  hundred  guilders,  to 
purchase  an  oaken  pulpit  in  Holland.  The  Amsterdam 
Chamber  added  seventy-five  guilders  to  this  subscription  • 
and,  the  next  year,  presented  Domine  Schaats  and  his  con- 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  QO.j 

gregation  with  a  bell  "  to  adorn  their  newly-constructed  ch.  xvm. 
little  church."  „    , 

De  Decker,  being  about  to  return  to  Holland,  now  re- 
signed his  office  as  vice-director  at  Fort  Orange.     La  Mon-  28  sept 

.    ,  .,  .  ,  ,  .     La  Mon- 

tague, one  of  the  provincial  council,  was  appointed  as  his  tagne  vice- 

.successor,  and   Johannes   Provoost  was   made   secretary.  Fort  or- 

The  vice-director  lived  in  a  two-storied  house  within  the 

fort,  tlie  upper  floor  of  which  was.  used  as  a  court  room. 

One  of  the  most  important  duties  of  the  provincial  officers 

was  the  oversight  of  the  large  fur  trade  which  was  now  Fur  trat^c. 

concentrated  at  Fort  Orange,  from  which  post,  and  from 

its  neighborhood,  upward  of  thirty-five  thousand  beaver 

and  otter  skins  were  exported  during  the  year  1656.* 

Upon  receiving  the  official  ratification  of  the  Hartford  22  August. 

11-  Id,  L  j_      i      ii  Fruitless 

treaty  by  his  government,  fetuyvesant  wrote  to  the  com- correspond- 
missioners  of  the  United  Colonies,  expressing  his  joy  at  the  New  En- 
peace  between  Holland  and  England  ;  renewing  his  prop- 
osition for  a  union  and  combination  between  the  Dutch 
and  English  colonies ;  asking  for  the  appointment  of  a  time 
and  place  to  exchange  the  ratifications  ;  and  urging  that 
the  New  England  governments  should  detain  "all  persons 
of  no  note  or  qualification,"  coming  from  New  Netherland 
without  a  proper  passport,  and  promising  to  do  the  like  in 
return.     The  commissioners  replied  that  they  desired  the  27  scpt 
continuance  of  peace  ;   expressed  no  wish  for  a  "nearer 
union  ;"  passed  the  boundary  question  by,  with  an  insinu- 
ation that  the  Dutch  had  no  right  to  claim  jurisdiction  over 
"  the  English  plantation  at  Oyster  Bay ;"  complained  of 
Stuyvesant's  treatment  of  John  Young  of  Southold,  "  when 

*  Alb.  Records,  iv.,  233,  23'.),  268;  x..  Oh;  \i.,  4(i'J-.'J9;  .\iii.,  72,  221-223;  xviii.,  83; 
Renss.  MSS.  ;  Fort  Orange  Rec. ;  Li;t.  of  Doiniiie  .Scliaats,  20tli  .June,  1657  ;  O'Call.,  ii., 
307-310;  MuriscirsAlb  Reg.,  1819;  anre,  p.  375,  53.s,  ifl).  The  site  of  this  cliurch,  in  which 
Schaats  ministered  for  many  years,  was,  until  within  a  short  time  ago,  partly  inclosed 
oy  an  iron  railing  in  the  centre  of  the  street,  in  front  of  the  Albany  Exchange.  In  1715,  a 
new  church  was  erected  around  the  walls  of  the  one  built  in  1656,  so  that  public  wor- 
ship was  suspended  only  three  Sundays.  In  the  windows  of  this  new  church  were  in- 
serted panes  of  glass,  on  which  were  painted  the  coats  of  arms  of  most  of  the  old  Dutch 
families  of  Albany.  There  they  remained  until  the  church  was  demolished  in  1806.  The 
old  octagonal  oak  pulpit  is  now  in  the  attic  of  the  North  Dutch  church  ;  and' a  fragment 
of  the  little  bell,  which  bears  the  inscription  "Anno  1001,"  is  still  preserved.  Margaret, 
one  of  the  daughters  of  Rulger  Jacobsen,  who  laid  the  corner-stone  of  the  church  of  1656, 
was  married  in  1007  to  Jan  Jansen  lileecker,  who  emigrated  from  Meppcl  in  1058,  and 
who  was  the  ancestor  of  the  BIcecker  family  in  this  state. 

Er 


626        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  xviii.  he  came  peaceably  to  trade  at  the  Manhattoes ;"  and  ended 
_      their  repulsive  letter  hy  declaring  that  the  Dutch  "as  yet 
■  have  made  no  satisfying  resignation  of  Greenwich."* 
•24  October.      Tlic  Lutlieraus  at  New  Amsterdam  now  informed  the 
at  New      director  that  their  friends  in  Holland  had  obtained  from 
dam.         the  West  India  Company  a  promise  that  there  should  be 
the  same  toleration  in  New  Netherland  "as  is  the  practice 
in  the  Fatherland  under  its  estimable  government ;"  and 
as  they  expected  a  clergyman  to  arrive  the  next  spring 
from  Holland,  they  hoped  they  should  no  longer  be  inter- 
rupted in  their  religious  exercises.     The  petition  was  con- 
sidered in  council,  and  it  was  determined  to  ask,  by  the 
next  vessel,  the  "  further  interpretation"  of  the  West  In- 
dia Company.     In  the  mean  time,  however,  the  ordinance 
against  public  conventicles  must  be  executed. 

At  Flushing,  where  the  people  had  been  for  some  time 
without  any  ordained  clergyman,  the  ordinance  was  severe- 
ly enforced.  William  Wickendam,  "  a  cobbler  from  Rhode 
Island,"  coming  there,  began  to  preach,  and  "  went  with 
the  people  into  the  river  and  dipped  them."  This  soon 
came  to  the  director's  ears,  with  the  additional  intelligence 
that  William  Hallett,  the  sheriff,  had  "dared  to  collect 
conventicles  in  his  house,"  and  had  permitted  Wickendam 
to  preach  and  administer  sacraments,  "  though  not  called 
8  xov.  thereto  by  any  civil  or  ecclesiastical  authority."  Hallett 
enforced     was  therefore  removed  from  office,  and  sentenced  to  a  fine 

against  the      ~  ^ ,,  -,  •        -\     r       i        f  i       ^         •    ^       i 

Baptists  at  of  fifty  pounds,  or,  in  default  of  payment,  to  be  banished. 
Wickendam  was  fined  one  hundred  pounds,  and  ordered  to 
be  banished.  As  he  was  poor,  and  had  a  family,  the  fine 
was  remitted ;  but  he  was  obliged  to  leave  the  province.! 

29  Dec.  The  Ensflish  settlers  at  West  Chester  havins:  sent  to 

Affairs  at  °  ...  .  ° 

oost-dorp.  New  Amsterdam  a  double  nomination  of  magistrates  for 
the  next  year.  Captain  Ne\\i;on,  Secretary  Van  Ruyven,  and 
Commissary  Van  Brugge  were  directed  to  go  there  and  ad- 
minister the  oath  of  office  to  the  three  persons  selected,  and 
the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  actual  inhabitants.     Embark- 

*  Hazard,  ii.,  363-365;  Hutchinson,  i.,  189;  Trumbull,  i  ,  22S,  229. 
t  Alb.  Rec,  xiii.,  140,  274-277  ;  Cor.  Classis  Amsterdam  ;  O'Call ,  ii.,  320,  321  ;  Doc. 
Hist.  N.  y.,  iii.,  106. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  627 

ing  early  in  the  morning  in  an  open  boat,  the  commission-  ch.  xvm. 
ers  passed  safely  "through  Hell-gate,  and  by  the  fast-an- 
chored  Brothers,  to  the  kill  in  front  of  Oost-dorp."     It  was3opgg 
late  on  Saturday  evening  when  they  arrived  ;  and  as  they 
wished  to  return  to  New  Amsterdam  the  next  day,  they 
asked  that  the  inhabitants  might  be  summoned  to  meet 
early  in  the  morning.     But  the  Puritan  settlers  "were  in 
no  way  so  inclined ;"  and  the  commissioners  were  obliged 
to  tarry  over  Sunday.     Secretary  Van  Ruyven,  attending  31  Dec. 
service,  found  a  gathering  of  about  fifteen  men  and  twelve 
women.     There  was  no  clergyman,     "  Mr.  Baly  made  a 
prayer,  which  being  concluded,  one  Robert  Bassett  read  a 
sermon  from  a  printed  book  composed  and  published  by  an 
English  minister  in  England.    After  the  reading,  Mr.  Baly 
made  another  prayer,  and  they  sung  a  psalm  and  separa- 
ted."    The  next  day  the  new  magistrates  were  sworn  in,   1657. 
and  most  of  the  inhabitants  took  the  oath  of  allegiance,  dur-  ^  "^^"^ 
ing  their  residence  in  the  province.     On  their  return  to  New 
Amsterdam,  the  commissioners  submitted  a  report  to  the 
council,  embracing  several  points  in  which  the  English  set- 
tlers felt  aggrieved  ;  and-  a  dozen  muskets  and  a  quantity  3  Jan. 
of  ammunition  were  sent  to  Oost-dorp,  as  the  savages  were  lowed  to 
becoming  insolent,  because  the  inhabitants  having  submit-  uants 
ted  to  the  provincial  government,  Pell,  who  had  purchased 
the  land  from  them,  required  that  they  should  either  re- 
turn his  money,  or  "  free  him  from  the  Dutch  nation."* 

For  a  long  time,  as  we  have  already  seen,  the  cities  of 
Holland  had  possessed  certain  municipal  privileges,  and 
their  burghers  had  enjoyed  certain  peculiar  rights.     In 
1652,  a  modification  of  the   old  system  was  adopted  at  Great  and 
Amsterdam;  and  its  burghers  were  divided  into  the  twobuJgher- 
classes  of  "  Great"  and  "  Small."     All  those  who  paid  five  Amster- 
hundred  guilders  were  enrolled  as  Great  burghers.     They 
had  the  monopoly  of  all  offices,  and  were  exempted  from 
attainder  and  confiscation  of  goods.     The  Small  burgh- 
ers paid  only  fifty  guilders,  and  had  only  the   freedom 

*  Alb.  Rec,  XV.,  8  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  921-92C  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  315,  316 ;  DoUon's  West 
Chester,  ii.,  161. 


628  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVIII.  of  trade  and  the  privilege  of  becoming  members  of  the 
guilds.* 
"*'  '■  This  example  was  soon  followed  in  New  Amsterdam. 
Its  inhabitants,  while  they  welcomed  all  who  came  in- 
tending to  make  New  Netherland  their  permanent  home, 
were  exceedingly  jealous  of  itinerant  traders ;  and  it  had 
become  the  established  law  that  those  who  wished  to  en- 
gage in  commerce  must  keep  "fire  and  light"  in  the  prov- 
ince. Manhattan,  too,  .lad  been  declared,  in  the  charter 
of  Freedoms,  to  be  the  emporium  of  New  Netherland,  and 
had  been  invested  with  the  important  privilege  of  "sta- 
ple right."  The  residents,  however,  found  that  their  me- 
tropolitan immunities  were  constantly  infringed ;  and  ev- 
ery year  larger  numbers  of  "  Scotchmen,"  or  peddlers,  came 
over,  who,  proceeding  at  once  into  the  interior,  finished 
their  trade,  and  returned  to  Europe  without  contributing 

22  Jan.      auv  thiuof  to  the  advantage  of  the  country.    The  burgomas- 

Petitionof         •'  °     ,  p  tvt  »  i  i  r  ii 

the  author-  tcrs  and  schcpcus  of  New  Amsterdam,  thereiore,  address- 

ities  of  IT  -rii 

New  Am-  ed  a  petition  to  the  director,  setting  lorth  these  circum- 

sterdam  for  i         i   •  •  •  i  • 

burgher      stauccs,  aiid  askiug  that,  in  consideration  oi  the  burdens 

privileges. 

which  the  citizens  were  obliged  to  bear,  and  the  loyalty 
they  had  always  exhibited,  they  should  be  favored  with 
"  some  privileges."  As  the  "burgher  right"  was  "one  of 
the  most  important  privileges  in  a  well-governed  city,"  they 
prayed  that  no  persons  except  city  burghers  should  be  al- 
lowed to  carry  on  business  in  the  capital,  and  none  but 
"settled  residents"  to  trade  in  "any  quarter  hereabout, 
without  this  place." 
30  Jan.  The  provincial  government  considering  the  petition  fa- 

Concession  i     •        i     i  i  •    •  ^ 

of  Great     vorablv,  ordaiucd  that  "  the  arriving  traders,"  before  sell- 

and  Small  "^  '  ^ 

burgher-  ing  their  goods,  should  "  set  up  and  keep  an  open  store 
within  the  gates  and  walls"  of  New  Amsterdam,  and  ob- 
tain from  the  burgomasters  and  schepens  the  Common  or 
Small  burgher-right;  for  which -they  should  pay  twenty 
guilders  to  the  support  of  the  city.  "  In  conformity  to  the 
laudable  custom  of  the  city  of  Amsterdam  in  Europe,"  a 

'  Wagenaar's  Amsterdam,  i.,  583;  iii.,  141-161 ;  ante,  p.  45B.    Thi.s  distinctive  sys- 
tem, bowever,  not  working  well,  was  abolished  in  1668. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL  (399 

Great  burgher-right  was  also  established,  "for  which  those  ch.  xvm 
who  may  reques't  to  be  therein  shall  pay  fifty  guilders.    All        TIT" 
such,  and  such  only,  shall  hereafter  be  qualified  to  fill  all        '  '" 
the  city  offices  and  dignities ;  II.,  be  exempt  for  one  year 
and  six  weeks  from  watches  and  expeditions  ;  and,  III.,  be 
free  in  their  proper  persons  from  arrest  by  any  subaltern 
court  or  judicial  benches  of  this  province."    At  the  request 
of  the  municipal  authorities,  the  present  and  future  bur-  2  Feb. 
gomasters  and  schepens,  and  the  director,  counselors,  cler- uon^ ' ' " 
gymen,  and  military  officers,  with  their  male  descendants, 
were  declared  to  belong  to  the  class  of  Great- burghers.  Great 
The  class  of  Small  burghers  was  to  include  all  natives  and  smaii 
all  who  had  resided  in  the  city  a  year  and  six  weeks,  all 
who  had  married  or  should  marry  the  daughters  of  burgh- 
ers, all  who  kept  stores  or  did  business  within  the  city,  and 
all  salaried  officers  of  the  company.     Thus  absurdly  imi- 
tating an  invidious  policy,  which  the  mother  city  was  soon 
obliged  to  abandon,  Stuyvesant  attempted  to  establish  in 
New  Amsterdam  that  most  offensive  of  all  distinctions,  an 
aristocracy  founded  on  mere  wealth.* 

In  the  mean  time,  the  West  India  Company,  embarrass- 
ed by  its  losses  in  Brazil  and  Guinea,  and  heavily  in  debt 
to  the  city  of  Amsterdam  for  the  aid  which  it  had  afforded   1656. 
in  fitting  out  the  South  River  expedition,  had  offered  tooffer^oi 
transfer  to  its  burgomasters  and  schepens  Fort  Casimir  and  th"  souin 
the  lands  in  its  neighborhood,  where  the  city  might  estab-  city^Ji  aL'-'^ 
lish  a  colony.     The  proposition  was  received  with  favor,  3  Marc'il. 
as  soon  as  the  States  General  had  ratified  the  Hartford 
treaty.     Beside  the  hope  of  more  effectually  securing  the 
Dutch  possession  of  New  Netherland,  a  nobler  motive  was 
presented.      Hundreds   of  Waldenses,  escaping  from  the 
persecutions  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  had  fled  for  refuge  to 
Amsterdam.      There  they  were  cordially  received  ;    and 
the   city  government,  not  content  with  giving  them  an  29  March 
asylum,  liberally  appropriated  large  sums  from  its  treas- 30 .tui.c. 
ary  for  their  support.     With  such  materials,  the  city  of 

*  New  Amst.  Rec,  ii.,  704,  72C-724,  741-745  ;  iii.,  267-272  ;  Alb.  Rec,  vii.,  360-398 
XV.,  54  ;  nntt^,  p.  194,  243,  469.     Stf  nlso  Kent's  City  Charters,  243-216. 


Q'SO  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

I'H.  XVIII.  Amsterdam  now  undertook  to  found  a  colony  of  iU  o\vn  in 
New  Netherland.* 


1  f\^\f* 

•  o .  ,  An  agreement  was  soon  made,  by  which,  for  the  sum  of 

j2  July.  D  '      J  ' 

seven  hundred  thousand  guilders,  the  company  transferred 
to  the  city  of  Amsterdam  all  the  Dutch  territory  on  the 
South  River,  from  the  west  side  of  Christina  Kill  to  the 
"  Boomtje's  Hook,"  now  corrupted  into  "  Bombay  Hook," 

City's  col-  at  the    mouth  of  the  river.      This   region   was   named 

AmJtei.  "  Nieuwer-Amstel,"  after  one  of  the  suburbs  belonging  to 
the  city,  between  the  River  Amstel  and  the  Haerlem  Sea. 
Six  commissaries  were  appointed  by  the  burgomasters  to 
manage  the  colony,  who  were  "to  sit  and  hold  their  meet- 
ings at  the  AVest  India  House  on  Tuesdays  and  Thurs- 

conditions. days."  A  set  of  "conditions"  was  drawn  up,  offering  a 
free  passage  to  colonists,  lands  on  the  river  side  for  their 
residence,  and  provisions  and  clothing  for  one  year.  The 
city  engaged  to  send  out  "  a  proper  person  for  a  schoolmas- 
ter, who  shall  also  read  the  holy  Scriptures  in  public  and 
set  the  Psalms."  The  municipal  government  was  to  be 
regulated  "  in  the  same  manner  as  here  in  Amsterdam." 
The  colonists  were  to  be  exempted  from  taxation  for  ten 
years  ;  after  that  time  they  should  not  "  be  taxed  higher 
than  those  who  are  taxed  lowest  in  any  other  district  un- 
der the  government  of  the  AVest  India  Company  in  New 
Netherland."  Specific  regulations  were  adopted  with  re- 
spect to  trade ;  and  besides  the  recognitions  payable  to  the 
West  India  Company  on  goods  exported  from  Holland,  four 
per  centum  was  to  be  paid  in  New  Netherlands 

!•  August.  All  these  arrangements  were  ratified  and  confirmed  by 
the  States  G-eneral,  upon  condition  that  a  church  should 
be  organized  and  a  clergyman  established  as  soon  as  there 
were  two  hundred  inhabitants  in  the  colony.     Prepara- 

"  IIol.  Doc,  XV.,  1,2,  117, 118, 191  ;  Commelin's  Amstprdam,  115-117  ;  Wagenaar's  Am- 
sterdam, i.,  594  ;  Lambrechtsen,  63-65  ;  Report  ofMr.  Sidney  Lawrence  to  the  Senate  of 
New  York,  3d  February,  1844,  Sen.  Doc,  No.  42,  page  6. 

t  These  "conditions"'  are  appended  to  the  second  edition  ofVpn  der  D.^nck's  Descrip- 
tion of  New  Netherland,  which  was  published  this  year;  ante,  p.  561,  note.  Transla- 
tions are  in  Hazard,  ii.,  543  ;  i.,  N.  Y.  11.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  291  ;  ii.,  1,  238  ;  O'Call.,  ii..  328.  Ab- 
stracts are  in  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  220  ;  Dunlap,  ii.,  Appendix,  xii.  Dunlap  errs  in 
dating  them  in  1G23,  and  in  making  them  refer  to  Niw  Amsterdam. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  Q'.<] 

tions  were  immediately  made  to  organize  the  colony,  of  ch.  wm 
which  Jacob  Alrichs,  an  uncle  of  Beck,  the  vice-director      ~  ' 
at  Curaqoa,  was  appointed  director.     Martin  Kregier,  of  j^j^,^^'^^ 
New  Amsterdam,  upon  Stuyvesant's  "good  report,"  was Jij^'j.^^^'^'" 
commissioned  as  captain  of  a  company  of  sixty  soldiers,  ^  ^•^'^ 
and  Alexander  d'Hinoyossa,  who  had  formerly  served  in 
Brazil,  was  made  lieutenant.     Ordinances  were  also  pass-  9  cec 
ed  requiring  the  colonists  to  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to 
the  States  General,  the  burgomasters  of  Amsterdam,  and 
the  director  and  council  of  New  Netherland,  and  likewise 
to  promise  faithfully  to  observe  the  articles  which  defined 
their  duties  and  obligations  to  the  city.     These,  among 
other  things,  required  them  to  remain  four  years  at  New 
Amstel,  unless  they  gave  satisfactory  reasons  for  leaving, 
or  repaid,  within  the  proper  time,  the  expenses  incurred  on 
their  account. 

The  West  India  Company  informed  Stuyvesant  of  all  19  Dec. 
these  arrangements,  and  instructed  him  to  transfer  the  ter-  instruc- 
ritory  which  the  city  had  purchased  to  Alrichs  on  his  ar-  stuyve- 
rival  in  New  Netherland.     At  Forts  Christina  and  New 
Grottenburg,  "  now  called  by  us  Altona  and  the  island  of 
Kattenberg,"  he  was  to  maintain  for  the  present  a  small 
garrison.     "  The  confidence  which  we  feel,"  they  added, 
"  about  the  success  and  increase  of  this  new  colony,  and 
of  which  we  hope  to  see  some  prominent  features  next 
spring,  when  to  all  appearance  large  numbers  of  the  exiled 
Waldenses,  who  shall  be  warned,  will  flock  thither  as  to  an  wawen- 
asylum,  induces  us  to  send  you  orders  to  endeavor  to  pur- 
chase, before  it  can  be  accomplished  by  any  other  nation, 
all  that  tract  of  land  situated  between  the  South  River  and 
the  Hook  of  the  North  River,  to  provide  establishments  for 
these  emigrants."* 

About  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven  colonists  embarked  2.')  Dec. 
in  three  vessels — the  Prince  Maurice,  the  Bear,  and  the  non  oV  ci 
Flower  of  Guelder — and  set  sail  from  the  Texel  on  Christ- 
mas-day.    Evert  Pietersen,  who  had  passed  a  good  exam- 

*  Ilol.  Doc,  viii.,  138-177  ;  xt.,  6-10,  119,  121,  184,  191-20.1 ;  Alb.  Rpc  ,  iv  ,  223  ;  xviii.. 
4;)0  :  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  223,  225,  226  ;  Lambreclitsen,  6G9. 


632  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVIII.  ination  before  the  Classis,  accompanied  the  emigrants  as 

schoohnaster   and  Zieken-trooster,  "to  read  Grod's  word 

and  lead  in  singing,"  until  the  arrival  of  a  clergyman.     A 

storm  separated  the  squadron ;  and,  after  a  long  voyage, 

the  Prince  Maurice,  with  Alrichs,  Kregier,  D'Hinoyossa, 

Van  Sweringen  the  supercargo,  and  most  of  the  emigrants 

1657.   on  board,  struck  about  midnight  on  the  south  coast  of 

Shipwreck  Loug  Islaud,  at  a  place  called  "  Sicktewacky,"  or  Secon- 

irian°d"°     tague,  near  Fire  Island  Inlet.    The  next  morning,  the  crew 

and  passengers  escaped  through  the  ice  to  a  barren  shore, 

"  without  weeds,  grass,  or  timber  of  any  sort  to  make  a 

fire."     The  shipwrecked  emigrants  were  visited  before  long 

12  M;iri!i.   by  somc  of  the  neighboring  Indians,  by  whom  Alrichs  sent 

a  letter  to  Stuyvesant  imploring  help. 

Yachts  were  immediately  dispatched  from  New  Amster- 
dam, and  the  director  went  in  person  to  the  scene  of  the  dis- 
20  March,    astcr.     Tlic  emigrants  and  most  of  the  cargo  were  brought 
in  safety  to  New  Amsterdam,  where  the  other  vessels  had 
12  April,     meanwhile  arrived.     In  a  few  days,  Stuyvesant,  in  obedi- 
Fort  casi-  cncc  to  tlic  Company's  orders,  formally  transferred  to  Al- 
richs.       richs  "  the  Fortress  Casimir,  now  named  New  Amstel,  with 
all  the  lands  dependent  on  it,  in  conformity  with  our  first 
purchase  from  and  transfer  by  the  natives  to  us  on  the 
nineteenth  of  July,  1651,  beginning  at  the  west  side  of  the 
Minquas,  or  Christina  Kill,  named  in  their  language  Sus- 
pencough,  to  the  mouth  of  the  bay  or  river  included,  named 
Boomtje's  Hook,  in  the  Indian  language  Canaresse,  and 
this  as  far  in  the  country  as  the  limits  of  the  Minquas'  land." 
17  April.     A  vessel  was  immediately  chartered,  and  Alrichi^i  sailed  for 
sail  to  the  tlic  Soutli  Rivcr,  with  from  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
er.  to  one  hundred  and  eighty  emigrants.     Upon  his  arrival  at 

New  An'i-   Fort  Casimir,  Alrichs  received  from  Jacquet  a  surrender  of 
ized.  "      liis  authority,  and  the  government  of  the  colony  of  New 
Amstel  was  formally  organized.* 

The  region  north  of  Christina  Kill  remained  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  "West  India  Company,  in  obedience  to 

*  Alb.  Rec,  xii.,  405-411  ;  xv.,  124,  125;  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  229-233;  O'Call.,  ii., 
335  ;  Lond  Doc,  iv.,  173  ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  344  ;  Letter  of  Classis  of  Amst.,  25tll 
May,  1657  ;  Montanus,  124  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  131  ;  ante,  p.  529. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  633 

whose  orders  the  name  of  Fort  Christina  was  changed  to  ch.  xvm. 
that  of  "  Altona."     It  had  been  Stuyvesant's  intention  to 
continue  Jacquet  in  command  of  this  territory  ;  but  com-  ^itona. 
plaints  of  his  misgovernment  having  been  made  by  AUer-  jacquet'' 
ton  and  others,  the  director  ordered  him  to  transfer  the  by'^Hudde. 
company's  effects  to  Hudde,    This  was  done ;  and  Jacquet,  24  May. 
on  his  return  to  Manhattan,  was  arrested  and  prosecuted.* 
During  the  first  few  months  of  Alrich's  directorship.  New 
Amstel  prospered.     In  the  absence  of  a  clergyman,  the  re- 
ligious instruction  of  the  colonists  was  superintended  by 
Evert  Pietersen  the  "  Voorleezer,"  who  had  accompanied 
them  from  Holland.     The  Classis  of  Amsterdam,  however,  9  Marcu. 
soon   commissioned  Domine  Everardus  Welius,  a  young  weiius. 
man  of  much  esteem  "  in  life,  in  studies,  in  gifts,  and  in 
conversation,"  to  take  charge  of  the  congregation ;  who 
sailed  for  the  South  River  in  company  with  about  four  25  May. 
hundred  new  emigrants.     On  their  arrival,  a  church  was  21  August 
organized,  of  which  Alrichs  and  Jean  Williams  were  ap-  New  Am- 

.  stel. 

pointed  elders,  and  Pietersen  "  fore-singer,  Zieken-trooster, 
and  deacon,"  with  a  colleague.  The  municipal  govern- 
ment was  now  remodelled ;  the  town  was  laid  out ;  build- 
ings were  rapidly  erected ;  industry  promised  success ;  and 
thirty  families  were  tempted  to  emigrate  from  Manhattan 
to  the  flourishing  colony  of  New  Amstel.t 

The  Gravesend  memorial  which  Grover  had  carried  to  EngUb'a 
Cromwell  the  last  year  awakened  the  attention  of  the  gov-  territorial 
ernment  at  Whitehall;  and  a  statement  of  "the  English 
rights  to  the  northern  parts  of  America"  was  prepared,  in 
which  Cabot's  voyage  and  the  Virginia  and  New  England 
patents  were  assumed  to  give  the  English  the  "best  gen- 
eral right,"  the  Dutch  were  roundly  affirmed  to  be  intrud- 
ers, and  the  absurd  story  was  gravely  repeated  that  King 
James  had  granted  them  Staten  Island  "  as  a  watering, 
place  for  their  West  India  fleets."  It  was,  therefore,  ad- 
vised that  the  English  towns  at  the  west  of  Long  Island 

*  Alb.  R«!.,  XV.,  138,  139,  149-151,  187;  S.  Hazard,  233-236;  Acrelius,  418-121. 

t  Letter  of  Classis  of  Amstenlam,  25th  May,  1657;  Pietersen  to  Classis,  12th  August, 
1657  ;  12lh  December,  1659  ;  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  237,  247  ;  vii.,  406  ;  xii.,  417-449  ;  llol.  Doc., 
\v.,  213-252  ;  xvi.,  1&6-200 ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  336,  337  ;  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Pcnn.,  237-241. 


634  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Ch.  xviii. should  be  "very  cautious  of  making  themselves  guilty  ei- 
ther  of  ignorant  or  willful  betraying  the  rights  of  their  na- 
tion, by  their  subjecting  themselves  and  lands  to  a  foreign 
state."* 

Letter  of        A  letter  was  accordingly  addressed  bv  the  Protector  to 

Cromwell  o  »/  j 

to  English  "the  English  well-affected  inhabitants  on  Long  Island,  in 

Island.      America,"  which  Grover,  having  conveyed  to  G-ravesend, 

insisted  should  be  opened  and  read.    The  magistrates,  how- 

24  August,  ever,  declined,  until  they  had  consulted  Stuyvesant,  who  at 

once  ordered  Grover  to  be  arrested,  and  brought,  with  his 

papers,  to  New  Amsterdam.     Hearing  of  this,  the  English 

14  Sept.     in  the  neighboring  villages  called  a  meeting  in  Jamaica 

"  to  agitate  ;"  and  it  was  proposed  at  Gravesend  to  send  a 

messenger  to  inform  Cromwell  of  the  "wrongs  and  injuries 

which  we  receive  here  from  those  in  authority  over  us." 

The  director,  however,  was  neither  intimidated  nor  thrown 

30  October.  ofF  his  guard.     He  discreetly  sent  the  letter,  unopened,  to 

Stuyvesant  thc  Amsterdam  Chamber,  so  as  not  to  be  accused  by  the 

to  the  Am-  .  •i-i  ii 

sterdam  di-  Lord  Protcctor  "  of  the  crime  oi  openmg  his  letter  or  break- 
ing his  seal,"  or  to  be  censured  by  his  own  superiors  for 
"  admitting  letters  from  a  foreign  prince  or  potentate,  from 
which  rebellion  might  arise."! 
i^utheran        In  tlic  mcau  time,  the  Lutheran  congregation  at  Am- 
sent  to      sterdam  had  taken  measures  to  send  out  a  clergyman,  John 

New  Neth-  . 

eriand.  Emcstus  Goctwater,  to  organize  a  church  and  preach  at 
Manhattan.  Neither  the  West  India  Company  nor  thc 
Classis  of  Amsterdam  were  consulted.     "  AVe  can  not  yet 

7  April,  resolve,"  wrote  the  directors  to  Stuyvesant,  "to indulge  the 
Lutherans  with  greater  freedom  in  the  exercise  of  their  re- 
ligious worship  than  we  allowed  them  in  our  letter  of  the 
fourteenth  of  June,  1656."     Upon  learning  that  Goetwa- 

25  May.     tcr  had  actually  sailed,  the  Classis  informed  their  minis- 

ters at  New  Amsterdam  that  the  company's  intention  was 
to  permit  "  every  one  to  have   freedom  within  his   own 

*  Thurloe,  v.,  8I-S3  ;  Hazard,  i.,  602-605 ;  ante,  p.  620.  The  question  of  title  has  been 
considered,  ante,  p.  4, 44, 96, 144, 169.  It  may  be  added  that,  in  the  opinion  of  Louis  XIV., 
the  right  of  the  Dutch  was  "  the  best  founded,"  and  for  the  English  to  call  them  "  intrud- 
ers" was  "a  species  of  mockery." — Let.  D'Estrades,  iii.,  340. 

t  Hoi.  Doc,  ix.,  165-168,  269,  271  ;  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  265;  Gravesend  Records;  O'Call., 
ii.,  342-345. 


PETER  STUYVESANT.  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  635 

dwelling  to  serve  G-od  in  such  a  manner  as  his  religion  re-  ch.  xviii. 
quires,  but  without  authorizing  any  public  meetings  or  con- 
venticles."  ^^^^• 

The  arrival  of  Goetwater  at  New  Amsterdam  was  the  e  juiy. 
signal  for  fresh  troubles.     The  Dutch  clergymen  represent-  at°N<^v  "'' 
ed  the  inconvenience  of  allowing  the  Lutherans  to  organ-  danf.  ^'^' 
ize  a  church ;  and  Goetwater  was  cited  before  the  civil  au- 
thorities.    Having  frankly  admitted  that  "he  had  no  other 
commission  than  a  letter  from  the  Lutheran  Consistory  at 
Amsterdam,"  he  was  directed  not  to  hold  any  meeting  or 
do  any  clerical  service,  but  regulate  his  conduct  according 
to  the  placards  of  the  province  against  private  conventicles. 
At  the  instance  of  the  Established  clergy,  he  was  soon  aft-  4  sept. 
erward  ordered  to  return  to  Holland.    Against  this  the  Lu-  return^. 
therans  protested  in  vain ;  and  Goetwater's  ill  health  alone 
induced  the  director  to  suspend  the  execution  of  his  harsh  16  October 
decree.* 

New  England  had,  meanwhile,  been  maturing  her  sys- 
tem of  intolerance,  and  "  Laud  was  justified  by  the  men 
whom  he  had  wronged."     Among  the  independent  sects  to  The  people 

CiiUed 

which  the  political  troubles  in  England  had  given  rise,  Quakers. 
none  had  gone  quite  so  far  as  "the  people  called  Quakers." 
Under  the  preaching  of  George  Fox,  the  son  of  a  weaver 
at  Drayton,  numerous  converts  to  a  benevolent  faith  had 
declared  their  emancipation  from  the  creeds  and  ceremo- 
nies of  all  existing  ecclesiastical  organizations.  The  dis- 
ciples of  Fox  soon  found  their  way  to  America  ;  and  their 
fervid  enthusiasm  alarmed  the  governments  of  New  En- 
gland. Several  of  them  were  imprisoned  at  Boston,  and 
"thrust  out  of  the  jurisdiction."  A  special  statute  was 
passed  that  none  of  the  "  cursed  sect"  should  be  brought 
into  Massachusetts.  This  was  followed  by  a  law  forbid-  n  October, 
ding  all  persons  to  "entertain  and  conceal"  a  known  Qua- or Massa- 
ker ;  and  the  unhappy  sectarians  were  threatened,  on  con- 
viction, with  the  loss  of  ears,  and  with  having  their  tongues 
bored  with  a  red-hot  iron.     New  Plymouth,  Connecticut, 

*  Alb   Rec,  iv.,  2.34;  xiv.,  223,  405;  Cor.  Classi.s  Amst. ;  Letters  of  22d  May,  5th  auj 
1 1th  August,  22d  October    1607  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  lOt ;  ante,  p.  017.  626. 


636  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  xviii.  and  New  Haven  adopted  similar  statutes.  But  Rhode  Isl- 
~7~  and,  nobly  true  to  her  grand  principle  of  religious  liberty, 
,3  og'^p^Jr  steadily  refused.  "These  people,"  she  replied  to  Massa- 
ofRhode^  chusetts,  "begin  to  loathe  this  place,  for  that  they  are  not 
Island.      opposed  by  the  civil  authority,"*' 

Unhappily,  the  spirit  of  Massachusetts  rather  than  that 

of  Rhode  Island  seems  to  have  moved  the  government  of 

fi  August.  New  Netherland.    An  Ensflish  ship,  the  "  Woodhouse,"  ar- 

Quakers  o  i  '  ' 

arrive  at    rivcd  at  Ncw  Amsterdam,  with  a  number  of  Quakers  on 
sterdam.     board,  among  whom  were  several  of  those  who  had  been 
banished  from  Boston  the  previous  autumn.     Two  of  these 
persons,  Dorothy  Waugh  and  Mary  Witherhead,  began  to 
preach  publicly  in  the  streets,  for  which  breach  of  the 
law  they  were  arrested  and  imprisoned.     A  few  days  aft- 
erward they  were  discharged ;  and  the  ship,  with  most  of 
14  August,  her  Q,uaker  passengers,  sailed  onward,  through  Hell-gate, 
Rhode  isi-  to  Rhodc  Islaud,  "where  all  kinds  of  scum  dwell,  for  it  is 
nothing  else  than  a  sink  for  New  England."! 

Case  of  But  Robcrt  Hodgson,  one  of  the  Quakers,  wishing  to  re- 

Robert  ••1X\1-  T  Tll« 

Hodgson,  mam  m  the  Dutch  provmce,  went  over  to  Long  Island.  At 
Flushing  he  was  well  received.  On  visiting  Heemstede, 
however,  where  Denton,  the  Presbyterian  clergyman,  min- 
istered, Hodgson  was  arrested  and  committed  to  prison, 
whence  he  was  transferred  to  the  dungeon  of  Fort  Amster- 
dam. Upon  his  examination  before  the  council,  he  was 
convicted,  and  sentenced  to  labor  two  years  at  a  wheel- 
barrow, along  with  a  negro,  or  pay  a  fine  of  six  hundred 
guilders.  After  a  few  days  confinement,  he  was  chained 
to  a  barrow,  and  ordered  to  v/ork ;  and  upon  his  refusal , 
was  beaten  by  a  negro  with  a  tarred  rope  until  he  fell 
down.  At  length,  after  frequent  scourgings  and  solitary 
imprisonments,  the  suffering  Quaker  was  liberated,  at  the 

*  Hazard,  ii.,  347,  349,  551-554  ;  Col.  Laws  Mass.,  122,  123  ;  Col.  Rec.  Conn.,  283, 2W; 
Hutchinson,  i.,  181,  454  ;  Bancroft,  i.,  451-453  ;  ii.,  326-354  ;  Hildreth,  i.,  401-106. 

t  Letter  of  Megapolensis  and  Drisius  to  Classis,  14th  August,  1657;  Hutchinson,  i., 
180,  181 ;  Besse,  ii.,  182;  Hazard,  Reg.  Penn.,  vi.,  174  ;  Thompson's  L.  I.,  ii.,  73,  288. 
The  Quakers  who  came  to  New  Netherland  in  the  Woodhouse  were  Christopher  Holder, 
John  Copeland,  Sarah  Gibbons,  Dorothy  Waugh,  and  Mary  Witherhead,  who  had  been 
banished  from  Boston  the  year  before,  and  Humphrey  Norton,  Robert  Hodgson,  Richard 
Dowdney,  William  Robinson,  and  Mary  Clarke. 


PETER  STU  YVES  ANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  (3^7 

intercession  of  the  director's  sister,  Anna,  widow  of  Nicho-  ch.  xviii 
las  Bayard,  and  ordered  to  leave  the  province. 

In  defiance  of  the  ordinance  against  conventicles,  Henry 
Townsend,  one  of  the  leading  inhabitants  of  the  new  set- 
tlement of  Rustdorp,  or  Jamaica,  had  ventured  to  hold 
meetings  at  his  house.     For  this  offense  he  was  sentenced  ]  j  sepi. 
to  pay  an  "  amende"  of  eight  Flemish  pounds,  or  to  leave  Townsend 
the  province  within  six  weeks,  under  pain  of  corporeal  pun- 
ishment.    This  was  followed  by  a  proclamation  somewhat 
resembling  the  enactments  of  Massachusetts.     Any  person  Prociama- 
entertaining  a  Quaker  for  a  single  night  was  to  be  fined  against 
fifty  pounds,  of  which  one  half  was  to  go  to  the  informer ; 
and  vessels  bringing  any  (Quaker  into  the  province  were 
to  be  confiscated.    Upon  its  publication  at  Flushing,  where 
Townsend  formerly  resided  and  had  many  friends,  a  spirit- 
ed remonstrance  to  Stuyvesant  was  drawn  up  by  Edward 
Hart  the  town  clerk,  and  signed  by  the  inhabitants.    They  a-  d.c. 
refused  to  persecute  or  punish  the  Quakers,  because  *'thes;raTico(. 
law  of  love,  peace,  and  liberty  in  the  state,  extending  to 
Jews,  Turks,  and  Egyptians,  as  they  are  considered  the 
sons  of  Adam,  which  is  the  glory  of  the  outward  ?tate  of 
Holland,  so  love,  peace,  and  liberty,  extending  to  all  in 
Christ  Jesus,  condemns  hatred,  war,  and  bondage."     Ap- 
pealing to  their  charter,  they  declared  that  they  would 
not  lay  violent  hands  upon  any  who  ra'.ght  come  among 
them  in  love.     This  remonstrance,  bearing  the  names  of 
twenty-nine  of  the  inhabitants,  and  of  Henry  and  John 
Townsend  of  Jamaica,  was  canicd  t'3  New  Amsterdam  by 
Tobias  Feake,  the  schout  of  Flashing. 

Stuyvesant's  indignation  ^a.i  instantly  aroused.     Feake   I606. 
was  arrested  ;  and  Farringtoa  and  Noble,  two  of  the  mag-  Mag!"^'^"^' 
istrates,  with  Hart,  the  town  clerk  of  Flushing,  were  sum-  Fuisuing 
moned  to  Fort  AmsteiJam.     Noble  and  Farrington,  crav-^""'*  '' 
ing  pardon  for  having  subscribed  the  remonstrance,  were 
forgiven  upon  promising  good  behavior;  and  Hart,  its  au-iojanuaij 
thor,  after  three  weeks  imprisonment,  was  pardoned  upon 
his  humble  submission  and  the  intercession  of  several  of  23Jana.ir3 
his  neighbors      The  weight  of  Stuyvesant's  vengeance  fell 


638  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVIII.  upon  the  schout.     In  the  face  of  the  placards  of  the  direct- 

or  and  council,  Feake  had  driven  lods^insrs  to  "that  heret- 
165S  a     o 

ical  and  abominable  sect  called  Q,uakers,"  and  he  had  been 

foremost  in  composing  and  procuring  signatures  to  "a  se- 
26JanMry.  ditious  and  detestable  chartabel."  He  was,  therefore,  sen- 
tenced to  be  degraded  from  his  office,  and  to  pay  a  fine  of 
two  hundred  guilders,  or  be  banished.  To  prevent  future 
disorders  "  arising  from  town  meetings,"  Stuyvesant  soon 
afterward  determined  to  modify  the  municipal  franchise 
which  Kieft's  patent  had  assured  to  Flushing.  It  was, 
26 March,  therefore,  decreed  that  seven  of  the  "best,  most  prudent, 
tionof  and  most  respectable"  inhabitants  should  be  chosen  as  a 
charter.  "  Vrocdschap,"  or  board  of  counselors,  with  whom  the 
schout  and  magistrates  should  consult,  and  that  whatever 
they  might  all  agree  upon  respecting  the  local  affairs  of  the 
town  should  be  "  submitted  to  by  the  inhabitants  in  gen- 
eral." As  there  had  now  been  no  "  good,  pious,  and  ortho- 
dox" minister  there  since  Doughty's  departure  for  Virginia, 
the  authorities  were  directed  to  procure  a  proper  clergy- 
man, to  be  supported  by  a  tax  of  twelve  stuyvers  on  every 
morgen  of  land ;  and  all  persons  who  should  not  submit  to 
this  arrangement  were  to  dispose  of  their  property  and 
leave  the  place.* 

These  severe  measures  against  Flushing  did  not  check 
the  spread  of  Quakerism  elsewhere.  Henry  Townsend,  of 
Rustdorp,  undeterred  by  his  former  sentence,  was  again 
brought  before  the  council,  and,  confessing  that  he  had  dis- 
15  Jan.  regarded  the  placards  of  the  government,  was  sentenced  to 
be  fined  one  hundred  pounds  Flemish.  Upon  his  refusal 
to  pay  this  fine,  Townsend  was  imprisoned  in  the  dungeon 
of  Fort  Amsterdam,  until  his  friends  procured  his  release 
"  by  giving  the  oppressors  two  young  oxen  and  a  horse." 
ora^esend.  The  doctriues  of  Fox  found  a  welcome  reception  among  the 
Anabaptists  of  Grravesend;  and  John  Tilton,  its  town  clerk, 
convicted  of  lodging  a  Quaker  woman,  was  fined  twelve 
Flemish  pounds.     Viewing  the  "raising  up  and  propaga- 

*Alb.  Rec,  xiv  .1-68,169-173,275;  xix.,  275;  Sewel's  Hist.,  217-219;  Besse,  ii,  1S3- 
18-1 ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  347-353  ;  Thompson's  L.  I.,  ii.,  72-74,  288-292  ;  ante,  p.  410. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  639 

ting  a  new,  unheard-of,  abominable  heresy  called  Q,uakers,"  ch.  xvin 
as  a  sign  of  G-od's  judgment,  the  director  and  council  pro-  ~~ 
claimed  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  throughout  the  pi'ov-gg  ,a„^* 
inoe.    At  Heemstede,  where  the  Presbyterians  had  already  proeiauiTed. 
shown  their  zeal  against  Hodgson,  the  magistrates,  observ- 
ing many  seduced  from  "the  true  worship  and  service  of 
Grod,"  ordained  that  no  person  should  entertain  or  have  any  13  Apni. 
conversation  with  the  people  called  (Quakers.    But  the  per- 
secuted sectarians,  refused  admittance  into  the  houses,  per- 
sisted in  holding  their  meetings  in  the  woods.     The  wives 
of  Joseph  Scott  and  Francis  "Weeks  were  presently  arraign- 18  April. 
ed  before  the  village  magistrates  for  attending  a  conventi- 
cle, "  where  there  were  two  Q,uakers,"  and  were  each  fined 
.twenty  guilders.     Symptoms  of  disaffection  also  appear- 
ed at  Breuckelen ;  and  three  persons  were  summoned  by  26  March. 

Breuck.8- 

Tonneman,  the  schout,  for  not  contributing  to  the  support  len. 
of  Domine  Polhemus.  The  excuses  they  pleaded — that 
they  did  not  belong  to  the  Established  Church,  and  did 
not  understand  Dutch — were  pronounced  "frivolous,"  andaApru. 
each  was  fined  twelve  guilders.  These  measures  against 
sectarianism  and  non-conformity  were  accompanied  by  an 
ordinance  setting  forth  that  as  it  had  become  common  for  is  Jan. 

rr  ■  f  •  c  1      •     1  Ordinance 

parties  to  put  on  marrymg  for  a  long  tmie  after  their  banns  respecting 

1  1       1     •        1  1       •  •        marriages. 

had  been  proclaimed,  "  which  is  directly  in  contravention 
of,  and  contrary  to  the  excellent  order  and  customs  of  our 
Fatherland,"  all  persons  must  thenceforward  be  married 
within  one  month  after  the  proclamation  of  their  banns,  un- 
less they  could  give  a  good  excuse.* 

The  beginning  of  this  year  was  marked  by  a  very  im-  New  .\m- 

^  1  ■  »  1  T      sterdam 

portant  concession  to  the  citizens  of  New  Amsterdam,  its  airairs. 
burgomasters  and  schepens  were  at  last  allowed  to  nom- 
inate a  double  number  of  persons,  from  whom  the  new  mag- 
istrates were  to  be  chosen  by  the  director.  It  was  now 
found  that  the  division  of  the  citizens  into  two  classes  pro- 
duced inconvenience,  in  consequence  of  the  small  number 
who,  by  being  enrolled  as  Great  burghers,  were  eligible  to 

*  Alb.  Rec  .  .\iv.,  12-20,  108-184;  New  Amst.  Rcc,  i.,  79,  80;  iii.,  25,  20,  8^-87;  Cor. 
Classis  Amst. ,  Besse,  ii.,  196,  197 ;  Thompson's  L.  I.,  ii.,  11,  12,  291. 


640        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 

ch.  XVIII.  office ;  and  the  government  was  obliged  to  enlarge  thai^un- 
popular  order.     A  double  list  of  candidates  was  then  sub- 
as  Jan.   '  niitted  to  Stuyvesant,  who  sent  it  back  the  next  day,  ob- 
^loaiT'     je^'ting  that  it  was  not  properly  signed,  and  that  the  nom- 
uafir       ination  had  not  been  made  in  the  presence  of  the  schout. 
31  Jan.      r£^Q  informality  was  corrected ;  and  the  director  and  coun- 
2  Feb.       cil  selected  and  confirmed  the  new  magistrates  from  the 
candidates  proposed  by  the  municipal  authorities.    No  con- 
cession, however,  was  made  respecting  a  separate  schout, 
which  office  De  Sille  continued  to  fill  for  two  years  longer. 
Foreign  Foreign  residents  had  now  become  so  numerous,  that  the 

government  thought  it  necessary  to  order  that  the  procla- 
mations against  smuggling  should  be  translated  into  French 
and  English.     New  Amsterdam,  however,  though  its  com-* 
mercial  prosperity  seemed  to  be  assured,  was  by  no  means  a 
Fire  appa-  well-regulatcd  city.     Most  of  its  houses  were  wooden ;  and 
the  risk  of  destruction  appeared  so  great,  that  the  burgo- 
masters and  schepens  were  authorized  to  demand  one  bea- 
ver, or  its  equivalent,  from  each  householder,  to  pay  for  two 
hundred  and  fifty  leather  fire-buckets,  to  be  procured  in 
Rattle       Holland,  and  for  hooks  and  ladders.     A  "rattle  watch,"  to 
do  duty  from  nine  o'clock  at  night  until  morning  drum- 
I'opiiiar  ed-  beat,  was  also  established.    The  education  of  youth,  though 
not  neglected,  had  hitherto  been  imperfect;  and  volunteer 
instructors  were  not  regarded  with  favor.     Jacob  Corlaer, 
who  had  undertaken  the  duty  of  a  teacher,  was  interdict- 
ed by  Stuyvesant,  notwithstanding  the  remonstrance  of  the 
city  authorities,  because  he  had  presumed  to  take  the  office 
on  himself  without  authority  from  the  provincial  govern- 
ment.    The  attention  of  the  "West  India  Company  had  al- 
ready been  called  by  Domine  Drisius  to  the  advantage  of 
establishing  a  Latin  school  at  New  Amsterdam,  and  the 
project  had  been  favorably  received.    In  exhibiting  the  con- 
dition and  wants  of  the  city  to  the  Amsterdam  Chamber, 
19  Sept.     the  burgomasters  and  schepens  represented  that  the  inhab- 
schooide-  itants  were  desirous  to  have  their  children  instructed  in 
people.*    ^  the  most  useful  languages,  especially  Latin,  and  were  will- 
ing to  build  a  school-house.     As  the  nearest  place  where 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  641 

thcj  -could  send  them  for  classical  instruction  was  Boston,  ch.  xvm. 
they  urged  that  a  suitable  master  of  a  Latin  school  should 
be  sent  over ;  "  not  doubting  but,  were  such  a  person  here, 
many  of  the  neighboring  places  would  send  their  children 
hither."  Thus  New  Amsterdam  might  "finally  attain  to 
an  academy,  whereby  this  place  arriving  at  great  splen- 
dor, your  honors  shall  have  the  reward  and  praise."* 

To  promote  agriculture,  and  establish  "  a  place  of  amuse-  4  March. 

.  New  Haer- 

ment  for  the  citizens  of  New  Amsterdam,"  the  government  lem. 
resolved  to  form  a  village,  to  be  called  "  New  Haerlem," 
at  the  northern  part  of  Manhattan  Island,  "in  the  vicinity 
of  the  lands  of  Jochem  Pietersen  Kuyter,  deceased."  Large 
privileges  were  offered  to  persons  disposed  to  settle  them- 
selves there;  and  a  good  road  was  to  be  made,  "so  that  it 
may  be  made  easy  to  come  hither  and  return  to  that  vil- 
lage on  horseback  or  in  a  wagon."  A  ferry  to  Long  Isl-  Road  and 
and  was  to  be  established,  so  that  correspondence  with  the 
English  mif^ht  be  encouraged  ;  a  court  was  to  be  or^an- 
ized;  and  "a  good  orthodox  clergyman"  was  to  be  settled 
as  soon  as  the  place  should  contain  twenty-five  families. 
It  was  more  than  two  years,  however,  before  New  Haer- 
lem contained  inhabitants  enough  to  entitle  it  to  the  pat- 
ent which  Stuyvesant  promised.t 

Staten  Island  and  the  country  in  its  neighborhood  con-  staten  isi- 
tinued  to  feel  the  eflfects  of  the  Indian  massacre  of  1655  ;  '^" 
and  Melyn,  leaving  New  Netherland,  from  the  authorities 
of  which  he  had  sufTered  so  much  injustice,  took  an  oath 
of  fidelity  to  the  government  of  New  Haven.     Van  de  Ca-   1657. 
pellen,  however,  sent  out  fresh  colonists,  and  endeavored '' ^^'^''' 
to  encourage  the  former  settlers  to  return  to  their  deserted 
homes.    To  secure  the  good-will  of  the  savages,  Van  Dinck- 10  juu , 
lagen,  his  agent,  repurchased  from  the  sachems  of  Tappan,  ed  from  tue 
Hackinsack,  and  its  neighborhood,  their  hereditary  rights 
to  the  whole  of  the  island,  which  they  called  "  Eghquaous," 
and  concluded  with  them  a  treaty  of  peace  and  alliance, 
"  with  submission  to  the  courts  of  justice  at  Hospating, 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  268  ;  xiv.,  65,  87-99,  233  ;   New  Amst.  Rce.,  i.,  73,  74  ;  iii.,  46-54,  87, 
88,  230-234,  33G-339.        t  Alb.  Rec,  vii.,  420-422  ;  .\iv.,  130-133,  422  ;  xxiv.,  368,  369. 

Ss 


642        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

CH.  XVIII.  near  Hackingsack,  on  Waerkimins- Connie,  in  New  Nether- 

land,"     This  transaction  thwarted  the  policy  of  the  West 
1657  •  . 

■  India  directors,  who  insisted  that  all  the  land  titles  should 

pass  through  them  or  their  provincial  authorities,     Stuy- 
•22  Dec       vesant  was  accordingly  ordered  to  declare  Van  Dinckla- 
gen's  purchase  void ;  to  procure  for  the  company  the  In- 
dian title ;  and  then  to  convey  as  much  land  to  Van  de  Ca- 
pellen  as  he  might  require.* 
1658.       In  order  to  hasten  the  settlement  of  the  country  on  the 
Purchase    "^^"^st  Side  of  the  North  River,  and  quiet  douhts  respecting 
"jNeT"'  title,  Stuy vesant  formally  purchased  from  the  Indians  all 
Jersey.      ^^iq  territory  now  known  as  Bergen,  in  New  Jersey,  "begin- 
ning from  the  great  rock  above  Wiehackan,  and  from  there 
right  through  the  land,  until  above  the  island  Sikakes,  and 
from  there  to  the  Kill  van  Col,  and  so  along  to  the  Con- 
stable's Hook,  and  thence  again  to  the  rock  above  Wie- 
Gamoene-  hackan,"     The  farmers  at  "  Gramoenepa,"  or  Commuuipa, 

pa,  or  Com-  .  , 

munipa.  who  had  bccn  forced  to  desert  their  settlements  in  1655, 
now  petitioned  to  be  restored  to  their  former  homes.  The 
director  promptly  complied  with  their  request ;  but,  to 
guard  against  future  danger  from  the  savages,  required 
them  to  concentrate  their  dwellings,  so  that  a  village 
might  eventually  be  incorporated  there,! 

20  May.  The  Wcst  India  Company,  having  now  been  informed 

Letter  of  .  .  ^ 

the  West    of  Stuyvesant's  proceedings  against  Goetwater,  approved 
pany  re-     of  -what  had  bceii  done,  "  though  it  might  have  been  per- 

specting  '  a  a         ^  i 

the  Luther-  formed  in  a  more  gentle  way,"  As  the  chief  reason  why 
the  Lutherans  wished  to  separate  themselves  from  the  pro- 
vincial Church  was  the  use  of  a  "new  formulary"  of  bap- 
tism, it  was  recommended  that  the  old  Liturgy,  "adopted 
in  the  times  of  the  Reformation,"  be  followed  as  less  offens- 
Moderation  ivc ;  and  that  more  moderate  measures  should  be  employ- 
enjoine  .  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^^^^  thosc  of  othcr  pcrsuasious  may  not  be  fright- 
ened away  through  such  a  preciseness  in  the  public  Re- 
formed Church  there,  but  by  attending  its  services  may 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  225,  258,  259;  viii.,  101 ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  425,  426,  575.  Van  Dincklagen 
died  probably  in  the  autumn  or  winter  of  1657  ;  certainly  before  the  2d  April,  1658. 

t  Alb.  Rec,  xiv.,  27,  28,  82,  83  ;  New  Amst.  Rec,  ii.,  212  ;  iii.,  143 ;  Whitehead's  East 
Jersey,  20,  21 ;  New  Jersey  Bill  in  Chancery,  1745,  p.  5  ;  ante,  p.  537, 


PETER  STUYVESAXT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  G43 

in  time  be  attracted  and  gained."    And  in  subsequent  dis-  ch.  xvm 
patches  the  directors,  wishing  that  nothing  should  be  left  .^ 

untried  to  win  the  Lutherans  "by  moderation  and  forbear-  ]QJ^^'„^ 
ance,"  ordered  that  the  "old  formulary,  word  for  word," i^'^y*^,™";. 
should  be  used  in  the  New  Netherland  churches.  *'*"■ 

These  instructions  were  communicated  by  Stuy vesant  lo  August. 
to  the  Dutch  clergymen  at  New  Amsterdam ;  who,  feeling 
that  they  were  unjustly  accused  of  "  too  great  preciseness," 
drew  up  an  elaborate  defense,  which  was  submitted  to  the  23  August. 
director  and  council.     The  question,  however,  being  one  of 
an  ecclesiastical  nature,  the  whole  subject  was  referred  to  24  sept. 
the  Classis  of  Amsterdam.     In  their  letters  to  the  Classis,  tions^'orth-? 
Megapolensis  and  Drisius  gave  an  interesting  account  of  at  New 
the  state  of  religion  in  the  province  ;  and,  in  view  of  the  dam. 
rapid  growth  of  other  sects,  earnestly  entreated  that  "good 
Dutch  clergymen"  should  be  speedily  sent  over ;  as,  be- 
sides themselves,  Schaats  at  Beverwyck,  Polhemus  at  Mid- 
wout,  and  Welius  at  New  Amstel,  were  now  the  only  min- 
isters of  the  Reformed  Church  in  New  Netherland. 

Scarcely  had  these  letters  been  dispatched  before  three  30  sept. 
persons,  "suspected  of  being  Quakers,"  came  over  the  river  from  com- 
from  G-amoenepa  to  New  Amsterdam,  and  were  brought 
before  the  director  and  council  for  examination.  Their  par- 
ticular offense  seems  to  have  been  that  they  had  entered  the 
court  with  their  heads  covered.  As  they  had  committed 
no  other  impropriety,  they  were  merely  ordered  to  be  sent 
back  to  Communipa.  They  then  asked  to  be  allowed  to 
go  to  New  England.  But  Stuy  vesant,  unwilling,  perhaps, 
to  offend  his  Puritan  neighbors,  peremptorily  refused,  and 
warned  them  not  to  return  to  New  Amsterdam.* 

The  Jesuit  missions  in  Western  New  York  had,  mean- 
while, undergone  great  vicissitudes.  Leaving  Chaumonot 
at  Onondaga,  Dablon  returned  to  Canada  to  urge  the  es- 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  266,  275,  277;  xiv.,  223,  369,  405  ;  Cor.  01.  Amst. ;  Letter  of  Megapo- 
iensis  and  Drisius,  24th  September,  1658.  In  another  letter  of  25th  September,  Megapo- 
U.nsis  recommended  to  the  Classis  his  son  Samuel,  then  "  going  into  his  25th  year,"  who, 
after  studying  Latin  and  English  at  the  "  Academy  of  New  England  in  Cambridge,"  now 
went  to  the  Fatherland  to  complete  his  education  at  the  University  of  Utrecht.  After 
taking  his  degrees  in  Theology  and  in  Medicine,  Samuel  was  ordained  to  the  ministiy, 
and  returned  to  New  Netherland  in  1664  ;  post,  p.  73C. 


644  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVIII.  taLlishment  of  a  French  colony  among  the  Iroquois.  The 
governor  yielded  a  ready  assent,  and  Father  Le  Mercier, 
2  March  '  ^^®  supcrior  general,  accompanied  by  Dallon  and  five  other 
sfon'at™^'  niissionaries,  with  fifty  Frenchmen  under  the  command  of 
i7"May?*'  ^^®  Sicur  Dupuys,  set  out  for  Onondaga.     Entering  Lake 

11  July.      G-enentaha,  on  the  shores  of  which  they  designed  to  pitch 

their  camp,  they  remarked  the  salt  fountains  on  the  east- 
ern side,  where  in  the  spring  there  gathered  "  so  great  a 
quantity  of  pigeons,  that  thousands  are  caught  of  a  morn> 
ing.  A  grand  salute  of  five  pieces  of  cannon,  breaking  the 
silence  of  the  forest,  announced  their  arrival  to  "  the  an- 

12  July,      cients  of  the  country."     Formal  possession  was  taken  in 

the  name  of  Christ ;  cabins  were  soon  constructed  for  the 
17  July.      French  colonists  ;  and  a  redoubt,  the  ruins  of  which  were 
yet  visible  fifty  years  ago,  was  built  on  an  eminence  com- 
manding the  eastern  shore  of  the  lake.    At  the  grand  coun- 
24  July,     cil,  the  superior,  Le  Mercier,  and  Chaumonot,  "  who  spoke 
the  Iroquois  language  as  well  as  the  natives  of  the  coun- 
try," explained  the  Roman  faith  ;  and  hope  whispered  that 
St.  Mary's,  "  Saint  Mary's,  of  G-enentaha,"  was  to  be  the  pledge  of 
taha.         union  between  Onondaga  and  Christendom. 
Opposition       Tlic  Mohawk  delegates  to  the  grand  council  of  the  con- 
hawks',      federation,  disliking  the  alliance  between  the  Onondagas 
and  the  Canadians,  "  made  a  harangue  full  of  sneers  and 
Friendship  ridiculc  agaiust  the  French."     But  the  Cayugas  sought  in- 
yugas,    '  struction  in  the  faith  ;  and  Father  Rene  Mesnard  and  two 
and  sene-  Frenchmen  were  sent  to  their  villages.     The  Oneidas,  too, 
asked  for  a  teacher ;  and  early  the  next  year,  Chaumonot 
passed  on  toward  the  Senecas,  in  the  hope  of  founding  a 
permanent  mission.     Thus  France  pushed  her  influence 
westward,  beyond  the  beautiful  valleys  of  Onondaga  ;  and 
the  Jesuit  Fathers  carried  the  cross  from  the  banks  of  tho 
Feelings  of  Mohawk  to  the  borders  of  the  Genesee.     The  unjealous 
colonists.    Dutch  colonists  rejoiced  at  their  settlement  in  those  coun- 
tries, and  wished  to  bring  them  "  horses  and  other  things." 
The  Amsterdam  directors,  however,  viewing  the  presence 
ofthtwestof  the  Jesuits  in  the  West  with  less  favor,  instructed  Stuy- 
pany.^°""  vesant  to  be  upon  his  guard. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  645 

But  supplies  from  Q,uebec  soon  began  to  fail ;  and  the  ch.  xvm 
savages,  finding  that  they  received  no  presents,  relaxed      „ 
their  regard  for  Christianity  as  they  withdrew  their  affec- 
tions from  the  French.     The  warlike  spirit  of  the  Iroquois 
was  unchanged.     The  Eries  suffered  under  their  exterm- 
inating wrath  ;  several  Huron  converts  were  massacred  ;  August 
and  three  Frenchmen  were  surprised  by  a  band  of  Onei- 
das  near  Montreal.     A  general  conspiracy  seemed  to  have 
been  formed  to  cut  off  the  Jesuit  missionaries.     D'Aille-  Novcuiher 
boust,  who  had  succeeded  De  Lauzon  in  the  government  quois  i^gam 
of  Canada,  retaliated  by  imprisoning  all  the  Iroquois  with- 
in his  province.     This  step  produced  a  violent  commotion 
among  the  cantons  ;   but  the  wary  warriors,  postponing 
their  vengeance,  entreated  Father  Le  Moyne,  who  was 
now  among  the  Mohawks,  to  go  to  Quebec  and  intercede 
for  their  captive  countrymen.* 

Le  Moyne,  however,  instead  of  going  to  Canada,  passed   1658. 
the  winter  in  New  Nether.land.     He  had  frequently  been  ^f New"'' 
to  Fort  Orange  with  the  Mohawks  ;  and  now  took  the  op-  i^!^^' 
portunity  to  make  a  first  visit  to  New  Amsterdam,  where 
a  number  of  Roman  Catholics  were  residing.     During  his 
stay  at  the  Dutch  capital,  he  formed  a  warm  friendship  ins  inti.nH 

.  .      .  re  cywitliMo 

with  Megapolensis,  whose  early  missionary  efforts  among  gapwiensis 
the  Mohawks  led  him  to  look  with  lively  interest,  if  not 
with  entire  sympathy,  on  the  zealous  labors  of  the  Jesuit 
fathers.  On  this  occasion,  Le  Moyne  communicated  to  his 
friend  an  account  of  his  visit,  in  1654,  to  the  "salt  fount- 
ains" at  Onondaga.  In  detailing  this  information  to  the 
Classis  of  Amsterdam,  however,  the  Domine  could  not 
help  adding,  somewhat  uncourteously,  "I  will  not  debate 
whether  this  is  true,  or  whether  it  is  a  Jesuit  lie."t 

Stuyvesant  availed  himself  of  Le  Moyne's  presence  to 
obtain,  through  his  influence,  a  permission  from  the  gov- 

•  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  222;  Rflation,  1G55-C,  1056-7;  Creuxius,  770;  Charlevoix,  i.,  322- 
■528;  Dancroft,  Hi.,  144,  145;  Clarli's  Onondaga,  i.,  152-179;  ii.,  146,  147  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N. 
Y.,  i.,  45;  ante,  p.  012. 

t  Lelters  of  Megapolensis  to  Classis  of  Amsterdam,  of  24th  and  28th  September,  1658  ; 
ante,  p.  592.  These  letters  contain  interesting  details  about  the  Mohawks,  or,  as  "  they 
call  themselves,  Kayingehaga,"  the  restoration  of  Jogues'  mi.ssal,  ritual,  &c.,  and  the 
zealous  efforts  of  Father  Le  Moyne  to  cotrvert  his  Dutch  elerical  friend  to  the  Roman  faitli. 


646        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Cm.  XVIII.  ernor  of  Canada  for  Dutch  vessels  to  trade  in  the  Samt 
~~  Lawi-ence.     D'Ailleboust  promptly  wrote  to  the  father  that, 
IS  Feb       ^^  view  of  the  friendship  between  the  Netherlands  and 
belwe'eT*  France,  the  Dutch  might  open  a  commerce  with  Canada 
^^^^^^®^'^"  whenever  they  pleased,  provided  they  refrained  frjm  trad- 
canada.     jj^g  -yyiti^  i\^q  savagcs,  and  from  the  public  exercise,  on 
shore,  of  "  the  religion  which  is  contrary  to  the  Roman." 
'  April.      The  governor's  letter  was  immediately  sent  to  New  Am- 
sterdam by  the  kind-hearted  father,  who  was  then  at  Fort 
Orange,     The  merchants  of  New  Amsterdam  hastened  to 
avail  themselves  of  this  opportunity  to  extend  their  com- 
•2  July.       merce  :  and  a  bark  was  presently  cleared  for  Quebec,  with 
a  cargo  upon  which  all  duties  were  remitted,  in  considera- 

f '"t         tion  of  its  being  the  "first  voyage"  from  Manhattan  to  Can- 
voyage.  °  . 

ada.    But  the  unlucky  pioneer  vessel,  in  entering  the  Saint 

Lawrence,  was  wrecked  on  Anticosti. 

February.       In  thc  mean  time,  the  French  colonists  of  Onondaga  had 

Di.stress  of  ,  •     ,  ,-  •     i  i       i  ti  r 

ihe  French  passcd  a  Winter  01  anxiety  and  alarm.  Kumors  oi  a  gen- 
ga.  "°  *  eral  rising  of  the  Iroquois  constantly  reached  their  ears  ; 
and  there  was  no  hope  of  succor  from  Quebec.  Early  in 
the  year  numerous  bands  of  Mohawk,  Oneida,  and  Onon- 
daga warriors  took  the  field.  Dupuys,  informed  by  a  con- 
verted savage  of  the  plot  against  him,  now  resolved  to  re- 
treat with  his  countrymen  into  Canada.  But  no  means 
of  conveyance  were  ready,  and  the  enemy  was  alert  and 
watchful.  Light  boats  were  secretly  built  in  the  large 
store-house,  where  none  of  the  savages  were  allowed  to  en- 
ter. Wlien  all  was  ready,  the  Onondagas  were  invited  to 
a  feast.  Trumpets  and  drums  drowned  the  preparations 
for  departure.     While  the  revelry  was  at  its  height,  the 

19  Maivb.   French  were  noiselessly  embarking  on  the  lake.     A  heavy 

sleep  overpowered  the  unsuspecting  savages  ;  and  long  be- 
fore they  awoke  from  their  lethargy,  Dupuys  and  all  his 

20  March,   couiitrymen,  abandoning  their  chapel  and  their  cabins, 
.Tieii-'oithewere  safe  beyond  pursuit,  working  through  the  floating 

ice  their  perilous  way  to  Canada. 

Thus  ended  the  attempt  of  France  to  found  a  colony 
within  the  present  territory  of  New  York.     Le  Moyne  haH 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  G47 

already  left  the  Mohawk  country  ;  and  the  next  year,  the  ch.  xviii 
Iroquois,  whose  warriors  were  estimated  to  number  more      ~ 
than  two  thousand,  were  again  in  open  hostility  with  the  ^(,g  j^^^; ' 
Canadians.     As  long  as  New  Netherland  continued  to  he  I}"^'^/^7! 
a  Dutch  province,  the  enmity  of  the  Mohawks  against  the  ""^  ^'''"'"'■' 
French  could  scarcely  be  allayed ;  though  the  milder  Onon- 
dagas  sought  to  bury  the  hatchet  of  war,  and  the  bell,  which 
had  called  the  faithful  to  worship  in  the  chapel  of  the  Jes-    16C1. 
uits,  summoned  the  deputies  of  the  Western  Iroquois  to 
the  council  of  peace.* 

In  the  mean  time,  the  settlers  who  had  been  driven  away  Esopus 
from  Esopus  by  the  Indians  in  1655,  had  returned  to  their 
farms,  hoping  that,  with  the   restoration  of  peace,  they 
should  enjoy  security.     But,  in  spite  of  all  proclamations, 
the  farmers  persisted  in  isolating  themselves  from  each 
other,  and  in  buying  peltries  from  the  savages  for  brandy.   1658. 
Outrages  naturally  followed.     One  of  the  settlers  was  kill- 1  May 
ed,  the  house  and  outbuildings  of  another  were  burned,  the  sav- 
and  the  Dutch  were  forced,  by  threats  of  arson  and  mur- 
der, to  plow  up  the  patches  where  the  quarrelsome  savages 
planted  their  maize.     At  this  time  there  were  between  six- 
ty and  seventy  colonists  at  Esopus,  who  had  just  sowed 
nearly  a  thousand  "  schepels"  of  grain.     "  We  pray  you  to  2  May. 
send  forty  or  fifty  soldiers,"  wrote  they  to  Stuyvesant,  "  tomande.i 
save  the  Esopus,  which,  if  well  settled,  might  supply  the 
whole  of  New  Netherland  with  provisions."! 

The  Amsterdam  Chamber  had  already  instructed  their 
director  to  build  a  redoubt  at  Esopus  for  the  protection  of 
the  inhabitants,  and  had  sent  out  an  additional  military 
force  and  a  supply  of  ammunition.     Stuyvesant  now  went  28  May. 
up  the  river,  accompanied  by  Grovert  Loockermans  and  fifty  visits  p;.so- 
soldiers.     The  morrow  after  he  reached  Esopus  was  As- 
cension day ;  and  the  people,  having  no  church,  assembled  30  ^u\ 
at  the  house  of  Jacob  Jansen  Stol  to  keep  the  festival.     The 

*  Alb.  Rec,  xiv.,  275;  Stuyvesant's  Letters;  Fort  Orange  Rcc. ;  Relation,  lfi57-58 
1659-60;  Charlevoix,  i.,  328-338  ;  Bancroft,  iii.,  145-148  ;  Ilililrttli,  ii.,91;  Clark's  Onon- 
daga, i.,  179-189;  0'CalI.,ii.,  363-3G5;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  i.,  45-55. 

t  Alh.  Rec,  xiv.,  205  ;  xvi.,  7-13.  To  this  day  the  Hat  lands  along  the  creeks  in  Ulster 
county  are  proverbial  for  their  fertility. 


648  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  xviii.  director  immediately  recommended  them  to  form  a  village, 

which  could  easily  be  palisaded,  and  afford  them  full  pro- 

Thecoio-    Section  ;  but  the  colonists  objected  that  it  would  be  incon- 

vifed  w     venient  to  remove  their  residences  while  their  crops  were 

[a™atEso-y®^  uugathcred,  and  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  select  a 

P"^'  site  for  a  village  which  would  please  all.     They,  therefore, 

asked  that  the  soldiers  should  be  allowed  to  remain  with 

them  until  after  harvest.     This  the  director  refused,  but 

promised  that,  if  they  would  agree  at  once  to  palisade  the 

ground  for  a  village,  he  would  stay  with  them  until  the 

work  should  be  completed. 

Word  had  meanwhile  been  sent  to  the  neighboring  chiefs 
to  come  and  meet  the  "  grand  sachem  from  Manhattan ;" 
30  May.  and  some  fifty  savages,  with  a  few  women  and  cliildren, 
soon  appeared,  and  seated  themselves  under  an  old  tree. 
The  director  went  to  meet  them,  accompanied  by  two  fol- 
conferei  ;e  lowers  and  an  interpreter.  One  of  the  chiefs  made  a  long 
savages,  harauguc,  reciting  the  events  of  Kieft's  war,  and  the  losses 
which  his  tribe  had  then  suffered.  The  director  rcplieJ 
that  the  general  peace  had  settled  all  the  questions  con- 
nected with  that  war.  "  Has  any  injury  been  done  yon," 
he  demanded,  "  since  that  peace  was  made,  or  since  I  came 
into  the  country  ?"  "  Your  sachems  have  asked  us,  jover 
and  over  again,  to  make  a  settlement  among  you.  We 
have  not  had  a  foot  of  your  land  without  paying  for  it,  nor 
do  we  desire  to  have  any  more  without  making  you  full 
compensation.  Why,  then,  have  you  committed  this  mur- 
der, burned  our  houses,  killed  our  cattle,  and  why  do  you 
continue  to  threaten  our  people  ?"  After  a  long  pause,  one 
of  the  chiefs  replied,  "You  Swannekens  have  sold  our  chil- 
dren drink.  The  sachems  can  not  then  control  the  young 
Indians,  nor  restrain  them  from  fighting.  This  murder  has 
not  been  committed  by  any  of  our  tribe,  but  by  a  Minni- 
sinck,  who  is  now  skulking  among  the  Haverstraws."  "  If 
this  be  not  stopped,"  rejoined  Stuyvesant,  "  I  shall  have 
to  retaliate  on  old  and  young,  on  women  and  children.  I 
expect  that  you  will  repair  all  damages,  seize  the  mur- 
derer if  he  come  among  you,  and  do  no  further  mischief 


PETER  STU  YVES  ANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  649 

The  Dutch  are  now  going  to  live  together  in  one  spot.     It  ch.  xvm. 
is  desirable  that  you  should  sell  us  the  whole  of  the  Eso- 
pus  land,  as  you  have  often  proposed,  and  remove  further 
into  the  interior."     Thus  ended  the  conference ;  and  the  In- 
dians departed,  promising  to  consider  well  what  had  passed. 

The  settlers,  adopting  Stuyvesant's  advice,  now  signed  31  May. 
an  agreement  to  form  a  village,  the  site  of  which  they  left  out  at  eso- 
to  the  director's  judgment.     He  accordingly  chose  a  spot  ^"^' 
at  a  bend  of  the  kill,  where  a  water-front  might  be  had  on 
three  sides ;  and  a  part  of  the  plain,  about  two  hundred 
and  ten  yards  in  circumference,  was  staked  out. 

A  few  days  afterward,  while  the  Dutch  were  busily  at 
work  stockading  their  village,  a  band  of  savages  was  ob- 
served approaching,  and  the  soldiers  were  ordered  to  stand  4  June, 
by  their  arms.     But  the  visit  of  the  Indians  was  one  of  cession  or 
peace.     They  had  come  to  give  the  land  on  which  the  vil-  the  sa"-  ^ 
lage  was  commenced  as  a  present  to  the  grand  sachem  of  ''^*** 
the  Hollanders,  "  to  grease  his  feet,  as  he  had  taken  so  long 
and  painful  a  journey  to  visit  them."     The  work  now  went 
merrily  on.     In  three  weeks  the  palisade  and  ditches  were 
completed,  the  buildings  removed,  a  bridge  thrown  over  bridge. 
the  kill,  and  a  guard-house  and  temporary  barracks  built. 
Stuyvesant  detailed  twenty-four  soldiers  to  remain  as  a 
garrison;  and,  after  seeing  the  new  village  fairly  started, 2 uur.e 
he  took  leave  of  Esopus  and  returned  to  the  capital.* 

The  next  month  witnessed  the  settlement  of  the  diffi-  .luiy. 
culties  between  the  provincial  government  and  the  author-  of  diincui- 
ities  of  Rensselaerswyck.     In  place  of  the  tenths  demand- erwyok. 
ed  by  Stuyvesant,  the  colonists  agreed  to  pay  a  yearly  con- 
tribution of  three  hundred  schepels  of  wheat.     About  the 
same  time,  John  Baptist  van  Rensselaer  was  succeeded  as 
director  of  the  colonic  by  his  brother  Jeremias,  who  contin-  Jeremias 
ued  for  sixteen  years  to  manage  its  affairs  with  discretion  seiaerdi- 
and  acceptance.    He  soon  acquired  a  ffreat  influence  amons;  Rensse- 
the  neighboring  savage  tribes,  and  was  sincerely  respected 
by  the  French  in  Canada.! 

*  Alb.  Rcc,  iv.,  248 ;  xvi.,  15-35 ;  Kingston  Rec. ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  357-368. 
t  Renss.  MSS. ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  310,  551,  552;  ante,  p.  OM. 


f550  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XVIII.      In  the  mean  time,  the  Mohawks  had  obtained  from  the 

3 —  Canadian  government  the  release  of  some  of  their  captive 

„  warriors.     Six  of  them,  however,  were  detained  until  the 

May.  '  _    ' 

Iroquois  sachems  should  come  in  person  and  make  a  gen- 
13  August,  eral  treaty  of  peace.     Several  Mohawk  chiefs  now  visited 
at  Fort  Or-  Fort  Orange  to  procure  an  interpreter  to  go  with  them  to 
Canada,  as  they  did  not  understand  the  French  tongue. 
But  Le  Moyne  had  now  returned  home,  and  the  Dutch  au- 
thorities did  not  know  of  any  one  who  could  serve  their 
purpose.     The  Mohawks  were  dissatisfied.     "When  you 
were  at  war  with  the  Indians,"  they  replied,  "we  went  to 
the  Manhattans,  and  did  our  best  to  make  peace  for  you. 
You  are,  therefore,  bound  to  befriend  us  now."    The  Dutch 
could  not  resist  this  appeal ;  and  the  public  crier  was  sent 
around  to  offer  a  bounty  of  one  hundred  guilders  for  a  vol- 
15  August,  unteer.     One  of  the  soldiers,  Henry  Martin,  agreeing  to 
furnished'  go,  was  fumishcd  with  a  letter  from  Vice-director  La  Mon- 
Putch.       tagne  to  La  Potherie,the  governor  of  the  Three  Rivers,  and 
accompanied  the  savages  under  a  promise  to  be  brought 
safely  back  in  forty  days.     "Wlien  near  the  Three  Rivers, 
Martin  lost  himself  in  the  woods ;  and  ten  of  the  Mohawks, 
presenting  themselves  to  La  Potherie  without  La  Mon- 
tague's letter,  were  seized  as  spies,  and  sent  as  prisoners  to 
Argenson,  the  new  governor  general  of  Canada,  who  "  did 
good  justice"  upon  them  for  the  recent  murder  of  some 
Algonquins  under  the  very  guns  of  Quebec* 

15  October.      Bcfore  tlic  wiutcr  set  in,  Stuyvesant  revisited  Esopus,  to 

provide  for  its  security  and  obtain  some  further  concessions 

16  October,  from  tlic  Indians.     The  savages  demurred,  and  adroitly  en- 
revisits      dcavorcd  to  divert  him  from  his  purpose  by  promising  a 

large  trade  with  the  Minquas  and  Senecas,  if  the  Dutch 
would  furnish  them  with  ammunition.  After  waiting  sev- 
eral days,  the  director  found  that  the  chiefs  would  not  yield 
to  his  wishes  ;  and,  from  their  anxiety  to  have  the  soldiers 
removed,  he  suspected  them  of  treacherous  designs  as  soon 
as  the  closing  of  the  river  should  isolate  the  settlers.  On 
19  October,  his  rctum  to  New  Amsterdam,  he,  therefore,  left  a  garrison 

'  Relation,  1657-5S,  60-69 ;  Charlevoix,  1.,  338,  339  ■  C'Call.,  ii.,  366,  367;  ante,  p.  647 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  (35] 

of  fifty  men,  under  the  command  of  Ensign  Dirck  Smit,  ch.  xvm 
with  instructions  to  keep  a  steady  watch,  act  only  on  the  TTT" 
defensive,  allow  no  Indians  inside  the  stockade,  and  detail  pj^ck  smit 
a  proper  guard  for  the  protection  of  the  farmers  while  work-  a",""'"^'"^" 
ing  in  the  fields.* 

On  the  South  River,  New  Amstel — where  several  ship- somu  Riv- 
er. 
wrecked  Englishmen  from  Virginia,  whom  Alrichs  had  ran- 
somed from  the  savages,  had  become  residents — began  to 
wear  an  appearance  of  prosperity,  and  was  now  "a  goodly 
town  of  about  one  hundred  houses."     An  inevitable  con-  conse- 
sequence,  however,  of  the  establishment  of  the  city's  col-  the  estab- 

1        •  n  1-  rrn  rr         ,  lishnient  Of 

ony  was  the  mcrease  oi  smugglmg.  ihe  revenue  sunered  New  Am- 
severely,  and  the  regular  traders  complained.  The  colo- 
nists at  New  Amstel  seemed  to  think  themselves  inde- 
pendent of  the  company  and  of  its  provincial  authorities 
at  New  Amsterdam.  These  and  other  considerations  in- 
duced the  council  to  advise  Stuyvesant  to  go  there,  and 
correct  all  irregularities  in  person. 

Accompanied  by  Tonnoman,  the  director  accordingly  set  20  April. 
sail  for  the  South  E-iver.     On  his  arrival  at  Altona,  the  8  May. 
Swedes  were  called  upon  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  visits  ai- 
which  was  required  of  all  the  otl^er  colonists.     This  they 
willingly  took,  and  at  the  same  time  asked  for  certain  spe- 
cific favors ;  among  others,  that  they  should  be  allowed  to 
remain  neutral  in  case  of  war  between  Holland  and  Swe- 
den.    Some  of  these  requests  were  evaded ;  others  were 
granted ;  and  the  Swedes  were  allowed  to  choose  their  own 
officers.     On  his  return  to  New  Amsterdam,  Stuyvesant  is  May. 
informed  the  council  that  "many  things  are  there  not  as tiie council 
they  ought  to  be ;"  smuggling  and  fraud  had  prevailed,  by 
reason  of  the  shipments  to  the  city  colony  ;  and  Alrichs, 
though  he  now  promised  amendment,  had  entirely  omitted 
from  the  oath,  required  of  the  newly-arrived  colonists,  any 
mention  of  the  "West  India  Company  and  of  their  provin- 
cial authorities  of  New  Netherland. 

Fearing  that  the  English  from  Virginia  would  endeavor 
to  intrude  at  Cape  Hinlopen,  "  as  they  before  tried  it  from 

*  Alb.  Rec,  xiv,,  380  ;  xvi,,  41-50  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  367-370. 


652  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  xviii.  the  side  of  New  England,"  the  West  India  directors  now 

recommended  that  Alrichs  should  "  disentansrle  himself,  in 
1658  • 

28  May      ^^^®  ^®^*  manner  possible,"  from  the  Englishmen  whom  he 

had  allowed  to  settle  at  New  Amstel,  and,  "  at  all  events, 
not  to  admit  any  English  besides  them  in  that  vicinity, 
7  June.      much  Icss  to  allurc  them  by  any  means  whatever."    A  few 
tions  ofthedays  afterward,  they  instructed  Stuyvesant  to  purchase 
pail y'to  buy  from  tlic  Indians  the  tract  between  Cape  Hinlopen  and 
capeiiin-  the  Boomtjc's  Hoolc,  so  that  it  might  be  afterward  legally 
conveyed  to  the  commissaries  of  the  city  of  Amsterdam. 
"You  will  perceive,"  they  added,  "that  speed  is  required, 
if  for  nothing  else,  that  we  may  prevent  other  nations,  and 
principally  our  English  neighbors,  as  we  really  apprehend 
that  this  identical  spot  has  attracted  their  notice."    "  When 
we  reflect  on  the  insufferable  proceedings  of  that  nation, 
not  only  by  intruding  themselves  upon   our  possessions 
about  the  North,  to  which  our  title  is  indisputable,  and 
when  we  consider  the  bold  arrogance  and  faithlessness  of 
.  those  who  are  residing  within  our  jurisdiction,  we  can  not 
expect  any  good  from  that  quarter." 
30  July.  To  maintain  the  rights  and  authority  of  the  company, 

Beeckman  Stuyvcsant  immediately  appointed  Willem  Beeckman,  "  an 
vl?e'-d"i-^     expert  and  respectable  person,"  and  one  of  the   earliest 
magistrates  of  New  Amsterdam,  as  commissary  and  vice- 
director  on  the  South  River.     Beeckman,  however,  did  not 
28  October-  reccivc  his  instructions  until  late  in  the  autumn.     They 
man's  in-   required  him  to  live  at  first  at  Altona,  but  to  have  his  per- 
'  manent  residence  at  or  near  New  Amstel,  where  he  could 
more  conveniently  attend  to  the  collection  of  the  revenue. 
He  was  invested  with  all  the  powers  of  the  company  on 
the  whole  of  the  South  River,  except  the  district  of  New 
Amstel,  and  was  bound  to  maintain  the  Reformed  relig- 
ion.    With  regard  to  the  proposed  purchase,  he  was  to  act 
in  concert  with  Alrichs,  and  obtain  a  deed  from  the  In- 
dians as  soon  as  possible. 
Failure  of       The  prosperity  of  New  Amstel  had,  meanwhile,  become 
and  sYck-^ '  cloudcd.     The  colonists  had  planted  in  hope  ;  but  heavy 
New  Am-   rains  setting  in,  their  harvest  was  ruined,  and  food  became 

stel. 


PETER  STUYVESANT.  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  653 

scarce  and  dear.  An  epidemic  fever  broke  out ;  the  sur-  ch.  xviii 
geon  and  many  children  died  ;  and  most  of  the  inhabit- 
ants  suffered  from  a  climate  to  which  they  were  not  ac- 
customed. "While  the  disease  was  yet  raging,  the  ship 
"  Mill"  arrived  from  Holland,  after  a  disastrous  voyage,  September 
bringing  many  new  emigrants,  among  whom  were  several 
children  from  the  Orphan  House   at  Amsterdam.      The  in  October 

1  1     1      •      1  1        1      1  Population 

population  of  New  Amstel  now  exceeded  six  hundred ;  but 
its  inhabitants  were  "without  bread,"  and  the  ship  which 
brought  the  new  emigrants  brought  no  supply  of  provi- 
sions. Industry  was  crippled,  while  wages  advanced  ; 
Commissary  Rynvelt  and  many  "  respectable"  inhabit-  28  October. 
ants  perished,  and  a  long  winter  stared  the  famished  sur- 
vivors in  the  face.* 

In  the  autumn  of  1658,  an  important  event  happened  in 
England.  After  raising  his  country  to  a  prouder  position 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth  than  she  had  ever  before 
held,  the  ffrand  adventurer  Cromwell  died,  in  the  zenith  ssept. 

1-1  T  •  r^       ■    ■  1-  Death  Of 

of  a  power  which  eclipsed  the  maiesty  of  legitimate  kin<?s.  oiiver 

»  .     ^  J        J  O  o      Cromwell. 

The  night  before  his  death  was  stormy.  The  wind  blew 
a  hurricane.  Trees  were  uprooted  in  the  Park  at  West- 
minster, and  houses  were  unroofed  about  the  London  Ex- 
change. The  Roundheads  asserted  that  God  was  warn- 
ing the  nation  of  the  loss  it  was  about  to  suffer ;  while 
the  Cavaliers  maintained  that  the  Prince  of  the  power  of 
the  air  was  hovering  over  Whitehall  to  seize  the  soul  of  the 
expiring  Protector. 

The  reins  of  government  fell  quietly  into  the  hands  of 
Oliver's  oldest  son,  Richard.     But  the  feeble  young  man 
was  not  the  heir  of  his  father's  great  qualities.     He  sign-   1659. 
ed  a  commission  for  the  dissolution  of  Parliament,  anduownnlii 
found  that  he  had  signed  his  own  act  of  abdication.     The  '^Lul^l'! 
army  again  became   supreme.     Monk   marched  his  sol- 
diers across  the  Tweed  ;  and  before  many  days  it  was  cer- 
tain that  Charles  the   Second  would  bo  restored  to  the 
throne  of  his  ancestors.! 

*  Alb.  Roc,  iv.,  273,  274  ;   viii.,  183  ,    xii.,  285,  456-485;   xi v.,  227-949,  314,  386-399; 
IIol.  Uoc.,xvi.,  57-79;  O'Call.,  ii.,  372-375  ;  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Pcnn.,  239-254  ;  an/e,  p.  633. 
•t  Lingard,  xi.,  298-300  ;  xii.,  l-CO  ;  Macaulay,  i.,  136-147  ;  Bancrofl,  ii.,  23-28. 


654  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1659. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
1659-1660. 

ch  XIX.  Though  the  treaty  at  Hartford  had  not  been  ratified  by 
the  English  government,  and  the  New  England  colonies 
had  taken  no  steps  to  procure  such  ratification,  its  provi- 
sions had  now,  for  several  years,  met  a  general  and  quiet 
acquiescence.  Up  to  this  period,  whatever  annoyance  had 
been  caused  to  the  Dutch  province  by  the  progress  of  En- 
glish encroachment  at  the  East,  had  been  chiefly  caused 
by  Connecticut  and  New  Haven.  But  the  time  had  come 
for  Massachusetts  to  take  a  step  which  brought  her  in  di- 
rect conflict  with  New  Netherland. 

Eastern  The  Hartford  treaty  had   settled  the   boundary   "be- 

boundary  ,  .  .  " 

of  New      tween  the  English  United  Colonies  and  the  Dutch  prov- 

Nether-        .,,,.11 

land.  ince  on  the  main  land,  as  extending  from  the  west  side 
of  Grreenwich  Bay  on  a  northerly  line  "  twenty  miles  up 
into  the  country,  and  after,  as  it  shall  be  agreed  by  the 
two  governments  of  the  Dutch  and  of  New  Haven,  provid- 
ed the  said  line  come  not  within  ten  miles  of  Hudson's  Riv- 
er." That  treaty  had  been  solemnly  signed  by  the  pleni- 
potentiaries of  the  New  England  commissioners,  of  whom 
Simon  Bradstreet,  of  Massachusetts,  was  one.  Massachu- 
setts, however,  now  found  it  convenient  to  understand  the 
agreement  as  extending  only  "  so  far  as  New  Haven  had 

Territorial  jurisdiction."     Uudcr  her  own  charter,  she  claimed  all  the 

claims  of^.  ..  i-i 

Massachu-  Amcricau  territory  between  a  line  three  miles  south  of  the 
Charles  River  and  a  line  three  miles  north  of  the  Merrimac 
River,  and  extending  west  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. 
The  most  northerly  of  these  lines  was  claimed  to  be  three 
miles  north  of  the  outlet  of  the  AYinnipiseogee  Lake.  The 
southernmost  was  at  about  the  forty-second  parallel  of 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  655 

latitude.     If  extended  westward,  it  would  have  crosse  I  the  cu.  xix. 
Hudson  River,  near  Red  Hook  and  Saugerties.     The  ^e-~~~~" 
ginning  of  the  forty-third  degree  of  latitude  now  forms  the 
southern  boundary  of  the  State  of  New  York,  from  the  Del- 
aware River  to  the  county  of  Erie,  in  Pennsylvania.     All 
the  territory  as  far  north  of  this  line  as  the  present  coun- 
ties of  "Warren  and  Oswego,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  and 
as  far  west  as  the  Pacific  Ocean,  was  claimed  by  Massa- 
chusetts, in  virtue  of  her  patent  from  Charles  the  First.* 
Nor  did  Massachusetts  hesitate  to  assert  her  extravagant 
demand,  under  a  charter  which  was  eight  years  younger 
than  that  of  the  West  India  Company,  and  which,  as  far 
as  it  interfered  with  New  Netherland,  was  "  utterly  void." 
A  grant  of  land  on  the  Hudson  River,  opposite  to  Fort  Or-  Massaeim- 
ange,  was  made  to  a  number  of  her  principal  merchants,  uma  Sn  the 
who  were  "  enterprising  a  settlement  and  a  trade  with  the  River. 
Indians."     Early  in  the  summer,  an  exploring  party,  set- 
tins:  out  from  Hartford,  sailed  up  the  North  River,  and  Exploring 
spent  several  weeks  in  exammmg  its  attractive  shores. 
Finding  the  region   around   the  Wappinger's   Kill   more 
bciiutilul  than  any  they  had  seen  in  New  England,  they  se- 
lected a  spot  near  its  mouth  as  the  place  of  their  proposed 
settlement.     Thence  proceeding  up  to  Fort  Orange,  theyjuiy. 
were  honorably  received  and  entertained  by  Commissary 
La  Montague.     The  region  between  the  North  River  and 
the  valley  of  the  Connecticut  being  yet  a  wilderness,  the 
English  party  asked  Stuyvesant  for  permission  to  pass  and 
repass  by  water.     This,  however,  he  refused  ;  for  he  fore-  Reiused 
saw  that  such  a  settlement  in  the  heart  of  the  Dutch  prov-  [o "riavlgme 
ince  would  be  fatal,  "as  many  hounds  are  death  to  theRTver?"^  ^ 
hare."     To  prevent  the  English,  he  determined  to  estab- 
lish a  Dutch  settlement  at  the  Wappinger's  Kill,  and  earn-  4  sept. 
estly  entreated  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  to  send  out  im-  Dmcrset- 
mediately  as  many  Polish,  Lithuanian,  Prussian,  Dutch,  wl!]fpin-" 
or  Flemish  peasants  as  possible,  to  form  a  colony  which  ^'''^''  ^' 
should  protect  the  yachts  sailing  up  and  down  the  river.t 

*  Hazard,  i.,  5TI,  591  ;   Hutchinson,  i.,  191,  192  ;   Journal  N.  Y.  Prov.  Assembly,  St\, 
March,  1773  ;  Dunlap's  N.  Y.,  ii..  Appendix,  ccv.-ccvii. ;  Revised  Statutes  N.  Y.,  i.,  64 
ante,  p.  180,  519,  520.  t  Alb.  Rec,  xviii.,  31-34  ;  xxiv.,  215  ;  Ilutchingon,  i.,  150. 


656        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIX.      Yielding  to  the  earnest  solicitation  of  the  citizens  of  New 
Amsterdam,  the  "West  India  Company  reluctantly  consent- 
13  Feb    '  ®^  ^^^^  their  province,  which  had  already  been  allowed  to 
erlTn^au'  trade  for  slaves  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  should  now  try  the 
e^riTtrade^*  "  experiment"  of  a  foreign  commerce  with  France,  Spain, 
Italy,  the  Carribean  Islands,  and  elsewhere,  upon  condition 
that  the  vessels  should  return  with  their  cargoes  either  to 
New  Netherland  or  to  Amsterdam,  and  that  furs  should  he 
exported  to  Holland  alone.     This  concession  was  followed 
by  another,  perhaps  quite  as  important.    The  "vigilant  ex- 
ertions" of  the  directors  to  provide  New  Amsterdam  with 
25  April,    a  Latin  schoolmaster  resulted  in  the  ensraafement  of  Doc- 

Curtius 

Latin        tor  Alexander  Carolus  Curtius,  a  professor  in  Lithuania, 

schoolmas-  mi 

ter.  at  a  salary  of  five  hundred  guilders,  and  some  perquisites. 

In  the  course  of  the  summer  the  "  rector"  arrived  at  New 

4  July.  Amsterdam;  and,  on  commencing  his  duties,  was  allowed 
by  the  city  government  two  hundred  guilders  yearly. 
Curtius  likewise  practiced  as  a  physician.* 

13  Feb.  The  Amsterdam  directors  also  enjoined  Megapolensis  and 

Drisius  to  obey  the  former  orders  of  the  Chamber,  and,  "to 
prevent  schism  and  promote  tranquillity,"  directed  them  to 
follow  the  old  form  of  baptism  without  waiting  for  the  spe- 
cial directions  of  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam.  Finding  that 
the  metropolitan  clergymen  hesitated,  these  orders  were  re- 

22  Dec.      newed.    All  moderate  ministers  in  Holland,  they  were  told, 

aiity  in  re-  lookcd  upou  tlic  ucw  formulary  as  an  "  indifferent"  subject, 

joined  by    and  as  wanting  the  unanimous  sanction  of  the  Church. 

ny.  Harmony  could  never  be  preserved,  unless  a  too  "overbear- 

ing preciseness"  should  be  avoided ;  and,  if  they  should 
persist  in  their  former  course,  the  company  would  be 
obliged  to  allow  the  Lutherans  a  separate  church  of  their 
own.  At  the  same  time,  the  directors  promised  to  send 
out  other  Dutch  clergymen  to  New  Netherland  ;  but  these 
must  be  "  men  not  tainted  with  any  needless  preciseness, 
which  is  rather  prone  to  create  schisms  than  it  is  adapted 
to  edify  the  flock."t 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  290,  291,  303;  viii.,  201  ;  xriii.,  19;  xxiv.,  193;  New  Amst.  Rec,  i-. 
97,  98 ;  iii.,  378,  381  ;  iv.,  209  ;  ante,  p.  640  ;  Paulding's  New  Amsterdam,  42. 
t  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  28S,  323,  324  ;  viii.,  195 ;  ante,  p.  643. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  657 

The  letters  which  Megapolensis  and  Drisius  had  sent  to  ch.  xix. 
the  Fatherland  the  last  autumn  awakened  the  attention 
of  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam  to  the  spiritual  wants  of  New 
Nether  land ;  and  earnest  representations  on  the  subject  clergymen. 
were  addressed  to  the  College  of  the  XIX.    It  was  difficult 
to  induce  any  settled  clergyman  to  leave  his  charge  in  Hol- 
land ;  hut  the  Classis  encouraged  Hermanns  Blom,  a  can- 
didate for  the  ministry,  to  come  out  to  New  Amsterdam, 
where  he  arrived  at  the  end  of  April.     Esopus  now  seemed  April. 
most  in  want  of  a  clergyman ;  and  its  inhabitants,  though 
anxious  for  a  settled  minister,  had,  up  to  this  time,  been 
obliged  to  content  themselves  with  the  services  of  a  com- 
forter  of  the  sick,  who  read  to  the  people,  in  one  of  the 
houses,  on  Sundays  and  festivals.     Blom  accordingly  vis-  Biom  caii- 
ited  the  new  village,  where  he  preached  two  sermons.    The  pus. 
people  immediately  organized  a  church,  and  presented  the  i:  August. 
candidate  with  a  call  to  become  their  pastor,  which,  hav- 
ing accepted,  he  returned  to  Holland,  to  pass  his  examin-  September. 
ation  before  the  Classis  and  receive  ordination.* 

The  war  now  raging  between  the  Iroquois  and  the  French  Temper  o 
seemed  to  excite  a  thirst  for  European  blood  among  the  oth-  ages. 
er  savage  tribes.     Two  soldiers  who  had  deserted  from 
Fort  Orange  were  murdered  near  the  Tachkanic  Mount-  31  jui\ . 
ains,  while  on  their  way  to  Hartford.     The  next  month, 
some  Raritans,  tempted  by  a  roll  of  wampum,  massacred  26  Augu.i 
a  family  at  Mespath  Kill,  on  Long  Island.     At  Esopus  Esopus 
great  fear  prevailed ;  for  the  savages  had  already  begun  to 
complain  that  Stuyvesant  had  not  given  them  their  prom- 
ised presents.     The  folly  of  the  Dutch  soon  brought  on 
another  collision.     Thomas  Chambers,  one  of  the  original 
settlers,  having  employed  several  Indians  to  husk  his  corn,  septem-ier 
at  the  end  of  their  day's  work  gave  them  some  brandy  for 
which  they  asked.     A  carouse  followed ;  and  one  of  the 
savages  about  midnight  fired  off  his  gun.     The  garrison  at 
the  block-house  was  alarmed,  and  the  sergeant  of  the  guard 
was  sent  out  to  see  what  was  the  cause  of  the  disturbance. 
On  his  return,  he  reported  that  it  was  only  the  revelry  of 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  ix.,  102,  103  ;  Cor.  01.  Amst.,  Letter  of  10th  J  (ptcmber,  1659. 

Tt 


(358  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIX.  some  drunken  savages.     Notwithstanding  the  prohibition 
Z      of  Ensign  Smit,  an  armed  party,  headed  by  Stol,  left  the 
Outrage  by  fo^tress,  and  fired  a  volley  among  the  unsuspecting  red 
the  Dutch,  j-i^en      Finding  his  authority  set  at  naught,  the  command- 
ant told  the  colonists  that  he  would  return  the  next  day 
with  his  soldiers  to  New  Amsterdam.     The  people,  how- 
ever, took  care  to  hire  all  the  boats  and  yachts  in  the  neigh- 
borhood ;  and  Smit,  thus  deprived  of  the  means  of  depart- 
21  Sept.      ure,  was  obliged  to  send  an  express  to  Stuyvesant  asking 
his  immediate  presence  at  Esopus. 

The  dastardly  assassination  of  the  sleeping  savages  pro- 
Revenge  of  voked  an  awful  retaliation.    Returning  from  the  river  side, 
dians.       the  courier's  escort  fell  into  an  Indian  ambuscade,  and  thir- 
teen prisoners  were  carried  off  by  the  savages.     Open  war 
was  now  declared.    Houses,  barns,  and  harvests  were  burn- 
ed up;  cattle  and  horses  were  killed.     Four  or  five  hund- 
red savage  warriors  invested  the  Dutch  post ;  and  for  near- 
ly three  wrecks  not  a  colonist  dared  trust  himself  outside 
the  stockade.     Foiled  in  their  attempts  to  set  fire  to  the 
fortress,  the  savages  avenged  themselves  by  burning  eight 
or  ten  of  their  prisoners  at  the  stake.     Without  any  doubt, 
the  colonists  at  Esopus  "  did  court  and  begin"  their  new 
calamity.* 
6  Sept.  In  the  mean  time,  a  Mohawk  delegation  had  visited  Fort 

visit  Fort  Orange,  to  keep  bright  the  chain  of  union  w^ith  the  Dutch ; 
to  demand  that  no  more  "  fire  water"  should  be  sold  to 
their  people;  to  ask  that  their  guns  might  be  repaired,  and 
ammiinition  be  furnished  to  them  ;  and  to  require  the  as- 
sistance of  men  and  horses  for  the  rebuilding  of  their  cas- 
8  Sep:  ties,  as  they  were  now  at  war  with  the  French.  The  Dutch 
presented  the  Mohawks  with  fifty  guilders ;  and,  assuring 
them  of  their  desire  to  maintain  the  ancient  league,  prom- 
ised to  submit  their  requests  to  the  director  general,  who 
was  daily  expected  at  Fort  Orange. 

Stuyvesant,  however,  being  detained  by  illness  at  New 
Amsterdam,  the  authorities  of  Fort  Orange  and  of  Rens- 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  330 ;  xvi.,  60-97  ;  xviii  ,  35-37  ;  x.xiv.,  68 ;  Rcnss.  MSS.  ;  O'Call.,  ii., 
391-398;  ante,  p.  536,  651. 


TETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  659 

selaerswyck  determined  to  send  a  joint  embassy  to  confirm  cu.  xix 
and  renew  their  old  alliance  with  the  Mohawks.     Twenty-        ^ 
five  of  the  principal  inhabitants  accordingly  visited  the  first  j.  ^ 
Mohawk  castle  at  "  Kaghnuwage."*    The  chiefs  of  all  the  ^^j^f^^" 
villages  attended ;  the  council-fire  was  lighted  ;  and  the  ^"^1^""' 
calumet  of  peace  was  smoked.     Among  the  delegates  from 
Beverwyck  was  Arendt  van  Curler,  who  in  1642  had  ex- 
plored the  way  to  the  castles  of  the  Mohawks.    "  Brothers,"  24  sept. 
said  the  Dutch  orator,  "sixteen  years  have  now  passed  at  caugu- 
away  since  friendship  and  fraternity  were  first  established 
between  you  and  the  Hollanders ;  since  we  were  bound  to 
each  other  by  an  iron  chain.     Up  to  this  time,  that  chain 
has  not  been  broken,  neither  by  us  nor  by  you."    Explain- 
ing Stuyvesant's   absence,  the   orator  promised  that  the 
Dutch  would  remain  the  Mohawks'  "brothers  for  all  time 
— for  the  roads  are  so  bad  that  we  can  not  come  hither  ev- 
ery day."     Their  gunsmiths,  however,  could  not  be  forced 
to  repair  their  brothers'  fire-arms  without  pay,  "  for  they 
muft  earn  food  for  their  wives  and  little  ones,  who  other- 
wise must  die  of  hunger  or  quit  our  land,  if  they  get  no 
wampum  for  their  work."     "Brothers,"  he  added,  "our 
chiefs  are  very  angry  that  the  Dutch  sell  brandy  to  your 
people,  and  have  always  forbidden  them  to  do  so.     Forbid 
your  people  also.     "Will  ye  that  we  take  from  your  people 
their  brandy  and  their  kegs  ?     Say  so,  then,  before  all  here 
present."     Powder  and  lead  were  then  given  to  the  Mo- 
hawks to  be  used  against  the  "hostile  Indians."     As  the 
Dutch  were  "  all  sick,"  and  the  hills  at  Caughnawaga  so 
steep  that  their  horses  could  not  draw  timber  for  the  Mo- 
hawk fort,  fifteen  axes  were  presented  instead. 

Fully  satisfied  with  this  oration,  the  Mohawks  readily 
agreed  that  the  Dutch  should  seize  the  liquor  kegs  of  their 
people.     But  when  the  Beverwyck  delegates  attempted  to  Mohav  ks 
procure  the  release  of  some  French  prisoners  in  their  hands,  [rbertfte" 
the  chiefs  refused  until  all  the  castles  had  been  consulted,  Fr'e'nrii 
and  complained  that  their  hunting  parties  were  constantly  '"''*'^'"'' 

♦  The  county  town  of  Montgomery  county,  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Mohawk,  about 
forty  miles  from  Albany,  for  many  years  bore  the  sonorous  aboriginal  name  of"  Caugh- 
nawaga." 


660  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

CH.  XIX.  attacked  by  the  Canada  Indians,  who  were  always  acoom- 
~_      panied  by  "skulking"  Frenchmen. 

"While  the  conference  was  yet  going  on,  intelligence 
came  from  Fort  Orange  of  the  new  outbreak  at  Esopus, 
which  was  immediately  communicated  to  the  Mohawks. 
The  chiefs  replied  that  if  the  river  Indians  should  endeav- 
or to  obtain  their  assistance  against  the  Christians,  they 
would  answer  "  we  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  you !" 
es  Sept.      The  firm  friendship  of  the  most  powerful  tribe  of  the  Iro- 

Return  of  ■     -,      ■  i      i       i^         i      i    i 

thedeiega-  quois  Dcmg  now  sccurcd,  the  Dutch  delegates  set  out  from 

tion  to  Bev-  JL,  ,,  -i,. 

erwyck.  Cauglinawaga  early  the  next  mornmg ;  and,  after  a  hard 
day's  journey  upon  the  Indian  trail,  along  the  banks  of  the 
Mohawk,  and  across  the  barren  pine  plain  of  "  Schonowe" 
— now  so  pleasantly  traversed  in  the  "  rapid  car" — arrived, 
the  same  evening,  at  Beverwyck.* 

The  courier  from  Esopus  had,  meanwhile,  reached  New 
23  Sept.     Amsterdam,  where  a  severe  epidemic  fever  was  raging. 
Ill,  and  troubled  by  the  news  which  had  also  come  from 
the  South  River,  Stuyvesant  hastened  to  visit  the  neigh- 
so  Sept.     boring  settlements ;  called  upon  the  city  authorities  for  vol- 

Expedition  iii-i  •        l^  i  i, 

to  Esopus.  unteers  ;  and  ordered  mto  service  the  company's  people  at 
Fort  Orange  and  Beverwyck.  The  burghers  of  the  me- 
tropolis, however,  while  they  were  ready  to  defend  their 
own  firesides,  were  reluctant  to  go  upon  a  distant  expedi- 
tion. Few  volunteers  offered  themselves ;  and  a  draft  from 
the  city  militia  was  directed.  At  length,  one  hundred 
drafted  men  and  forty  volunteers  from  New  Amsterdam, 
and  twenty-five  English  and  as  many  friendly  Indians 
from  Long  Island,  were  collected.     With  this  force  Stuy- 

10 October. vesant  embarked  on  Sunday  evening,  "after  the  second 
sermon ;"  and,  on  reaching  Esopus,  found  that  the  savages, 
unable  to  cai-ry  or  reduce  the  post,  had  broken  up  the  siege. 
Heavy  rains  having  flooded  the  country  around,  it  was  im- 
possible to  pursue  the  enemy ;  and  the  expedition  returned 
to  the  capital. 

The  Mohawks  and  Mahicans  now  exhibited  the  sincer- 
ity of  their  friendship ;  and.  at  the  suggestion  of  the  au-. 

•  Fort  Orange  Rec. ;  Renss.  MSS. ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  3S9-393  ;  antt,  p.  346,  523.  61 1 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  QQl 

tliorities  at  Fort  Orange,  a  number  of  their  chiefs  went  ch,  xix. 
down  to  Esopus,  where  they  procured  the  release  of  two 
prisoners,  and  compelled  the  sachems  to  agree  to  a  truce,  j  j^^^    ' 
The  savages,  however,  would  not  consent  to  a  permanent  of  uL^m"" 
peace,  nor  would  they  surrender  the  younger  captives  in'^'*^^'''^ 
their  hands.     Stuyvesant,  therefore,  represented  the  con- 26  Dec. 
dition  of  the  province  in  earnest  terms  to  the  Amsterdam  mem"  ask- 
Chamber  ;  and  urged  that  re-enforcements  be  sent  at  once  com!un'\  '" 
for  the  security  of  the  country,  whose  inhabitants  would 
otherwise  leave  it,  and  seek  for  "  some  place  of  residence 
and  such  government  where  they  will  be  protected."* 

The  opening  of  this  year  found  New  Amstel  in  deep  dis-  Distress  !;i 
tress.     Disease  and  f[imine  had  almost  decimated  its  pop-stei. 
ulation,  and  the  heat  of  the  summer  had  enfeebled  the  un- 
acclimated  survivors.     The  wife  of  the  director  was  one  of  e  Jan. 
the  victims.     Every  one  had  been  occupied  in  building  , 

houses  and  in  preparing  gardens,  so  that  little  grain  was 
sown ;  and  the  emigrants  from  Holland  brought  very  scanty 
supplies  of  provisions.     '-  Our  bread  magazine,  our  pantry 
room,  our  only  refuge  is  to  Manhattan,"  wrote  the  despond-  March. 
ing  Alrichs  to  Stuyvesant. 

Intelligence  now  reached  the  colony  that  the  burgomas- 
ters of  Amsterdam  had  altered  the  conditions  which  they 
had   originally  offered  to   emigrants.     These   alterations  .\itjrat:oM 
seemed  to  have  been  suggested  by  the  large  expenditures  ditions  by 
which  the  city  had  made  for  a  colony  which  had  produced  mastereTf 
no  returns,  and  was  already  seven  thousand  guilders  in  ar-  tiain 
rear.    To  guard  against  further  loss,  it  was  determined  that 
such  colonists  only  as  had  left  Holland  before  December, 
1658,  were  to  be  supplied  with  provisions  ;  goods  should 
be  sold  only  for  cash;  the  city  was  no  longer  to  be  bound 
to  keep  supplies  in  its  magazine  ;  exemption  from  tenths 
and  taxes  was  to  cease  several  years  before  the  period  orig- 
inally stipulated  ;   and  merchandise  exported  by  the  colo- 
nists was  thereafter  to  be  consigned  to  the  city  of  Amster- 
dam exclusively.     The  commissaries  of  the  colony,  how-  Februjvr. 
ever,  remonstrated  against  this  restriction  of  trade,  which 

*  A.lb   Rer-,,  xvi.,  101-107  ;  .wiii.,  54-70  ;  Rcnss.  MSS.  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  39S-401 


062  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIX.  "  had  the  appearance  of  gross  slavery  and  chain-fettering 
the  free  spirit  of  a  worthy  people."  The  remonstrance  was 
well-timed ;  for  the  "West  India  Company  had  just  determ- 
ined to  enlarge  the  commercial  privileges  of  the  provincial 

10  March,  merchants.  The  city  council  was  finally  obliged  to  con- 
sent that  all  traders  on  the  South  River  might  export  all 
goods,  except  peltries,  to  any  place  they  chose. 

EiTtictat         This  measure  only  added  to  the  difficulties  of  the  col- 

Imi.  '  ony.  The  emigrants  began  to  grow  distrustful  of  the  good 
faith  of  their  patrons,  and  numbers  came  to  Alrichs  be- 
seeching him  to  let  them  go  to  Manhattan,  and  accept  tha 
remnant  of  their  property  in  discharge  of  their  debts  to  t!i  ^ 
city.  But  the  director  only  replied,  "  Ye  are  bound  to  re- 
main  for  four  years."  The  despairing  inhabitants  began 
to  leave  the  colony ;  and  even  soldiers  of  the  garrison  de- 
serted their  service,  and  took  refuge  in  Virginia  and  Mary- 
land. New  Amstel  had  already  won  "  such  a  bad  name 
that  the  whole  river  could  not  wash  it  off." 

Yet  the  regions  around  the  South  River  were  among  the 
most  fertile  and  productive  in  all  New  Netherland.  Not 
only  was  there  a  wild  luxuriance  of  vegetation,  and  an  al- 
most exhaustless  supply  of  furs,  but  the  earth  gave  prom- 
ise of  great  mineral  wealth,  the  fame  of  which  had  already 

25  April     reached  Holland.     "  We  lately  saw  a  piece  of  mineral," 

Copper  ''  *    _  ' 

mine  at      wrotc  the   dircctors  to  Stuyvesant,  "said  to  have  been 

Minni-  •' 

sinck.  brought  from  New  Netherland,  which  was  such  good  and 
pure  copper,  that  we  deemed  it  worth  inquiring  about  of 
one  Kloes  de  Ruy  ter,  as  we  presumed  he  must  know  if  the 
fact  is  as  stated.  He  asserted  that  there  was  a  copper 
mine  at  Minnisinck  ;  and  that  between  the  Manhattans 
and  the  South  River  there  had  been  discovered  a  mount- 
ain of  crystal,  of  which  he  said  he  brought  several  speci- 
mens with  him."* 

♦  Alb.  Kec,  iv.,  304  ;  xii.,  480-485  ;  IIol.  Doc,  xv.,  21-27  ;  xvi.,  215-218  ;  Wagenaar, 
Bosch.  Amst.,  i.,  594 ;  ante,  p.  656  ;  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  250-255.  Tradition  afflniis 
the  early  existence  of  mines  in  the  upper  valley  of  the  Delaware,  which  were  worked  by 
"miners  from  Holland."  Mr.  Samuel  Preston,  in  a  communication  to  Mr.  Samuel  Haz- 
ard, expressed  himself"  clearly  of  opinion  that  .Menesink  was  the  oldest  European  settle- 
ment of  equal  extent  ever  made  in  the  territory  afterward  named  Pcnnsjlvania."-  II.-u 
ard's  Reg.  Penn.,  i.,  428,  440  ;  tmte  p.  4:2. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  QQp, 

The  West  India  Company,  suspicious  of  the  fidelity  of  ch.  xix 
the  Swedes,  had  meanwhile  instructed  Stuyvesant  not  to~~7 
appoint  them  to  public  office,  and  to  induce  them  to  settle  j3  ^^^^ 
themselves  more  at  large  among  the  other  inhabitants  of 
the  province.     Beeckman,  the  vice-director  at  Altona,  was 
now  ordered  to  complete  the  purchase  of  the  territory  south- 
ward of  the  Boomtje's  Hook.     He  accordingly  went  with  23  May. 
Hinoyossa  to  the  mouth  of  the  bay,  and  bought  from  the  June. 
native  chiefs  the  Horekills,  which  included  the  site  of  DeoftheHore 

kills. 

Vries  and  Godyn's  unfortunate  colony  at  Swaanendael.  A 
trading  post  was  immediately  established,  and  a  few  sol- 
diers stationed  there  to  keep  possession. 

Rumors  were  now  spread  among  the  Dutch  that  the  En-  Designs  of 
glish  in  Maryland  "pretend  that  this  river  country  is  their  land  go'Z 
property,"  and  that  persons  were  soon  to  be  sent  to  claim 
the  possession.     Letters,  too,  were  said  to  have  been  writ- 
ten from  Virginia  to  the  Swedes,  "  that  they  might  remain 
here  as  a  free  colony  under  the  English."     The  messen- 
gers whom  Alrichs  had  dispatched  to  reclaim  the  deserters 
in  Maryland  returned  with  tidings  that  Lord  Baltimore  29  Juiy. 
had  given  orders  that  the  territory  on  the  South  River  was 
to  be  reduced  under  his  jurisdiction.     As  soon  as  it  was  is  August 
known  that  Fendall,  the  governor  of  Maryland,  was  about 
to  execute  these  orders,  anxiety  and  alarm  prevailed  among 
the  Dutch  colonists ;  business  was  suspended,  and  every 
one  prepared  for  flight.     Within  a  fortnight,  fifty  persons.  Alarm  at 
including  several  families,  removed  to  Maryland  and  Vir-  stei.  ' 
ginia.     Scarcely  thirty  families  remained  at  New  Amstel. 
"  A  chief  excuse  for  these  removals,"  wrote  Stuyvesant  to4  sept. 
the  directors  at  Amsterdam,  "  is  supposed  to  be  the  too 
great  preciseness  of  the  honorable  Alrichs."     "  It  would 
seem  as  if  those  of  the  South  and  North  are  jealous  of  each 
other,"  wrote  Alrichs  to  his  own  superiors,  "  and  dread  that 
this  settlement  should  become  great  and  flourishing:." 

The  government  of  Maryland  lost  no  time  in  executing 
their  proprietary's  orders.  A  meeting  of  the  council  was 
held  at  Ann  Arundel,  at  which  G-overnor  Fendall  and  Sec- 
retary Philip  Calvert,  Lord  Baltimore's  brother,  were  pros- 


664        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIX.  ent.     Colonel  Nathaniel  Utie  was  directed  to  repair  ''tf 
the  pretended  governor  of  a  people  seated  in  Delaware  Bay 
3  Angust    within  his  lordship's  province,"  and  require  him  to  depart 
New^Am-'°  thencc.     Utie  was  further  instructed,  in  case  he  found  op 
®"^'-  portunity,  "to  insinuate  into  the  people  there  seated,  that 

in  case  they  make  their  application  to  his  lordship's  gov- 
ernor here,  they  shall  find  good  conditions."  Fendall  at 
Letter  of  the  samc  time  wrote  to  Alrichs:  "I  received  a  letter  from 
land  gov-  you  dircctcd  to  me  as  the  Lord  Baltimore's  governor  and 
lieutenant  of  the  province  of  Maryland,  wherein  you  sup- 
pose yourself  to  be  governor  of  a  people  seated  in  a  part  of 
Delaware  Bay,  which  I  am  very  well  informed  lyeth  to  the 
southward  of  the  degree  forty ;  and  therefore  can  by  no 
means  own  or  acknowledge  any  fpr  governor  there  but  my- 
self, who  am  by  his  lordship  appointed  lieutenant  of  his 
whole  province,  lying  between  these  degrees,  thirty-eight 
and  forty,  but  do  by  these  require  and  command  you  pres- 
ently to  depart  forth  of  his  lordship's  province,  or  otherwise 
desire  you  to  hold  me  excused  if  I  use  my  utmost  endeav- 
or to  reduce  that  part  of  his  lordship's  province  unto  its 
due  obedience  under  him."* 

Utie  soon  arrived  at  New  Amstel  with  a  suite  of  six  per- 
sons, and  spent  some  days  in  sowing  "  seditious  and  mu- 
6  Sept.       tinous  seed  among  the  community."    At  length  he  demarr]- 
New  Am-   cd  au  audicuce  of  Alrichs,  who  requested  the  presence  of 
Beeckman,  as  the  representative  of  the  West  India  Com- 
pany.    In  a  "  pretty  harsh  and  bitter"  manner,  Utie  de- 
livered Fendall's  letter,  and  peremptorily  commanded  the 
Dutch  to  leave  the  South  River,  or  else  declare  themselves 
inteniew   subjcct  to  Lord  Baltimore.    "  This  communication  appears 
Dutch  offi-  very  strange  to  us  in  every  respect,"  replied  the  Dutch  offi- 
cers, "  as  we  have  been  in  possession  of  this  land  during 
so  many  years."     "  I  know  nothing  about  it,"  answered 
Utie ;  "it  was  granted  to  Lord  Baltimore,  and  was  con- 
firmed by  the  king  himself,  and  renewed  two  years  ago, 
and  sanctioned  by  Parliament,  to  the  extent  of  forty  de- 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  291  ;  xii.,  496,  503-506,  514 ;  xviii.,  28-39,  42,  45 ;  Hoi.  Doc,  xvi..  99, 
163-207;  N.Y.  U.S.  Coll..  iii.,  368,  309;  Acrclius,  421,  422  ;  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  251, 
255-260,  273 ;  ante,  p.  206,  220,  252. 


1659 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  ^(35 

grees."  "  You  should  take  hold  of  this  opportunity,"  hs  ch.  xix. 
added,  "  as  your  men  have  chiefly  deserted  you,  and  they 
who  yet  remain  will  be  of  little  or  no  aid.  It  is  our  inten- 
tion to  seize  this  occasion,  as  we  are  convinced  of  your 
weakness,  and  it  now  suits  us  best  in  the  whole  year,  as 
the  tobacco  is  chiefly  harvested.  We  therefore  demand 
a  positive  answer — just  as  you  may  please."  "  The  case 
must  be  left  to  our  lords  and  principals  in  England  and 
Holland,"  answered  the  Dutch  officers,  "  and  we  are  in  duty 
bound  to  refer  the  case  to  the  director  general  of  New  Neth- 
erland,  to  whose  government  we  are  also  subject ;  and  it 
will  require  some  time  to  consult  their." 

The  next  day  Utie  was  summoned  to  the  fort  to  receive  9  sept. 
the  written  reply  of  the  Dutch  officers.  Beeckman  had  ad-  utie. 
vised  that  the  Maryland  delegates  should  be  arrested  and 
sent  as  prisoners  to  Manhattan.  But  Alrichs  and  Hino- 
yossa  objected,  "  fearing  great  calamities  from  it,  and  a  re- 
volt of  the  citizens."  A  protest  was  therefore  drawn  up, 
on  receiving  which  Utie  merely  "repeated  his  former  say- 
ing;" and  addressing  Beeckman,  who  he  learned  was  com- 
mander at  Altona,  he  added,  "You,  too,  must  depart  from 
there,  as  it  is  situated  within  forty  degrees."  "  If  you  have 
any  thing  to  say  to  me,"  replied  Beeckman,  "you  should 
appear  at  the  place  of  my  residence." 

Two  days  afterward,  the  English  delegates  returned  to  11  scpt. 
Maryland.     Rumors  soon  spread  that  five  hundred  men 
were  to  march  upon  the  South  River ;  and  messengers  were 
dispatched  overland  to  Stuyvesant  to  ask  for  large  re-en-  21  Sept. 
forcements.     "It  seems  to  me,"  added  Beeckman,  "  that  asked  fro.-n 
Alrichs  and  Hinoyossa  are  much  perplexed,  and  full  of  fearsam. 
with  respect  to  the  English  coming  from  Maryland,  which 
I  can  not  believe."* 

The  news  of  the  troubles  on  the  South  River  found  Stuy- 
vesant already  sufficiently  embarrassed  by  the  hostile  at- 
titude of  the  Esopus  savages.     Sixty  soldiers,  however,  23  Sept. 
were  sent  at  once,  under  the  command  of  Captain  Kregier,  memssem 

*  Alb.  Rec,  xii.,  509-514  ;  xvii.,  5-12  ;  IIol.  Doc,  xvi.,  117  ;  Lond.  Doc,  iv.,  H  i,  175  ; 
N.  Y  Col   MSS    L'i.,  3V 1 ;  O'Call.,  ii..  377-380  ;  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  260-266,  274 


666  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIX.  and  he,  with  Secretary  Van  Ruyven,  was  commissioned  to 

— ; act  as  general  agents  for  the  service  of  the  company.     At 

the  same  time,  Stuyvesant  severely  censured  Alrichs  and 
Beeckman  for  a  "  want  of  prudence  and  courage"  in  their 
whole  conduct  toward  Utie. 
Embassy        Augustiuc  Hecrmans  and  Resolved  Waldron,  the  undei 

to  Mary-  °        .  _  ' 

land.  sellout  of  New  Amsterdam,  were  also  dispatched  on  an  em- 
bassy to  the  government  of  Maryland  to  request  the  sur- 
render of  fugitives,  or  threaten  retaliation,  and  to  demand 
reparation  for  the  seditious  proceedings  and  "  frivolous  de- 
mands and  bloody  threatenings"  of  Colonel  Utie  on  the 
South  River,     Stuyvesant  likewise  wrote  a  letter  to  Fen- 

23  Sept.  dall,  accrediting  his  representatives,  and  complaining  of 
Utie's  conduct  as  a  breach  of  the  treaty  of  1654  between 
England  and  Holland.* 

The  Dutch  ambassadors,  proceeding  with  a  small  escort 
overland  from  New  Amstel,  after  many-  embarrassing  ad- 

6  October,  veuturcs  arrived  in  a  week  at  Patuxent.  While  awaiting 
an  audience  with  the  governor,  they  were  hospitably  en- 
tertained, and,  among  others,  accidentally  met  Doughty, 

8  October,  the  formcr  minister  at  Flushing.     Dining,  on  one  occasion, 

withcai-  with  Secretary  Calvert,  they  were  surprised  to  find  him 
claiming  that  Maryland  extended  to  the  limits  of  New  En- 
gland. "Where,  then,  would  remain  New  Netherland?" 
asked  the  envoys.  With  provoking  calmness,  Calvert  re- 
plied, "  I  do  not  know." 

16  October.      A  wcek  aftcrward,  the  ambassadors  had  an  interview 

with^Fen-  with  Fcudall  and  his  council,  to  whom  they  delivered  a 
"declaration  and  manifesto"  in  behalf  of  the  government 
of  New  Netherland,  setting  forth  the  Dutch  title  to  tho 
South  River,  the  first  possession  of  which  was  "  sealed  with 
the  blood  of  many  souls."  In  regard  to  this  possession, 
there  had  never  been  difficulty  between  New  Netherland 
and  Virginia  or  Maryland  until  Utie's  unwarrantable  pro- 
ceedings. Satisfaction  should  be  made  for  this ;  and  run- 
aways into  Maryland  should  be  surrendered,  otherwise  the 

*  Alb.  Rec,  xvii.,  466  ;  xix.,  331  ;  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  iii.,  370-373  ;  Hazard,  Ann.  Venn.. 
360-273 ;  Acrelius,  422. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  667 

government  at  Manhattan  would  feel  constrained  "  to  pub-  ch.  xix. 
lish  free  liberty,  access,  and  recess  to  all  planters,  servants, 
negroes,  fugitives,  and  runaways,  which  from  time  to  time 
may  come  out  of  the  jurisdiction  of  Maryland  into  the  ju- 
risdiction of  New  Netherland."  Lord  Baltimore's  claim  statemcm 
to  the  South  River  was  utterly  "denied,  disowned,  andoutdi. 
rejected."  His  patent  was  only  twenty-four  or  twenty- 
seven  years  old ;  while  the  Dutch  had  been  forty  years  in 
just  and  lawful  possession.  Lord  Baltimore's  patent  did 
not  refer  to  the  Delaware  Bay  as  much  as  did  Plowden's 
"  invalid"  charter.  The  Dutch  title  to  New  Netherland, 
moreover,  had  been  acknowledged  and  confirmed  by  the 
Lord  Protector's  omission  to  reduce  it  to  subjection,  and  by 
the  Peace  of  1654.  Yet,  "to  prevent  further  mischief," 
the  envoys  proposed  that  "three  rational  persons"  might 
be  chosen  from  each  province,  "to  meet  at  a  certain  day 
and  time,  about  the  middle  of  between  the  bay  of  Chesa- 
peake and  the  aforesaid  South  River  or  Delaware  Bay,  at  a 
hill  lying  to  the  head  of  Sassafrax  River,"  with  full  powers 
to  settle  the  bounds,  6etween  New  Netherland  and  Mary- 
land, or  otherwise  that  the  dispute  be  referred  for  settle- 
ment to  their  common  sovereigns  in  Europe.* 

This  statement  produced  "an  astonishing  change"  in  Reply  tf 
Fendall  and  his  council ;  and  a  long  discussion  followed. 
The  Maryland  governor  declared  that  he  had  not  intended 
to  meddle  with  the  government  at  Manhattan,  but  only 
with  the  settlers  on  Delaware  Bay,  to  whomUtie  had  been 
sent ;  and  on  being  told  that  the  Dutch  colonists  there 
were  subordinate  to  the  provincial  government  of  New 
Netherland,  he  replied  that  he  "  knew  no  better."     With 
great  vehemence,  Utie  broke  in  :   "  All  that  has  been  done  utie's  m- 
was  against  people  who  had  dared  to  settle  within  the  prov-  ''^''*'*''"'^" 
ince  of  my  Lord  Baltimore;  if  the  governor  will  renew  my 
commission,  I  will  do  as  I  did  before."     "  If  you  return 
and  act  as  you  did,"  replied  Heermans,  "you  will  lose  the 

*  This  "declaration  and  manifesto"  was  drawn  up  in  Dutch,  and  "Englished"  by  Mr. 
Simon  Oversee,  at  Patuxent,  by  order  of  the  Maryland  council.  A  copy  of  that  version,- 
which  is  imperfect,  is  in  N.  Y.  11.  S.  Coll  ,  iii.,  373-381,  and  in  Hazard's  Ann.  Penn.,  27"- 
2S4.     Copies  of  the  original  Dutch  are  in  Hoi.  Doc,  ix.,  171,  274 ;  xvi.,  127. 


668  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIX.  name  of  ambassador,  and  will  be  treated  as  a  disturber  of 

the  public  peace." 
17  October.  ^^  ^^^  morrow,  Fendall  exhibited  Lord  Baltimore's  pat- 
ent to  the  Dutch  envoys,  who,  detecting  its  weakness,  drew 
Comment  up  a  memorandum  neatly  embodying  their  views.  "  Lord 
Dutch  en-  Baltimore,"  they  stated,  "hath  petitioned  his  royal  majes- 
LordBa?t'i-  ty  of  England  for  a  country  in  the  parts  of  America  which 
ent.  was  not  seated  and  taken  up  before,  only  inhabited  (as  he 

saith)  by  a  certain  barbarous  people,  the  Indians.  Upon 
which  ground  his  royal  majesty  did  grant  and  confirm  the 
said  patent.  But  now,  whereas  our  South  River,  of  old 
called  Nassau  River  of  New  Netherland  (by  the  English 
surnamed  Delaware),  was  taken  up,  appropriated,  and  pur- 
chased, by  virtue  of  commission  and  grant  from  the  High 
and  flighty  States  General  of  the  United  Provinces  long 
before,  therefore  is  his  royal  majesty's  intention  and  jus- 
tice not  to  have  given  and  granted  that  part  of  a  country 
which  before  was  taken  in  possession  and  seated  by  the 
subjects  of  the  High  and  Mighty  States  General  of  the 
United  Provinces,  as  is  declared  and  manifested  heretofore. 
So  that  the  claim  my  Lord  Baltimore's  patent  speaks  of  to 
Delaware  Bay,  or  a  part  thereof,  in  several  other  respects 
and  punctuality  is  invalid." 
diftnse  of  Tliis  clcvcr  paper  took  Fendall  by  surprise.  La  defense 
land^pa?-"  °^  *^^^  English  title,  he  insisted  that  the  king  had  fully  in- 
'^"'-  tended  to  include  Delaware  Bay  in  the  Maryland  patent ; 

and  he  required  the  Dutch  to  produce  their  patent  for  New 
Netherland.  The  envoys  replied  that  they  had  not  come 
for  that  purpose,  but  only  to  arrange  a  future  meeting 
between  the  parties,  Fendall  then  remarked  that  Clay- 
borne,  who  had  made,  without  avail,  a  similar  objection 
respecting  his  earlier  possession  of  Kent  Island,  had  been 
obliged  to  beg  Lord  Baltimore  to  save  his  life.  "  That  was 
Answer  of  a  different  case,"  answered  the  New  Netherland  nesfotia- 

Lhe  Dutch.  -  .  /•  -n,        i         i     i  ^ 

tors:   "we  are  not  subjects  oi  England,  but  a  free,  sov- 
ereign people  of  the  Dutch  nation,  who  have  as  much 
■  right  to  countries  in  America  as  any  other  state." 

As  the  Dutch  envoys  had  not  produced  their  patent,  the 


PETER  STU  YVES  ANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  fifi9 

council  thought  that  the  easiest  method  of  treating  their  c«.  xix 
exceptions  to  the  Maryland  charter  was  "to  take  no  no- 
tice."     The  next  day,  a  reply  to  Stuyvesant's  letter  was  ,9  October 
delivered  to  the  ambassadors.     Utie's  proceedings  on  the ("^ig^o^pf," 
South  River  were  justified,  and  the  colonists  settled  there  p^p"" 
were  declared  to  be  intruders.     The  "  original  rights  of  the 
kings  of  England"  must  be  maintained.     "  The  pretended 
title"  of  the  Dutch  was  pronounced  to  be  "  utterly  none," 
and  their  alleged  patent  from  the  States  G-eneral  "void 
and  of  none  effect."     With  respect  to  "indebted  persons," 
the  Maryland  courts  would  be  open  as  freely  to  the  Dutch 
as  to  the  Virginians.     Upon  receiving  this  reply,  Waldron  20  October, 
returned  to  Manhattan ;  while  Heermans  went  on  to  Vir-  returns. 
ginia  "  to  inquire  of  the  governor  what  is  his  opinion  upon  goesto  vir- 
the  subject ;  to  create  a  division  between  them  both  ;  and 
to  purge  ourselves  of  the  slander  of  stirring  up  the  In- 
dians to  murder  the  English  at  Accomac."* 

Stuyvesant  took  care  to  communicate  all  these  transac-  26  Dec. 

.  .  .  Stuyve- 

tions  to  his  superiors  in  Holland.  "  Your  honors  may  see,"  sant's  re- 
said  he,  "that  notwithstanding  our  remonstrance  and  that  w.  i.  co. 
of  the  commissioners  with  regard  to  the  honorable  compa- 
ny's indisputable  title,  right,  and  actual  possession  of  the 
South  River,  those  of  Maryland  held  fast  to  their  frivolous 
pretensions  ;  from  which  it  may  be  presumed  that  they 
will  take  hold  of  the  first  opportunity  to  expel  our  people 
from  our  possessions,  unless,  ere  long,  regard  is  paid  by  your 
honors  and  the  burgomasters  of  Amsterdam  to  the  popula- 
tion and  defense  of  these  parts.  We  are  already  informed 
with  some  certainty  that  the  governor  of  Maryland  has 
already  caused  a  survey  to  be  made  of  these  lands  at  the 
distance  of  about  one  or  two  miles  from  the  fortress  of  New 
Amstel,  and  made  a  distribution  of  these  among  several 

•  Heermans'  Journal,  in  Alb.  Rec,  xviii.,  337-305,  and  Hoi.  Doc,  xvi.,  141-156 ;  Haz- 
ard's Ann.  Penn.,  284-296  ;  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  iii.,  382-386  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  381-388.  Heer- 
mans settled  himself  on  the  Bohemia  River  in  ICGl  ;  see  G.  L.  L.  Davis,  "  Day  Star,"  p. 
269 ;  pnst,  p.  683.  The  exceptions  of  the  Dutch  envoys  to  Lord  Baltimore's  patent  formed 
th-!  ground  upon  which  the  English  Committee  of  Trade  and  Plantations  decided  in  If85 
that  Delaware  did  not  belong  to  Maryland.  Indeed,  it  may  safely  be  asserted  that  the  inde- 
pentlent  existence  of  the  present  State  of  Delaware  is  mainly  owing  to  th"^  very  rr-Tion.s 
wliir-h  the  Dutch  maintained  so  ably  in  1659  ;  Bancroft,  ii..  3(18,  393,  39 1,  and  the  niithoriti-s 
there  cited  ;  Lond.  Doc.,  i.,  65-76  ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  23-27  ;  Dozmaii,  ii.,  9 ;  ante,  p.  252. 


670  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

cn.  XIX.  inhabitants  of  Maryland ;  against  whom,  if  they  take  act- 
ual  possession,  we  earnestly  solicit  your  honors'  orders  to 
know  what  we  have  to  do,  and  how  to  conduct  ourselves 
against  such  usurpers."* 

The  disastrous  condition  of  the  city's  colony  had  mean- 
while sorely  annoyed  the  burgomasters  of  Amsterdam,  at 

so  Sept.  whose  suggestion  the  city  council  resolved  to  retransfer 
New  Amstel  to  the  West  India  Company.  But  the  com- 
pany "  showed  no  inclination  whatever  thereto  ;"  and  the 

8  Nov.  city  was  obliged  to  vote  a  further  subsidy  of  twelve  thou- 
sand guilders  for  the  support  of  its  colony.     The  compa- 

14  October,  ny  attributed  the  misfortunes  of  New  Amstel  chiefly  to 
"  the  too  rigid  preciseness  of  Director  Alrichs."  On  the 
other  hand,  Alrichs  accused  Van  Ruyven  and  Kregier  of 

8  Dec.       causing  disaffection ;  while  Hinoyossa  and  Van  Sweringen 

laid  all  the  blame  upon  their  own  chief.     In  the  midst  of 

9  Dec.       these  troubles,  Domine  Welius  fell  a  victim  to  the  epidem- 

Death  of      _  '  _  ^ 

Domine     {q   and  tlic  afflictcd  colonists  lost  a  kind  friend  who  had 

Welms.  ' 

helped  to  sustain  them  under  their  heavy  trials.     A  few 
30  Dec.      weeks  afterward  Alrichs  died,  having  intrusted  the  sfov- 

Of  Alrichs.  mi  i  i     i  i       •   i 

ernment  to  Hmoyossa.  Ihe  colony  was  overwhelmed  with 
debt ;  of  all  the  soldiers  who  had  been  sent  out  from  Hol- 
land, but  five  remained  at  the  Horekills,  and  ten  at  New 
Amstel.  At  the  close  of  the  year  1659,  the  inhabited  part 
of  the  colony  on  the  South  River  did  not  extend  beyond 
two  Dutch  miles  from  the  fort.t 
Eastern  Emigrants  from  New  England  had  all  the  while  been 

Longlsl-  .  °  .    .  ° 

and  under  activclv  coloniziug  the  northern  shores  of  Long  Island,  east- 

Connecti-  •'  °  . 

cut.  ward  of  Oyster  Bay,  which  the  Hartford  treaty  had  sur- 

southamp-  rendered  to  the  English.  Southampton  had  been  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  General  Court  at  Hartford  since 
Easthamp-  1644 ;  and  Easthampton,  which  was  purchased  in  1648, 
from  "VVayandanck,  the  "  sachem  of  Montauk,"  and  three 
other  chiefs,  was  likewise  "annexed"  to  Connecticut  in  the 
spring  of  1658.     Releases  of  land  further  to  the  west  were 

*  Alb.  Rec,  xviii.,  69;  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  298. 

t  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  310-312  ;  xvii.,  22-25  ;  xviii.,  417-426  ;  Hoi.  Doc,  xvi.,  106,  115,  1S7, 
177,  208;  Cor.  Classis  Amst.,  Alrichs'  letter,  12th  December,  1659;  Wagenaar,  i.,  5S5 ; 
j^crdius,  422;  O'Call.,  ii.,  388  ;  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  297-300 


ton 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAI .  671 

alrio  obtainei^  from  "Wayandanck  by  Richard  "WoodhuU  and  ch.  xix. 
others,  and  settlements  were  begun  at  Huntington  and  Se-        ;;; 
tauket,  on  Cromwell's  Bay,  nr  w  a  part  of  the  town  of  Brook-  Huntington 
haven.     The  restless  Underhill,  finding  himself  at  Setau- ^^'^^l  ^"''"' 
ket,  joined  with  the  inhabitants  in  petitioning  the  Greneral  g  August. 
Court  at  Hartford  to  rc/Ceive  that  settlement  as  "  a  member 
of  the  said  body  politic,"  with  the  same  privileges  which 
Southampton  and  Easthampton  enjoyed,  in  consideration 
of  their  "  remoteness  from  the  head  court,  and  the  uncer- 
tain passage  over  the  Sound."     The  next  spring,  a  similar   1660. 
request  was  presented  from  Huntington,     The  Gfeneral ' '  ^^^^ '■ 
Court  accepted  the  propositions  of  both  these  plantations, 
"so  far  as  they  may  be  consistent  with  the  articles  of  con- 
federation ;"  and  the  next  autumn  liberty  was  granted  by  septemi)er. 
the  commissioners,  to  the  jurisdiction  of  Connecticut,  "  to 
take  Huntington  and  Sautaukett,  two  English  plantations 
on  Long  Island,  under  their  government."     Much  embar- 
rassment was  caused  to  the  people  of  Southampton  and  its 
neighborhood  by  the  same  Captain  John  Scott,  who  in  1654  captain 
had  been  arrested  and  examined  at  New  Amsterdam,  and 
who  now  returned  to  England.     Claiming  to  have  obtain-  e  October, 
ed  from  the  Indians  large  tracts  of  land,  he  executed  nu- 
merous  conveyances,  which,  after  much  litigation,  were 
found  to  be  fraudulent  and  void.* 

Unwilling  to   relinquish  their  purpose  of  establishing   1659. 
themselves  on  the  North  River,  the  Massachusetts  adven-  geuT''*^''"' 
turers  brought  their  case  before  the  commissioners,  who'^''^""^' 
wrote  to  Stuyvesant  requesting  that  the  planters  might  be  i:  Sept. 
allowed  a  free  passage  up  the  Hudson  River,  "they  de-thecom- 
meaning  themselves  peaceably,  and  paying  such  moderate 
duties  as  may  be  expected  in  such  cases."     The  exact 
bounds  of  the  Massachusetts  patent "  we  leave  to  that  gov- 
ernment to  clear,"  added  the  commissioners,  "only  we  con- 
ceive the  agreement  at  Hartford,  that  the  English  should 
not  come  within  ten  miles  of  Hudson's  River,  doth  not  prej- 

♦  Alb.  Rec,  xviii.,  ]fi8;  Lond.  Doc,  i.,  TT-S."!  ;  N.  Y.  Col.  M.SS.,  iii.,  27-29;  Col.  Rec. 
Conn.,  112,  200,  SIC,  311  348,  305,  560,  572;  Hazard,  ii.,  7,  18,  91,  173,  191,  384,  434; 
Trumbull,  i.,  235,  2?7 ;  Thoinpaon's  L.  I.,  i.,  293-302,  380,  408-411,  433,  465,  484-188;  ii., 
S20  ;  JJutcli.  Coll.,  3S0  ;    Lord  Brnybrook's  Pepys,  i  ,  xxvi.-xxvii. ;  ante,  p.  297-300,  579. 


672  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIX.  udice  the  rights  of  the  Massachusetts  in  the  upland  coun- 

try,  nor  give  any  right  to  the  Dutch  there,"     Stuyvesant, 

however,  remembering  the  history  of  the  English  settle- 
29  October,  mcuts  ou  the  Connecticut,  explained  that  his  orders  from 
sant'san-  the  Wcst  India  Company  obliged  him  to  refuse  "categor- 


swer. 


ically"  to  all  persons,  except  citizens  of  New  Netherland, 
the  right  of  trading  upon  or  passing  up  and  down  the  North 
River.  At  the  same  time,  he  again  earnestly  wrote  to  the 
Amsterdam  Chamber,  and  asked  that  a  frigate  of  fourteen 
or  sixteen  guns  should  be  at  once  stationed  at  New  Am- 
sterdam, to  protect  the  river  and  transport  soldiers.  Dis- 
satisfied with  Stuyvesant's  reply,  the  Massachusetts  Gren- 
12  Nov.  eral  Court  sent  Hawthorne  and  Richards  "  to  communicate 
their  honest  intentions  in  this  matter,  and  to  demonstrate 
the  equity  of  the  motion  of  the  commissioners  in  their  be- 
ciaims  of  half."  The  agents  claimed  that  as  the  upper  part  of  the 
chusetts^""  North  River  was  covered  by  the  patent  of  Massachusetts, 
"^^" ''  within  which  "  the  Dutch  perhaps  may  have  intruded," 
that  river  should  afford  the  English  a  passage,  as  the  Rhine 
and  the  Elbe  were  free  to  the  various  countries  on  their 
upper  banks.  The  Hartford  treaty  did  not  affect  Massa- 
chusetts ;  her  commissioners  had  been  merely  arbitrators ; 
even  had  they  been  principals,  it  would  not  alter  the  case, 
for  the  provisional  boundary  line  extended  only  twenty 
mile.>i  northerly  from  the  sea;  and,  as  the  south  line  of 
Massachusetts  was  beyond  that  point,  her  patent  was  not 
impaired  by  the  treaty.* 

This  bold  claim  was  urged  upon  the  director  at  the  very 
moment  that  Maryland  was  asserting  an  adverse  title  to 
22  Dec      the  South  River.     The  Amsterdam  Chamber  promptly  ap- 
proved his  proposition  to  establish  a  Dutch  colony  at  the 
Wappinger's  Kill,  and  directed  him  to  purchase  the  land 
there  to  check  the  projected  enterprise  of  the  New  England 
1660.  men.     Instructions  were  soon  afterward  sent  him  to  allow 
?nstruc^    no  EugUsh  to  settle  themselves  on  the  North  River,  and  to 
w"r  Com!  repress  all  attempts  at  encroachment  as  he  had  already  op- 
''^"^-        posed  the  Maryland  project  on  the  South  River.     Feeling 

♦  Hazard,  ii.,  108;  Hutchinson's  Coll.,  318;  Alh.  Rec,  xvui.,61,  62;  xxiv.,  161-164. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  673 

that  he  had  the  right  on  his  side,  Stuyvesant  now  drew  up  ch.  xix. 
an  argument  in  which  he  refuted  the  pretension  of  Mas- 
sachusetts.  Her  patent  had  no  connection  with  the  ques-  20  April. 
tion,  for  it  w^as  not  granted  until  after  that  of  the  West  In-  sa"t's^repiy 
dia  Company.  The  North  River  having  been  discovered '^^'ms  ^r 
by  the  Dutch,  and  constantly  visited  by  them  for  more  than  gett^*^'^''^'*' 
half  a  century,  and  actually  colonized  by  the  West  India 
Company  for  over  thirty-seven  years,  the  claim  that  that 
river  was  within  the  Massachusetts  patent,  which  was  only 
thirty-two  years  old,  "scarcely  deserves  a  serious  answer." 
The  Dutch  had  not "  intruded."  With  much  more  justice 
might  those  be  called  "  intruders"  who  now  endeavor  to 
thrust  themselves  within  the  Dutch  limits,  and  who  had 
already  settled  themselves  between  the  Fresh  River  and 
the  North  River,  upon  territory  which  the  Dutch  had  pos- 
sessed and  secured  by  forts  many  years  before  "  one  single 
Englishman  had  any  land  or  possession"  there.  The  Rhine 
and  the  Elbe  were  not  like  the  North  River,  There  was 
more  analogy,  in  respect  to  situation,  between  it  and  the 
Thames  ;  yet  the  English  did  not  throw  open  that  river  to 
other  nations.  The  Dutch  had  never  prohibited  their  In- 
dians from  trading  with  other  nations ;  but  they  could  not 
grant  Massachusetts,  or  any  other  foreign  government,  the 
right  to  come  and  traffic  within  their  own  lawfully-pur- 
chased territory.  At  the  time  of  the  Hartford  treaty,  Mas- 
sachusetts had  made  no  claim  to  lands  on  the  North  River ; 
if  such  a  claim  had  been  then  advanced,  it  would  have 
been  fairly  discussed  and  fully  disproved.* 

But,  while  Stuyvesant  was  preparing  this  able  reply  to 
the  encroaching  claims  of  Massachusetts,  he  was  not  blind 
to  the  almost  desperate  condition  of  New  Netherland. 
"Place  no  confidence,"  wrote  he  to  the  Amsterdam  Cham- 21  Aprii. 
ber,  "in  the  weakness  of  the  English  government  and  its 
indisposition  to  interfere  in  affairs  here.     New  England 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  321,. 331  ;  xxiv.,  165-174.  If  Stuyvesant  could  have  examined  the  Mas- 
sachusetts patent,  he  would  probably  have  strengthened  his  argument  by  taking  ground 
Btinilar  to  that  which  Heernians  and  Waldron  did  respecting  the  Maryland  Charter,  and 
would  have  insisted  that  the  proviso  in  the  patent  actually  declared  it  "  void"  with  regard 
to  the  territory  possessed  by  the  Dutch  before  the  3d  of  November,  1620  ;  aiite,  p.  189, 668. 

Uu 


674  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch  XIX.  does  not  care  much  about  its  troubles,  and  does  not  want 
its  aid.     Her  people  are  fully  convinced  that  their  power 
■  overbalances  ours  ten-fold ;  and  it  is  to  be  apprehended  that 
they  may  make  further  attempts,  at  this  opportunity,  with- 
out fearing  or  caring  for  home  interference."    Two  months 
25jui.e.     afterward  he  again  wrote,  "the  demands,  encroachments, 
eant's  dis-  and  usurpatious  of  the  English  give  the  people  here  great 

patches  to  ,,  i  •  i  i  i  i 

the  w.  I.    concern ;"  and  in  succeedmg  dispatches,  he  urged  the  com- 

Company.  '  r  . 

pany  to  send  out  re-enforcements ;  to  station  a  frigate  at  the 
mouth  of  the  North  River ;  and  to  put  him  in  a  position 
authoritatively  and  successfully  to  repel  the  characteristic 
assumption  by  which  the  English  maintained  that  they 
alone  had  chartered  rights  to  the  possession  of  lands  in  the 
northern  regions  of  America.* 

New  Amsterdam  now  obtained  what  she  had  so  long 
9  April,      asked  in  vain,  a  schout  of  her  own ;  and  Pieter  Tonneman. 

Tonneman 

schout  of   lately  of  Breuckelen,  returning  from  Holland  with  a  com- 

New  Am-  .      'f  '  o 

sterdain.    missiou  from  the  Amsterdam  directors,  took  his  oath  of  of- 

5  August,   fice,  and  his  seat  in  the  City  Hall  in  place  of  De  Sille.    The 

merchants  of  the  metropolis  were  also  gratified  by  a  further 
Burgher     conccssion  fi'om  Stuyvesant,  which  extended  their  "  burgh- 

rjtrht  ex-  . 

tended,  er  right"  to  all  parts  of  the  province.  A  second  survey  and 
a  map  of  the  city  were  made  this  svimmer  by  Jacques  Cor- 
telyou,  and  New  Amsterdam  was  found  to  contain  three 
hundred  and  fifty  houses.     At  the  request  of  the  burgomas- 

6  October,  tcrs,  the  director  sent  this  map,  together  with  "  a  perspect- 
sarvey  of  ivc  vicw,"  wliich  Hccrmans  had  made  some  years  before, 

New  Am- 

sierdam.    to  the  Amsterdam  Chamber,  in  case  it  should  be  thought 

good  "  to  make  it  more  public  by  having  it  engraved."! 

16  August.       New  Haerlem  having  by  this  time  become  sufficiently 

lem  incor-  populous  to  entitle  it  to  a  village  government  of  its  own, 

an  inferior  court  was  organized  there,  and  Jan  Pietersen, 

Daniel  Terneur,  and  Pieter  Coussen,  were  appointed  its 

*  Alb.  Rec,  xviii.,  89,  90,  104,  123,  HO,  144  ;  IIoI.  Doc,  i.\.,  169-i;i  ;  Smith's  Hist.  N 
Y.,  i.,  11,  12  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  403-106  ;  Bancroft,  ii.,  310. 

t  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  339;  viii.,  266,  267;  xviii.,  107,  138;  xxiv.,  295  ;  Hoi.  Doc,  xvi.,  221 
New  Amst.  Rec,  i.,  96  ;  iii.,  391-395,  426  ;  iv.,  208,  291  ;  a>Ue,  p.  623,  628,  640.  Cortel 
you's  map  does  not  appear  to  have  been  engraved,  but  ITeermans'  previous  sketch  has 
been  preserved  ;  ante.  p.  561,  note.  There  is  "  a  drawn  plan"  of  New  Amsterdam  in  the 
British  Museum,  a  copy  of  which  is  in  Valentine's  Manual  for  1659. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  675 

first  magistrates,  with  a  limited  jurisdiction,  and  in  subor-  ch.  xix 
dination  to  the  high  tribunals  of  the  capital. 

The  recent  occurrences  at  Esopus  being  considered  in  jg  pj^j,. 
council,  in  connection  with  the  difficulties  with  Maryland  J^^r^a^jgc'''' 
and  Massachusetts,  it  was  determined  that  hostilities  with'""""^^' 
the  savages  should  be  postponed,  and  that  steps  should  be 
taken  to  raise  a  force  of  at  least  a  hundred  men,  "without 
distinction  of  nation,"  in  Virginia,  or  in  the  North.     Ser- 
geant Andries  Laurensen  was  accordingly  commissioned  4  March, 
to  go  to  the  South  River,  and  endeavor  to  enlist  soldiers  for 
the  Esopus  war  among  the  Swedes  and  Finns,  who  were 
estimated  to  number  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  men 
able  to  bear  arms. 

The  Indians  around  New  Amsterdam  now  desiring  a  e  March. 
closer  friendship  with  the  Dutch,  a  new  treaty  was  madewuhuie 
with  the  Long  Island,  Staten  Island,  Hackinsack,  Haver-  and^ami 
straw,  and  Weckquaesgeek  tribes,  to  seal  which  more  firm-  dians. 
ly,  Stuyvesant  required  the  savages  to  allow  some  of  their 
children  to  be  educated  by  the  Dutch.    "  Whereas,"  reads 
the  interesting  record,  "  our  posterity,  after  the  lapse  of 
ages,  will  see  and  know  what  we  now  speak  and  conclude 
together,  while  your  posterity  can  not  do  it  equally  well, 
as  they  can  not  read  nor  write,  we  demand  that  you  intrust  imUan  cuu- 
us  with  the  education  of  some  of  your  children."    The  red  educated  by 
men  assented ;  and,  leaving  a  child  at  New  Amsterdam, 
promised  to  bring  others  when  the  opportunity  offered. 
The  next  week,  the  chief  of  the  Wappingers  asked  that  15  Maicu. 
the  Esopus  savages  might  be  included  in  the  new  treaty; 
but  the  director,  suspecting  their  sincerity,  required  that 
they  should  come  in  person  to  New  Amsterdam.     "  They 
are  too  much  frightened,  and  dare  not  come,"  replied  the 
Wappinger  mediator ;  and  Stuyvesant,  hoping  that  his  pres- 
ence might  move  the  savages  to  peace,  promptly  set  out  for 
Esopus.     On  his  arrival,  he  found  that  Ensign  Smit  had  is  Mini,, 
gone  with  forty  men  into  the  interior,  where  he  had  cap-  in  Esop'us. 
tured  twelve  savages,  and  taken  a  quantity  of  corn,  pease. 
and  bearskins,  besides  the  palisaded  fort  of  "  Wiltmeet." 
The  prisoners  and  booty  were  ordered  to  be  sent  to  New 


676        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIX  Amsterdam,  and  the  remaining  savages  to  be  driven  across 
the  Katskill.  Going  up  the  river  to  Fort  Orange,  Stuyve- 
25  March"  ^^*^^  issucd  a  formal  declaration  of  offensive  and  defensive 
uono?warW^^  against  the  Esopus  savages  and  their  adherents,  and 
ifsopus  ordered  all  vessels  navigating  the  North  River  during  the 
savages.     }^ostilities  to  Sail  in  company.* 

4  April.  The  savages  were  soon  attacked  and  routed ;  and  the 

chiefs  from  the  neighboring  tribes,  who  came  to  Fort  Or- 
al April,    ange  and  Esopus  to  solicit  peace,  were  referred  to  the  di- 
24  May.     rcctor  general.     A  month  afterward,  three  Mahican  sa- 
chems visited  Fort  Amsterdam,  and  declared  that  the  Eso- 
pus savages  were  willing  to  give  up  their  land  as  a  com- 
pensation to  the  Dutch,  if  they  would  surrender  their  pris- 
oners and  make  a  firm  peace.     Stuyvesant,  however,  de- 
clined to  do  so  as  long  as  Christian  captives  remained  in 
25.  May.     the  hands  of  the  savages.     The  next  day,  an  order  was 
prisoners   made  in  council  for  the  transportation  of  several  of  the  pris- 

ordered  to  -,  i  i     i  -r->  • 

be  sent  to   oncrs  to  Curacoa,  "to  be  employed  there  or  at  Buenan-e, 

the  West  '  i      •'  ' 

Jmiios.  with  the  negroes  in  the  company's  service."  In  this  se- 
vere measure  Stuyvesant  followed  the  example  of  Massa- 
chusetts in  1637.  But  the  red  men  never  forgot  their  ex- 
iled brothers  ;  and,  before  long,  the  Dutch  settlers  at  Eso- 
pus bitterly  atoned  for  the  conduct  of  their  provincial  chief. 
.^0  May.  Again  the  savages  were  attacked.     Smit,  with  a  large 

against  the  forcc,  advauccd  against  their  encampment,  some  distance 
saTa^gel  abovB  the  second  fall  on  "  Kit  Davit's  Kill,"  about  nine 
miles  from  the  North  River,  and  captured  Preummaker, 
the  "oldest  and  best  of  their  chiefs,"  whom  they  had  left 
behind  in  their  hurried  retreat.  "As  it  was  a  considera- 
ble distance  to  carry  him,"  the  Dutch  "  struck  him  down 
with  his  own  axe."  Meanwhile,  one  of  the  principal  sa- 
chems of  the  tribe,  after  obtaining  the  unanimous  voice  of 
the  warriors,  and  squaws,  and  young  men,  in  favor  of  peace, 
had  gone  down  to  Communipa,  to  obtain  the  mediation  of 
2  juna  the  Haokinsaok  and  Haverstraw  chiefs.  While  there,  news 
came  that  Preummaker  had  been  killed  by  the  Dutch ;  and 
the  envoy  returned  to  his  trilie  M'ith  a  heavy  heart.     The 

♦  Alb.  Rec,  xvii,,  45 ;  xxiv.,  55-76.  115,  IIS-IST  ,  368,360;  onft:,  p.  641,  660. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  677 

next  day,  Oritany,  the  chief  of  the  Hackinsacks,  went  over  ch.  xix. 
to  Fort  Amsterdam,  and  a  truce  was  agreed  to,  upon  con- 
dition  that  he  should  personally  visit  Esopus  with  Claeggj^^j^ 
Jansen  Ruyter,  the  Dutch  interpreter.* 

Up  to  this  time,  Esopus  had  been  a  dependency  of  Fort 
Orange.  But  the  people,  who  had  already  organized  a  con- 
gregation and  called  a  clergyman,  felt  that  they  were  now 
entitled  to  a  municipal  government  of  their  own;  and  Roe- 
lof  Swartwout,  a  son  of  one  of  the  original  settlers,  who  had 
visited  the  Fatherland  and  engaged  several  colonists  to  ac- 
company  him  to  New  Netherland,  induced  the  Amsterdam 
directors  to  make  the  settlement  an  independent  jurisdic- 
tion.  Swartwout  was  immediatelv  commissioned  as  schout,  '5  Apni. 

"  Swartwout 

and  furnished  with  full  instructions  ;   and  Stuyvesant  was  s'-hoiu  vt 

*'  Esopus. 

ordered  to  induct  him  in  office,  and  establish  a  separate 
court  of  justice  at  Esopus.  This  action  of  his  superiors 
did  not  please  the  director,  who  wrote  back  that  he  had  25  June 

•  •  c  CI  <•  Refusal  of 

postponed  the  organization  of  a  court  for  ''lack  of  persons  stuyvesair 
qualined  to  preside  over  it,"  and  that  Swartwout  was  atnecoun 
minor,  and,  in  his  judgment,  incompetent. 

On  learning  the  occurrences  at  Esopus  the  previous  au-sManh 
tumn,  the  directors  also  recommended  that  the  Mohawks  meimiiMu 

Till  1  •  1-1C1       hawks  n-i- 

should  be  engaged  to  act  as  warriors  on  the  side  of  the  omm-iKi.  ,1 
Dutch.     But  Stuyvesant  knew  the  nature  of  the  Indians 
better  than  his  superiors  in  Holland.     "The  Mohawks,"  25  June 

1 .      1  1  111  •         1  Opposei;  I  » 

he  replied,  "  are,  above  all  other  savages,  a  vainglorious,  stuwe- 
proud,  and  bold  tribe,  and  yet  more  presumptuous  on  ac- 
count of  their  continued  victories  over  the  French  and  the 
French  Indians  in  Canada.  If  their  aid  be  demanded  and 
obtained,  and  success  follow,  they  will  only  become  the 
more  inflated,  and  we  the  more  contemptible  in  the  eyes 
of  the  other  tribes.  *  *  *  It  appears  the  safest  way  to  stand 
on  our  own  feet  as  long  as  possible."  The  reasoning  of  the 
director  was  satisfactory  to  the  Amsterdam  Chamber,  and 
the  thought  of  employing  the  Mohawks  was  abandoned.! 
Learning  that  the  Esopus  savages  were  now  really  anx- 

*  Alb.  Rec,  vi.,  328-331  ;   xvi.,  125-135  ;  xxiv.,  253-2G0,  270-285  ;  ant»  p.  272,  39G,  429. 
t  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  331,  340,  348;  viii.,  314-318;  xviii.,  102,  103,  108. 


678  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 

ch.  XIX.  ious  for  peace,  Stuyvesant  set  out  from  New  Amsterdam, 
accompanied  byKregier  and  Van  Cortlandt;  and,  on  reach- 
n  July      ^"o  Esopus,  found  Van  Curler  and  delegates  from  the  Mo- 
a"ain  af  "^  liawlvS,  Malilcans,  "VVappingers,  Minquas,  Hackinsacks,  and 
Esopus.      Staten  Island  Indians,  awaiting  his  arrival  to  assist  in  the 
negotiation.     But  none  of  the  Esopus  sachems  were  there ; 
and  messengers  were  sent  to  summon  them.     After  wait- 
ii.iuiy.      ing  several  days,  the  director  invited  the  delegates  of  the 
wini  the    other  tribes  to  a  conference,  at  which  he  explained  his  own 
desire  to  conclude  a  peace,  and  urged  them  to  bring  the 
Esopus  savages  to  terms.     His  words  impressed  the  grave 
assembly.     Messengers  again  went  into  the  interior;  and 
ij.!uiy.      the  next  day  four  Esopus  sachems  appeared  before  the 
gate  of  the  village.     All  the  inhabitants  were  now  sum- 
moned to  a  grand  council ;  and  Stuyvesant  and  his  attend- 
ants, with  the  delegates  from  the  various  tribes,  being  seat- 
ed, a  Minqua  sachem  asked  a  peace  in  behalf  of  the  Eso- 
pus savages.     To  this  the  director  assented,  provided  the 
Mohawks,  Minquas,  and  other  tribes  would  answer  for  its 
faithful  observance.     A  Mohawk  and  a  Minqua  then  ad- 
monished the  Esopus  chiefs  to  live  with  the  Dutch  as  broth- 
ers ;  and  a  Mohawk  warned  the  settlers  not  to  irritate  the 
Treaty  pro- savages.     The  hatchet  was  trampled  in  the  earth;  and 
Stuyvesant  proposed  the  conditions  of  the  treaty.     Hostil- 
ities were  to  cease,  and  past  injuries  be  forgotten  ;  the 
Esopus  savages,  in  compensation  for  damages,  were  to  con- 
vey "all  the  lands  of  Esopus"  to  the  Dutch ;  eight  hund- 
red schepels  of  corn  were  to  be  paid  as  ransom  for  the  cap- 
tive Christians ;  future  damages  were  to  be  reciprocally 
paid  for ;  murderers  should  be  mutually  surrendered  and 
punished  ;   the  savages  were  not  to  approach  the  Dutch 
plantations  with  arms,  but  might  trade  freely  if  unarmed ; 
no  spirituous  liquors  were  to  be  drunk  near  the  houses  of 
the  Dutch  ;  all  other  friendly  tribes  were  to  be  included 
in  the  peace  ;  and  the  mediators  at  the  treaty  were  to  be- 
come bound  for  its  faithful  execution,  and,  in  case  the 
Esopus  savages  should  break  it,  were  to  assist  the  Dutch 
Ratified     in  subduing  them.     These  terms  were  accepted  ;  and  the 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  679 

trcaiv  was  formally  ratified,  "  near  the  concentration  of  ch.  xix. 
Esopus,  under  the  blue  sky  of  heaven."* 

From  Esopus  Stuyvesant  went  up  to  Fort  Orange,  where 
his  ])resence  was  urgently  demanded.     The  colonists  at 
Beverwyck  being  almost  all  fur  traders,  and  competition 
increasing  with  the  progress   of  population,  runners   or 
"  bosch-loopers"  from  the  village,  like  the  "  coureurs  deBosch-ioop 
bois"  of  Canada,  perse^eringly  waylaid  the  Indians  as  they  orange. 
same  down  to  tide-water.     Irregularities  followed ;  and 
both  the  savages  and  the  honest  traders  complained.    The 
measures  which  had  been  adopted  in  1650  to  check  this 
evil  seemed  to  have  been  unavailing.    The  authorities  now  31  May. 
interfered  again;  and  ordinances  were  passed  to  prohibit 26 June, 
the  employment  of  runners.     But  the  people  would  not  re- 
spect the  law,  and  many  declared  that  they  would  "scour 
the  woods  with  Dutch  brokers,  whether  permitted  or  not '' 
The  Mohawks  again  complained  of  the  conduct  of  the 
bosch-loopers,  and  threatened  to  break  their  treaty  with 
the  Dutch,  when  "  perhaps  matters  might  end  as  at  Eso- 
pus."    Commissary  La  Montague  was  at  last  obliged  to 
visit  the  woods  himself  with  a  detachment  of  soldiers,  to  h  juIv. 
discover  and  arrest  the  offenders,  among  whom  were  sev-  • 
eral  of  the  Beverwyck  magistrates. 

On  reaching  Fort  Orange,  Stuyvesant  issued  a  procla-  21  juiy. 
mation  against  the  bosch-loopers,  and  at  the  same  time  at  Fon  or- 
explained  to  the  authorities  of  Rensselaerswyck  the  com- 
pany's instructions  respecting  jurisdiction.    An  oath  of  al- 
legiance to  the  company  was  to  be  taken  by  the  colonial 
schout,  and  the  collection  of  tithes  was  to  be  enforced. 
A  few  days  afterward,  several  Seneca  delegates  came  down 
from  the  western  door  of  the  "  Long  House"  of  the  Iroquois, 
to  renew  the  covenant  with  the  Dutch,  which  they  had 
made  some  years  before  at  Manhattan.     A  grand  council  25  Juiy. 
with  the  red  men  from  the  far-off  "  Niaugaurah"  was  held  wuVthe"*^' 
at  Fort  Orange,  which  was  attended  by  the  colonial  and 
provincial  magistrates  and  by  the  principal  residents  of 

*  Alb.  Rec,  vi.,  330;   xii.,  317,  318  ;   xviii.,  118,  119;   xxii.,  227,  229;    xxiv.,  303,  318, 
32fl,  2S2-342;  O'Call.,  ii.,  408-420. 


680  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIX.  Beverwyck  and  its  neighborhood.     The  Senecas  demand- 

~~~~"  ed  that  trade  should  be  made  free,  while  the  bosch-Ioop- 
ers  should  be  restrained ;  and  they  asked  for  supplies  of 
ammunition  to  enable  them  to  hunt  beavers  in  their  ene- 
mies' country.  Stuy  vesant  presented  tobacco  and  powder 
in  return,  and  urged  the  Senecas  to  make  peace  with  the 
Minquas,  so  that  the  Dutch  might  "use  the  road  to  them 
in  safety."  But  he  could  not  comply  with  their  demand 
that  a  piece  of  cloth  sliould  be  the  price  of  a  beaver,  as  long 
as  it  "must  come  so  far  over  the  water."* 

16  Feb.  In  the  mean  time,  Domine  Blom  had  been  ordained  to 

Blom  or-  prcach  m  New  Netherland,  "both  on  water  and  on  the 
land,  and  in  all  the  neighborhood,  but  principally  in  Eso- 
pus,"  and  his  call  had  been  approved  by  the  Classis  and 

»•.  Mar.h.  confirmed  by  the  West  India  Company.  The  want  of 
another  clergyman  on  Long  Island  was  also  supplied  by 

Domine  the  appointment  of  Domine  Henricus  Selyns  to  preach  at 
Breuckelen.     Blom  and  Selyns  left  Holland  soon  afterward, 

1  March     bearing  with  them  a  letter  from  the  Classis  to  the  Dutch 
churches  in  New  Netherland,  which  were  earnestly  exhort- 
ed "  not  to  depart  from  the  usual  formulary"  of  baptism. 
The  troubles  with  the  northern  Indians  retarded  the  set- 
tlement of  the  new  clergymen  ;  and  it  was  not  until  the 

12  Sept.      autumn  that  Blom  began  his  ministry  at  Esopus.     The 

Blom  at  .  1        .      .  ,  ,  „ 

Esopus.  church  at  first  consisted  of  sixteen  members  only.  But 
the  people  gladly  listened  to  the  preaching  of  the  word, 
and  all  was  soon  "  well  ordered  in  church  matters  and  in 
consistory." 

Domine  Selyns,  after  preaching  a  few  sermons  at  New 
Amsterdam,  Esopus,  and  Fort  Orange,  was  formally  in- 

3  Sept.       stalled  as  the  clergyman  of  Breuckelen,  where  he  found 

Selyns  at  i 

Breucke-    ouc  cldor,  two  dcacous,  and  twenty-four  members  of  the 

len. 

church.  The  population  of  the  village  was  now  one  hund- 
Popuiation.  rcd  and  thirty-four  persons,  in  thirty-one  families.  Steps 
Church,     were  immediately  taken  to  build  a  church ;  and,  in  the 

mean  time,  the  congregation  worshiped  in  a  barn.     The 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  302  ;  vi.,  236-238,  254-283  ;  xxiv.,  343-352  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  420-124  ;  ante 
p.  623. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  681 

bounds  of  Doraine  Selyns'  charge  included  "the  Ferry,  the  ch.  xix. 
Waal-bogt,  and  Grujanes."     As  the  people  there  were  un-   ^  ^^^  ' 
able  of  themselves  to  pay  his  salary,  they  petitioned  the 
council  for  assistance ;  and  Stuyvesant  individually  agreed 
to  contribute  two  hundred  and  fifty  guilders,  provided  Dom- 
ine  Selyns  would  preach  a  sermon  on  Sunday  afternoons 
at  the  "  director's  bouwery,  on  the  island  of  Manhattan." 
To  this  arrangement  the  Domine  assented.     The  director's  stuyve 
"bouwery"  was  a  sort  of  "stopping-place,  and  the  pleas- Bouwery. 
ure-ground  of  the  Manhattans."     Thither  the  people  came 
from  the  city  to  evening  service ;  and  besides  Stuy  vesant's 
own  household,  about  forty  negroes,  who  lived  in  that  neigh- 
borhood, received  religious   instruction.      In   announcing 
these  arrangements  to  the  Amsterdam  Chamber,  Stuy ve- e  octoucr. 
sant  urged  that  more  clergymen  should  be  sent  over,  to  gyinen  re- 
supply  the  wants  of  New  Utrecht,  Gravesend,  and  New*^""^*^  ' 
Haerlem,  "  besides  a  newly-commenced  village  of  about 
one  hundred  and  thirty  families  on  the  North  River." 

After  the  installation  of  Selyns  at  Breuckelen,  Polhemus  poihemus 

at  Mid- 
confined  his  services  to  Midwout  and  Amersfoort,  whose  pe-  wout. 

tition  to  the  council  for  aid  was  answered  by  a  promise  of  4  Nov. 
four  hundred  guilders  "  as  soon  as  the  treasury  shall  per- 
mit it."     At  Beverwyck   and  Fort  Orange,  Schaats  felt  sehaats  at 
some  annoyance  that  the  Lutherans  were  promoting  awyck. 
subscription  for  a  clergyman  of  their  own.     Nevertheless, 
they  were  submissive,  and  attended  the  Dutch  church, 
which  had  now  increased  to  two  hundred  members.    The  cimrch  at 
church  at  New  Amsterdam  continued  to  flourish  under  the  sterJam. 
ministration  of  Megapolensis   and  Drisius,  although  the 
question  of  the  form  of  baptism  seemed  to  have  placed  the 
Amsterdam  Chamber  for  a  time  in  direct  opposition  to  the 
governing  Classis  in  Holland.* 

Stuyvesant  now  revisited  Esopus,  to  see  after  the  finish-  lo  Nov. 
ing  of  the  redoubt  and  the  settlement  of  Domine  Blom  in  at  Esopus. 
a  proper  residence.    Thence  he  went  again  to  Fort  Orange, 

*  Alb.  Hec,  iv.,  33T,  3R4  ;  viii.,  270-278,  304  ;  xviii.,  133  ;  xxiv.,  140,  383-3S0,  441,  442; 
Cor.  01.  Arnst. ;  Letters  of  Polhemus,  29th  Sept. ;  Schaats,  22d  Sept. ;  Drisius  and  Selyns, 
4th  Oct.iber,  1G60;  Blcm,  18th  Sept.,  1663  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  109,  961,  962;  O'Call., 
ii.,  431,  437  ;  Dr.  De  Witt,  in  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Proc,  1844,  74,  75  ;  ante,  p.  657. 


682  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIX.  at  the  request  of  the  governor  of  Massachusetts,  to  use  his 
srood  offices  with  the  Mohawks,  who  were  meditatinof  an 

Fort  Or-     expedition  against  the  Kenneheck  savages.     The  director 

ange  urged  the  sachems  to  be  at  peace,  and  was  so  far  success- 
ful that  they  promised  "  to  discuss  that  point  with  the 
other  chiefs." 

January.         On  assuming  the  government  of  New  Amstel  at  Ah-ichs' 

New  Am-  death,  Hinoyossa,  by  his  indiscreet  conduct,  produced  great 
discords,  which  were  increased  when  news  of  the  proposed 

12  May.  rctrausfcr  of  the  colony  to  the  West  India  Company  reach- 
ed the  South  River.     With  Beeckman  his  relations  were 

25  May.      scarccly  pleasant ;  and  complaints  were  constantly  made 

8  October,  to  Ncw  Amsterdam  of  his  haughty  and  insolent  demean- 

9  Dec.       or,  and  his  contempt  of  the  provincial  regulations  respect- 

ing the  sale  of  liquors  to  the  savages. 

The  hostile  attitude  of  the  Maryland  authorities  had,  in 
the  mean  time,  been  under  the  consideration  of  the  Am- 
9  March,    stcrdam  directors,  who  ordered  Stuyvesant  to  oppose  their 
ordered  to  encroachmeuts,  "first  warning  them  in  a  civil  manner  not 
encroach-  to  usurp  our  territory ;  but  if  they  despise  such  kind  en- 
Maryiand.  treaties,  then  nothing  is  left  but  to  drive  them  from  there, 
as  our  claims  and  rights  on  the  lands  upon  South  River 
are  indisputable."    But  while  the  company  was  thus  stren- 
uous in  asserting  its  territorial  rights  to  the  whole  South 
River,  it  declined  to  receive  back  from  the  city  of  Amster- 
27  August,  dam  the  colony  of  New  Amstel ;  and  the  city's  commissa- 
director  of  rics,  obliged  to  continue  their  reluctant  support,  appointed 
stei  Hinoyossa  director  in  place  of  Alrichs.* 

During  the  whole  of  the  Protectorate,  and  while  a  spirit 
of  war  was  inflamed  by  New  England,  Virginia  had  main- 
intercourse  tained  a  friendly  intercoiirse  with  New  Netherland,  and 
glnia.  "'  reciprocal  courtesies  had  confirmed  the  good-will  which 
Harvey  had  promised  to  De  Yries.  Notwithstanding  par- 
liamentary ordinances,  Dutch  vessels  conveyed  the  prod- 
ucts of  Virginia  to  Europe,  and  carried  on  a  mutually  satis- 
factory commerce  ;  and  envoys  from  New  Amsterdam  had 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  331,  350,  351  ;  xvii.,  33-96,  141 ,  xxiv.,  109, 115,  181,  364,  450  ;  Acrclius, 
122,  423  ;  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  300-320;  a-ite,  p.  670. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  683 

conducted  pleasant  negotiations  with  the  authorities  at  ch.  xix. 
Jamestown.     Upon  the  death  of  Governor  Mathews,  Sir 
WilUam  Berkeley  was  called  from  his  eight  years'  retire- 
ment, and  reinstated  by  the  Assembly,  which  foresaw  the 
triumph  of  the  royal  cause  in  England.    Stuyvesant,  whose 
brother-in-law,  Nicholas  Varlett,  was  about  visiting  James-  23  Feb. 
town  on  private  business,  took  advantage  of  the  occasion 
to  appoint  him  and  Captain  Bryan  Newton  commission- 
ers to  negotiate  an  intercolonial  treaty.     They  were  in-  2:  Feb. 
structed  to  go  to  Virginia  "  to  renew  our  former  and  ancient  sioners  to 
friendship,  correspondence,  and  neighborship ;  to  propose  to  treaty.' 
them  a  more  strict  offensive  and  defensive  union  against 
the  savage  and  barbarous  nations,  the  enemies  of  both ;  and 
to  conclude,  on  a  more  certain  basis,  a  treaty  of  commerce, 
in  the  manner  our  lords  and  principals,  with  their  subjects, 
are  enjoying  in  Europe."     The  Dutch  agents  were  also  di- 
rected to  endeavor  to  enlist  as  many  Scotchmen  as  they  1  Mirch. 
could  obtain  ;  to  inquire  in  Maryland  if  danger  threatened 
the  South  River  ;  and  to  avail  themselves  of  the  "aid  and 
tongvie  of  Augustine  Heermans,"  who  was  then  in  Virginia, 
On  reaching  Jamestown,  Varlett  and  Newton  were  received 
with  favor,  and  a  satisfactory  treaty  was  promptly  nego-  March, 
tiated.     A  "free  trade  and  commerce"  was  stipulated  be- Treaty  ar- 
tween  New  Netherland  and  Virginia :  the  inhabitants  of  ^"^^ 
the  respective  provinces  were  reciprocally  to  enjoy  "equal 
dispatch  and  justice  in  each  other's  courts  of  judicature;" 
runaway  servants  were  to  be  mutually  surrendered ;  and 
the  creditors  of  absconding  debtors  were  assured  swift  re- 
dress.    The  Assembly  at  once  passed  a  law  to  give  effect  March. 
to  the  treaty  in  Virginia  ;  and  with  equal  promptitude  the 
New  Netherland  government  established  a  favorable  tariff  6  May. 
of  duties  on  imports  and  exports  from  and  to  Virginia. 

Soon  afterward,  Berkeley  dispatched  Sir  Henry  Moody,  is  May. 
the  son  of  Lady  Moody  of  Gravesend,  "  on  an  embassy  to  einbassy  to 
the  Monhadoes,"  to  exchange  the  ratifications  of  the  treaty. 
Upon  his  reaching  New  Amsterdam,  the  "  ambassador  of  the  21  June, 
governor  and  assembly  of  Virginia"  was  received  with  all 
the  usual  diplomatic  honors.     Two  members  of  the  coun- 


GS-t  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIX.  oil,  accompanied  by  halberdiers,  were  sent  "to  compliment 
him  in  his  lodgings ;"  and  Moody,  appearing  with  the  com- 
■  mittee  in  Fort  Amsterdam,  presented  his  credentials,  and 
also  private  letters  from  Berkeley  soliciting  a  loan  of  four 
thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  from  the  Dutch,  to  be  returned 
in  kind  the  next  November.  Twelve  hundred  guilders 
were  accordingly  advanced ;  and  the  articles  of  the  treaty 

corro-       were  discussed  and  adopted.     A  correspondence  followed, 

spondcncc    .  i   •    i      o 

vvithvir-    in  which  btuyvesant  unsuccessfully  attempted  to  draw 

ginia.  .     . 

from  the  governor  of  Virgniia  an  express  recognition  of  the 
1^  August.  Dutch  title  to  New  Netherland.    "  Truly,  sir,"  wrote  Berke- 
letterto^^  Icy  iu  reply,  "you  desire  me  to  do  that  concerning  your 
sanr*"      titles  and  claims  to  land  in  this  northern  part  of  America 
which  I  am  in  no  capacity  to  do ;  for  I  am  but  a  servant 
of  the  Assembly,  neither  do  they  arrogate  any  power  to 
themselves  further  than  the  miserable  distractions  of  En- 
gland force  them  to.     For  when  God  shall  be  pleased  in 
his  mercy  to  take  away  and  dissipate  the  unnatural  divi- 
sions  of  their  native  country,  they  will  immediately  return 
to  their  own  professed  obedience.    What,  then,  they  should 
do  in  matters  of  contract,  donation,  or  confession  of  right, 
would  have  little  strength  or  signification ;  much  more  pre- 
sumptive and  impertinent  would  it  be  in  me  to  do  it  with- 
out their  knowledge  or  assent."     The  Amsterdam  direct- 
ors promptly  signified  their  approbation  of  Stuyvesant's  ne 
gotiations  with  Virginia.     "  A  free  and  unshackled  com- 
20  Sept.     merce  with  that  nation,"  wrote  they  in  reply,  "  must  be  con- 
ducive to  the  prosperity  of  your  city  and  its  inhabitants."* 
29  May.  Thc  fugitivc  King  of  England  had,  meanwhile,  been  re- 

Restora-  storcd  to  the  throuc.  On  his  way  from  Breda  to  London, 
■jhaHes  II.  Charles  the  Second  was  magnificently  entertained  at  the 
Hague  ;  and  as  he  took  his  leave  of  the  States  G-eneral,  he 
pointedly  declared  that  he  would  feel  jealous  if  the  Dutch 
should  prefer  the  friendship  of  any  other  state  to  that  of 
Grreat  Britain.     But  England,  observing  her  commercial 

*  Aib.  Rec,  iv.,351  ;  .wii.,  Ill;  xviii.,  97,  15T  ;  xxiv.,  101-106,  199.  301,  302,  399-102  ; 
Ileniiig's  Stat,  at  large,  539, 540  ;  Chalmers,  125  ;  Smith's  N.  Y.,  i.,  10, 1 1  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  408, 
413-415  ;  Col.  Rec.  Conn.,  367  ;  S.  Hazard,  321  ;  Thompson's  L.  I.,  ii.,  174  ;  Bancroft,  ii., 
310 ;  Ilildreth,  i.,  366,  442  ;  ante,  p.  559,  5C2,  ( fi'J.  Varletfs  name  is  often  spelled  "  Ver- 
letl"'  and  ''  Varleth.'' 


PElEll  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  685 

prosperity,  envied  Holland  ;    and   the   convention   Parlia-  ch.  xix. 

ment,  which  had  called  home  the  kincr  took  early  steps  to 

•  .  J       r         1660 

render  still  more  obnoxious  one  of  England's  most  selfish 

measures.     The  Navigation  Act  of  1651  was  revised ;  and  Act  of  Nav- 

it  was  now  enacted,  that  after  the  first  day  of  December, 

1660,  no  merchandise  should  be  imported  into  or  exported 

from  any  of  his  majesty's  plantations  or  territories  in  Asia, 

Africa,  or  America,  except  in  English  vessels,  of  which 

"  the  master  and  three  fourths  of  the  mariners  at  least  are 

English."* 

Charles  had  hardly  reached  Whitehall,  before  Lord  Bal-24Jui/. 

1    /^  •        T  TvT       1       1  •  •      TT    1    Lord  J3alti- 

timore  mstructed  Captam  James  Neale,  his  agent  m  Hoi- more de- 

T     T      y-N  •    1  ^  mands  the 

land,  to  require  of  the  West  India  Company  to  yield  up  to  surrender 
him  the  lands  on  the  south  side  of  Delaware  Bay.     Neale  cutcu  pos- 

sessions  oii 

accordingly  made  a  formal  demand  for  the  surrender  of  the  soutii 

River. 

New  Amstel,  and  informed  the  directors  that  Lord  Balti-  23  August. 
more  would  use  all  lawful  means  to  defend  his  rights  and 
subject  the  Dutch  to  his  authority.    The  Amsterdam  Cham- 
ber referred  the  question  to  the  College  of  the  XIX.,  who 
returned  a  "proud  answer"  that  the  company's  rights  were  1  sept. 

Answer  of 

by  possession  under  grant  of  the  States  General ;  that  they  the  w.  i. 

Ill  -1  1      1  •  c  T         1  t^ompaiiy, 

were  resolved  to  defend  those  rights ;  and  that,  if  Lord 
Baltimore  should  persevere  and  resort  to  violent  measures, 
"they  would  use  all  the  means  which  G-od  and  nature  had 
given  them  to  protect  the  inhabitants  and  preserve  their 
possessions."! 

Seriously  alarmed  at  the  condition  of  New  Netherland, 
which,  after  an  outlay  of  one  million  of  guilders,  was  only 
now  in  a  position  to  sustain  itself,  the  College  of  the  XIX.  5  Nov. 
addressed  a  memorial  to  the  States  General,  praying  them  of  the  w.i 
to  instruct  their  ambassadors  at  London  to  demand  of  the  to  the 
king  that  Lord  Baltimore  should  be  ordered  to  desist  from  General. 
his  pretensions  until  a  boundary  line  should  be  settled ;  and 
also,  that  the  territory  which  the  English  had  usurped  at 

*  Aitzema,  iv.,  598  ;  Basnage,  i.,  606  ;  Lingard,  xii.,  65-60;  Davies,  iii.,  10-13;  Ban- 
croft, ii.,  30-43 ,  Chalmers,  241,  257  ;  Act  xii.  Charles  II.,  cap.  xviii..  Statutes  at  large, 
iii.,  166  ;  ante,  p.  543,  C53. 

t  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  354  ;  viii.,  292-302 ;  IIoI.  Doc,  ix.,  111-126,  175-177  ;  Lor  d.  Doc,  iv.. 
175-177;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  341,  315;  O'Call.,  ii.,  460,  461 ;  S.  Uaiard,  Ann.  Penn., 
317,  318,  Smith's  N.  Y.,  i.,  12. 


G86        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

ch.  XIX.  the  East,  and  on  Long  Island,  should  be  restored,  and  the 
T7~      inhabitants  be  required  to  conduct  themselves  as  Dutch 
subjects.    The  memorial  likewise  prayed  that  the  treaty  at 
Southampton  of  1625,  which  allowed  the  company's  ships 
the  free  use  of  English  ports,  should  be  renewed.    Accom- 
panying the  memorial,  the  directors  presented  various  ex- 
planatory papers,  including  a  deduction  of  their  title  to 
New  Netherland,  and  detailing  the  usurpations  of  the  En- 
glish from  the  time  of  Van  Twiller,     The  States  General 
communicated  these  papers  to  their  ambassadors,  who  were 
about  to  set  out  for  London,  and  instructed  them  to  call 
the  king's  attention  to  the  subject  as  soon  as  possible. 
A- July.         One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  royal  government  had,  mean- 
piantation  whilc,  been  to  appoint  a  committee,  "  to  receive,  hear,  ex- 

f'ommittee.  .  iitij  x-x-  -i 

amme,  and  deliberate  upon  any  petitions,  memorials,  or 
other  papers  presented  by  any  persons  respecting  the  plan- 
tations in  America,  and  to  report  their  proceedings  to  the 
council  from  time  to  time."     Of  this  committee  Lord  Say 
and  Seal  was  one  of  the  principal  members.     In  the  fol- 
,-v-  Nov.     lowing  autumn,  a  standing  "  Counsell  of  Trade"  was  cre- 
f/ide.'      ated  by  patent.     Soon  afterward,  the  Plantation  Commit- 
tee, appointed  in  July,  was  superseded  by  another  patent, 
which  constituted  Hyde,  the  lord  chancellor,  and  several 
,-YDec.     others,  a  Standing  Council  for  Foreign  Plantations,  with 
Councillor  instructious  to  acquaint  themselves  with  the  state  of  the 
punta^     colonies,  to  correspond  with  the  governors,  to  regulate  trade, 
and  generally  to  take  "  all  prudential  means  for  the  ren- 
dering those  dominions  useful  to  England,  and  England 
helpful  to  them."* 

*  Hoi.  Doc,  ix.,  136-301 ;  London  Doc,  i.,  84-104  ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii ,  30-87. 


PETER  STUYYESANr.  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  637 


CHAPTER  XX. 
1661-1664. 

The  Restoration  of  Charles  the  Second,  though  hailed  at  chap.  xx. 
first  with  joy  in  Holland,  did  not  produce  in  Great  Britain 
more  friendly  feelings  toward  the  Dutch.     The  two  nations  English 
were  now  commercial  rivals ;  and  it  was  soon  perceived  at  jhe' Dutd?.*^ 
the  Hague  that  another  crisis  with  England  was  approach- 
ing.    The  Act  of  Navigation  had  already  closed,  against 
Holland  and  New  Netherland,  the  ports  of  New  England, 
Virginia,  and  Maryland  ;  and  it  was  evident  that  no  more 
was  to  be  hoped  from  the  king  than  from  the  Protector. 
While  British  statesmen  were  exhibiting  such  a  spirit  of 
commercial  exclusiveness,  a  new  element  was  introduced 
into  political  affairs.     The  Restoration  had  by  no  means 
been  the  unanimous   act  of  the   nation  ;   and  at  Breda 
Charles  had  endeavored  to  win  the  good-will  of  all  his 
subjects  by  declaring  liberty  to  tender  consciences.     But 
the  Royalists  and  Churchmen,  who  had  so  long  endured  intokrance 
the  yoke  of  Puritanism,  now  that  they  were  again  in  pow-  aiists. 
or,  insisted  upon  restoring  the  hierarchy.     The  Independ- 
ents and  Dissenters,  wounded  where  they  were  most  sens- 
itive, could  scarcely  conceal  their  vexation  ;  and  many  of 
them  desired  to  seek  new  homes  not  subject  to  English 
rule,  and  where  they  would  be, free  alike  from  monarchy 
and  prelacy. 

These  considerations  were  not  overlooked  in  Holland ; 
and  the  West  India  Company,  finding  that  there  were 
scarcely  any  colonists  within  their  territory  between  the 
North  and  South  Rivers,  now  forming  the  State  of  New  Jer- 
sey, determined  to  invite  emigration  thither  by  the  offer 
of  large  inducements.  A  new  charter  of  "conditions  and 
privileges"  was  therefore  drawn  up,  granting  to  "all  such 


688  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

(^HAP.  XX.  people  as  shall  be  disposed  to  take  up  their  abode  in  those 

~        parts"  fifteen  leagues  of  land  along  the  sea-coast,  "and  as 

■   far  in  depth  in  the  continent  as  any  plantation  hath,  or 

may  be  settled  in  New  Netherland."     The  emigrants  were 

Liberal      to  liavc  "high,  middle,  and  low  jurisdiction ;"  freedom  from 

ofteredhy    "  head  mouey"  for  twenty  years  ;  the  property  in  mines  ; 

Company,  freedom,  for  ten  years,  from  taxes  or  recognitions  to  the 
company ;  the  right  to  use  their  own  ships ;  freedom  of  the 
fishing  trade ;  and,  in  case  of  difference  with  Stuyvesant 
or  his  successor,  "to  choose  a  director  or  chief — only  they 
shall  issue  out  all  writs,  of  what  nature  soever,  in  the  name 
of  the  States  Greneral  of  the  United  Netherlands."  The 
advantageous  situation  of  the  country  was  described  in 
glowing  terms.  "  Therefore,"  added  the  company,  "if  any 
of  the  English  good  Christians,  who  may  be  assured  of  the 
advantages  to  mankind  of  plantations  in  these  latitudes 
from  others  more  southerly,  and  shall  be  rationally  dis- 
posed to  transport  themselves  to  the  said  place  under  the 
conduct  of  the  United  States,  they  shall  have  full  liberty 
to  live  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord  upon  the  aforesaid  good  con- 
ditions, and  shall  be  likewise  courteously  used." 

14  Feb.  These   conditions  were  immediately  approved  by  the 

Approved  . 

by  the       States  Greneral,    An  act  under  their  seal  was  issued  at  the 

Slates  Gen- 
eral. Hague,  by  which  was  granted  to  "  all  Christian  people  of 

tender  conscience,  in  England  or  elsewhere  oppressed,  full 
liberty  to  erect  a  colony  in  the  West  Indies,  between  New 
England  and  Virginia,  in  America,  now  within  the  juris- 
diction of  Peter  Stuyvesant,  the  States  G-eneral's  governor 
for  the  West  India  Company ;"  and  all  concerned  were  for- 
bidden to  hinder  such  colpnists,  and  were  enjoined  to  af- 
ford them  "  all  favorable  help  and  assistance  where  it  shall 
be  needful."* 

While  the  West  India  Company  and  the  States  General 
were  thus  endeavoring  to  attract  emigrants  to  New  Neth- 
erland by  the  promise  of  courteous  treatment,  and  "  full  lib- 
erty to  live  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord,"  their  chief  provincial 
officer  was  reviving  the  religious  persecutions  which  for 

♦  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  363  ;  Lond.  Doc,  i.,  105-109 ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  3:-39. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  tJ89 

the  last  two  years  had  been  generally  suspended.     But  the  chap.  xx. 
Quakers  were  still  objects  of  suspicion  ;  and  the  cruelties 
with  which  Massachusetts  and  New  Haven  visited  the  dis- 
ciples of  Fox  seem  to  have  stimulated  the  director  of  New 
Netherland  to  fresh  severities.     In  spite  of  the  law,  the 
Quakers  had  continued  to  attend  private  conventicles  at  Quakers 
the  house  of  Henry  Townsend,  of  Rustdorp,  who  had  al-  socuted. 
ready  been  twice  fined.     Richard  Everett  and  Nathaniel 
Denton  now  communicated  to  Stuyvesant  the  names  of 
eleven  persons  who  had  attended  these  prohibited  meet- 
ings ;  and  the  inhabitants,  at  the  same  time,  petitioned 
that  a  minister  might  be  sent  from  New  Amsterdam  to 
baptize  some  of  their  children.     Domine  Drisius  was  ac- 
cordingly desired  to  visit  Jamaica  and  administer  the  holy 
rite ;  and  Waldron,  the  deputy  schout,  and  Bayard,  one  of 
the  director's  clerks,  were  sent  to  examine  into  the  affair 
of  the  conventicles.     John  and  Henry  Townsend,  of  Jamai-  8  Jan. 
ca,  and  John  Tilton  and  Samuel  Spicer,  of  Gravesend,  were  Jamaica 
arrested  and  conveyed  to  New  Amsterdam,  where  Henry  cravosend 
Townsend  and  Spicer  were  sentenced  to  be  fined,  and  John  20  Jan. 
Townsend  and  Tilton  to  be  banished.     This  was  followed 
by  the  appointment  of  the  two  informers,  Everett  and  Den-  24  Jan. 
ton,  together  with  Andrew  Messenger,  to  be  magistrates  of  istrates^ai 
Rustdorp,  and,  by  stationing  soldiers  in  the  village,  to  sup-  ^'"^''^ 
press  the  unlawful  meetings.    The  people,  soon  petitioning  lu  Feb. 
that  the  detachment  might  be  withdrawn,  were  answered 
that  they  would  be  gratified  upon  signing  a  pledge  to  sus- 
tain the  government.     The  new  magistrates,  with  twelve 
of  their  townsmen,  accordingly  set  their  names  to  a  paper,  11  Feb. 
drawn  up  by  Denton  the  clerk,  engaging  "that  if  any 
meetings  or  conventicles  of  Quakers  shall  be  in  this  town 
of  Rustdorp,  that  we  know  of,  then  we  will  give  informa- 
tion to  the  authority  set  up  in  this  place  by  the  governor, 
and  also  assist  the  authority  of  the  town  against  any  such 
person  or  persons  called  Quakers  as  needs  shall  require." 
But  some  refusing  to  sign  the  pledge,  the  soldiers  wereisp.jb. 
quartered  upon  them,  and  Townsend  was  ordered  to  leave 
the  province.    The  Independents  and  Presbyterians  of  Mid- 
*  Xx 


690        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XX. delburgh,  however,  "fearing  that  some  of  the  inhahitants 
may  be  led  away  by  the  intrusion  of  Quakers  and  other 
Middei-      heretics,"  petitioned  the  director  to  aid  them  in  obtaining 
hurgh  asks  g^  minister  in  place  of  the  deceased  John  Moore.* 

lor  a  minis-  r 

"^'■-  Stuyvesant's  refusal  to  erect  a  court  at  Esopus  had, 

meanwhile,  brought  upon  him  the  severe  censure  of  the 
Amsterdam  directors,  who  peremptorily  ordered  him  to 
16  May.     exccute  their  commands.     By  a  formal  charter,  municipal 
Esopus^or  powers  were  accordingly  conferred  on  the  settlement,  which 
wyck!"      was  now  ordered  to  be  called  "  Wiltwyck,"  or  Indian  vil- 
lage, as  the  ground  on  which  it  stood  was  a  gift  from  the 
savages.     The  charter  appointed  Evert  Pels,  Cornells  Ba- 
First  mag-  rcutscn  Slcght,  and  Elbert  Heymans  Roose,  schepens,  who, 
■with  a  schout  to  be  named  by  the  director,  were  to  form  a 
court  of  justice  for  the  government  of  the  village.     These 
magistrates  were  to  see  the  laws  of  the  Fatherland  and 
the  ordinances  of  the  director  and  council  faithfully  exe- 
cuted, and  were  forbidden  to  publish  any  acts  of  their  own 
without  the  previous  consent  of  the  provincial  government. 
As  it  was  cuf  tomary  in  the  Fatherland  that  annual  changes 
should  take  place  in  the  magistracy,  the  schepens  were  re- 
quired to  "pay  due  attention  to  the  conversation,  conduct, 
and  abilities  of  honest  and  decent  persons,"  inhabitants  of 
their  village,  and  to  inform  the  authorities  of  New  Amster- 
dam, "  about  the  time  of  the  next  election,  as  to  who  might 
be  sufficiently  qualified  to  be  then  elected  by  the  director 
27  June,     general  and  council."     The  next  month,  Stuyvesant  com- 
sc^out^°"  pleted  the  organization  of  the  first  municipal  court  in  the 
present  county  of  Ulster,  by  installing  Roelof  Swartwout 
as  schout  of  Wiltwyck.t 

Beyond  Esopus  Fort  Orange  was  now  the  extreme  front- 
ier post  of  New  Netherland.  The  territory  west  and  north 
of  Beverwyck  had,  indeed,  been  explored  ;  but,  excepting 
a  few  scattered  husbandmen  near  the  Cohooes  Falls,  no 

*  Alb.  Rec,  xix.,  2,  11,  18,  21-28,  4(M6,  55,  56;  Jamaica  Hec,  1.,  120 ;  Thompson's  L. 
I.,  i.,  380  ;  ii.,  143,  292,  293 ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  450,  451  ;  Hutchinson,  i.,  183,  184  ;  Hazard,  ii., 
565-572 ;  ante,  p.  638.  Moore,  of  Newtown,  died  on  the  13th  of  October,  1657.— Letter  of 
Megapolensis  and  Drisius  to  Classis,  22d  of  October,  1657. 

t  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  352;  xviii.,  158;  xix.,  36,  112,  114,  125-131,  137-140  ;  Kingston  Rec.  . 
OTall,,  ii„  432-437  ;  ante,  p.  76,  677.    The  name  is  frequently  spelled  Wildwyek. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GEIsERAL.  691 

pioneers  of  civilization  had  yet  fixed  their  homes  within  chap  xx, 
the  eastern  hunting-ground  of  the  Mohawks,  That  ter- 
ritory,  however,  which,  when  Fort  Nassau  was  first  built, 
had  abounded  in  beavers  and  wild  deer,  was  now  almost 
destitute  of  peltries ;  and  its  aboriginal  owners  felt  dis- 
posed to  sell  the  land,  which  to  them  had  become  of  little 
value.  On  the  other  hand,  many  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Beverwyck,  where  there  was  often  a  dearth  of  food,  were 
anxious  to  settle  themselves  as  farmers  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Fort  Orange,  yet  not  as  dependents  of  the  patroon  of 
Rensselaerswyck.  Van  Curler  accordingly  applied  to  Stuy-  is  June. 
vesant  for  permission  to  buy  the  "  Great  Flat"  west  of  the 
fort,  "toward  the  interior  of  the  country;"  which  was 
promptly  given,  upon  condition  that  the  lands  should,  as  21  June. 
usual,  be  transferred  to  the  director  and  council  as  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  West  India  Company,  and  that  "what- 
ever the  petitioners  shall  pay  for  the  aforesaid  lands  to  the 
original  proprietors  shall  in  due  time  be  returned  to  them, 
or  be  discounted  to  them  against  the  tenths."  The  next 
month,  several  chiefs  appeared  before  Vice-director  La  Mon-  27  juiy. 
tagne  at  Fort  Orange,  and  formally  conveyed  to  Van  Cur-  schenecta- 
ler  the  Great  Flat,  lying  between  Fort  Orange  and  the  Mo- 
hawk country,  "called  in  Indian  Schonowe."  This  was 
the  first  step  toward  the  settlement  of  "  Schaenhechstede," 
of  which  the  name  survives  in  that  of  the  present  city  of 
Schenectady.  The  next  year  the  provincial  govei-nment 
confirmed  the  purchase  by  a  grant ;  but  the  lands  were  not 
surveyed  and  laid  out  until  the  spring  of  1664.* 

Not  long  afterward,  another  court,  similar  to  that  at  Eso- 
pus,  was  established  back  of  Gamoenepa,  where  there  was 
now  a  thriving  settlement.  The  name  given  to  the  new 
village  was  "  Bergen,"  after  that  of  a  small  town  in  North  is  scpt 
Holland  ;  and  Tielman  van  Vleeck,  a  notary  in  New  Am-  Bergen. 
sterdam,  was  appointed  the  first  schout,  and  Michael  Jan- 
sen,  one  of  the  former  "  Nine  Men,"  Hermanns  Smeeman, 
and  Casparus  Steynmets,  the  first  magistrates  of  the  ear- 

*  Alb.  Rec,  vi.,  345;  xix.,  179,  180;  xxi.,  135-139  ;  xxii.,  169,  234;  Fort  Orange  Roc. ; 
Renss  MSS.;  O'Call.,  ii.,  438,  439;  ante,  p.  306,  060;  post,  p.  732. 


692        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XX.  liest  Organized  municipal  government  within  the  present 
State  of  New  Jersey.  A  log  building,  to  serve  as  a  place 
Church  at  of  worship,  was  presently  erected  by  the  inhabitants,  who 
Bergen,  voluntarily  taxed  themselves  for  the  purpose ;  and  nine 
male  and  eighteen  female  members  composed  the  first 
church.  For  many  years  divine  service  was  conducted, 
and  the  sacraments  were  administered  at  Bergen  by  the 
clergymen  of  the  neighboring  metropolis.* 

The  difficulties  respecting  the  title  to  Staten  Island  were 
Surrender  uow  arranged.  Melyn,  visiting  Amsterdam,  surrendered 
claims  to    to  tlic  Wcst  India  Company  all  his  rights  as  a  patroon,  for 

Staten  Isl-        ,   .    ,     ,  •        i    n  r,  i  i        i  -,  i  •      t  ■         r. 

and.  which  he  received  fifteen  hundred  guilders,  indemnity  for 
his  losses,  the  promise  of  certain  privileges  as  a  "free  col- 
onist and  inhabitant"  in  New  Netherland,  and  a  "full  am- 
nesty with  regard  to  all  disputes."  Under  this  arrange- 
ment Melyn  returned  to  New  Amsterdam.     This  was  fol- 

ofvande  lowcd  by  the  purchase  of  all  the  claims  and  estate  of  Van 

'  de  Capellen,  who  had  recently  died,  to  any  part  of  Staten 

Island.     The  whole  island  thus  became  the  property  of  the 

company,  which  by  this  time  had  sufficient  experience  of 

the  inconvenience  of  patroonships.     Grants  of  land  were 

22  August,  presently  made  to  various  persons,  among;  whom  were  sev- 

Waldenses  -^  •'  r  ■>  o 

and  Hugue- eral  Frcncli  Waldenses,  and  afterward  many  Huguenots 
from  Rochelle.  A  new  village  was  commenced  a  few  miles 
south  of  the  Narrows,  where  twelve  or  fourteen  families 

Village  and  were  soou  Settled.     To  secure  themselves  against  the  sav- 

house.  ages,  they  built  a  block -house  in  1663,  which  was  provided 
with  two  small  guns  and  a  garrison  of  ten  soldiers.  At 
the  request  of  the  inhabitants,  who  were  not  able  to  sup- 

Domine  port  a  clcrgymau  of  their  own,  Domine  Drisius  visited 
Staten  Island  every  two  months,  to  preach  in  French  and 
administer  the  sacraments. t 

♦  Alb.  Rec,  xix.,  273  ;  xx.,  277-280  ;  xxiT.,  117,  KJ,  372,  398;  O'Call.,  ii.,  428  ;  ante  p. 
642.  The  Bergen  church  records  begin  in  1664 ;  and  in  1680,  a  stone  edifice  of  an  oc- 
lagonal  form  was  built.  I  am  indebted  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  B.  C.  Taylor,  its  present  minister, 
for  an  interesting  sketch  of  this  first  church  in  New  Jersey. 

t  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  282,  307,  365,  384,  425,  437,  457,  461  ;  viii.,  222,  290  ;  xviii.,  11, 148, 160, 
198,  236,  251,  295;  xxi.,  49;  llol.  Doc,  xii.,  141  ;  New  Amst.  Rec,  iv.,  359;  Drisius  to 
Classis,  5th  Aug.,  1664  ;  Dr.  De  Witt,  in  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Proc  ,  1844, 69,  70  ;  1848, 78  ;  O'Call.. 
ii .  426,  576  ;  ante,  p.  615,  641. 


PETER   STU  YVES  ANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  G93 

On  the  soutli  side  of  the  Narrows,  the  lands  which  had  chap.  xx 
been  granted  to  Van  Werckhoven  remained  uninhabited 
for  several  years.     After  his  death,  Jacques  Cortelyou,  his 
former  agent,  commenced  a  settlement,  which  was  named  settiemcin 

oT  New 

"  New  Utrecht,"  in  compliment  to  Van  Werckhoven's  place  utreciu 
of  birth.     Fiscal  De  Sille  became  one  of  the  proprietaries, 
and  the  village  grew  slowly  until  1660,  when  it  was  de- 
termined to  palisade  it,  and  build  a  block-house  in  its  cen- 
tre.    At  the  end  of  the  next  year.  New  Utrecht  received  a  2^.  Dec. 

.,,  ,  ...  ■    .       ,  .       .,  T  Village 

Village  charter,  givmg  it  municipal  powers  similar  to  those  charter. 
of  New  Haerlem  ;  and  Jan  Tomasse,  Rutger  Joosten,  and 
Jacob  Hellekers  were  appointed  its  first  magistrates.  It 
had,  however,  no  schout  of  its  own,  the  duties  of  which 
office  were  performed  by  Adriaen  Hegeman,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded Tonneman  as  schout  of  the  neighboring  villages  of 
Breuckelen,  Amersfoort,  and  Midwout. 

Several  Frenchmen  wishing  to  settle  themselves  on  the 
lands  between  Breuckelen  and  Middelburgh,  Stuyvesant, 
at  their  request,  went  thither  early  in  1660,  and  fixed  upon 
a  place  "between  Mespath  Kill  and  Norman's  Kill"  as  the 
site  for  a  new  village.    In  a  year  the  settlement  contained 
twenty-three  families,  and  the  director  again  going  there,  14  March. 
at  the  request  of  the  inhabitants,  named  the  place  "  Bos- 
wyek,"  now  known  as  Bushwick.    A  few  days  afterward,  a  25  Mar.  u. 
subaltern  court  was  established  at  the  new  village,  of  which  chMteV ' 
Pieter  Jansen  de  Witt,  Jan  Tilje,  and  Jan  Cornelissen  were 
appointed  the  first  magistrates.     Two  block-houses  were 
built  in  1663  for  the  defense  of  the  village,  which  had  in- 
creased so  rapidly  as  to  contain  forty  men  able  to  bear  arm.s. 
Boswyck,  like  New  Utrecht,  having  no  schout  of  its  own, 
was  subject  to  the  jurisdiction  of  Hegeman,  the  schout  of 
Breuckelen,  Amersfoort,  and  Midwout;    and  the  district  The  Five 
now  became  known  as  "  the  Five  Dutch  Towns."*  Towns. 

The  metropolis  had  continued  to  prosper;  and  its  inhab- 
itants, still  jealous  on  the  subject  of  residence,  now  obtain-  si  .lan. 
ed  from  Stuyvesant  a  decree  that  those  who  should  absent  right. 

'  Alb.  Rcc,  xviii.,  a.^S  ;  xix.,  444  ;  Dor.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  i.,  633-655  ;  New  Utrecht  Rec.  ; 
Bushwick  Rec.  ;  Thom])soirs  L.  I  .  ii.,  155,  190 ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  429,  430  ;  Riker's  Newtown, 
50>  51 ;  IloUandtze  Mcrcurius,  Juu.,  1002,  p.  3,  4  ;  ante,  p.  537,  580. 


694  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XX.  tliemselves  from  New  Amsterdam  for  four  months,  "with- 
out  holdinpr  fire  and  lidit"  there,  should  lose  their  burgher 
4  October   rig^^t.     It  was  also  proposed  to  replace  the  decaying  stook- 
proposeT"  ^^®  with  a  Hiorc  substantial  defense,  and  to  require  each 
North  River  yacht,  in  lieu  of  wharfage,  to  make  one  or  two 
voyages  to  Tappan  for  stone,  "  in  order  to  surround  the  city 
with  a  wall  in  course  of  time."     A  better  currency  having 
12  October,  also  bccome  indispensable,  the  burgomasters  and  schepens 
tempiated.  resolved  to  Write  the  Fatherland  for  authority  to  establish 
a  mint  for  the  coinage  of  silver,  and  after  this  should  come 
into  circulation,  to  make  wampum  or  sewan,  without  which 
no  beavers  could  be  obtained  from  the  savages,  an  article  of 
trade.     This,  however,  the  Amsterdam  directors  would  not 
Latin        consent  to  yield.     The  Latin  or  High  school,  which  had 
been  established  in  1659,  did  not  prosper  under  the  su- 
perintendence of  Curtius,  who  fell  into  disputes  with  the 
parents  of  some  of  his  pupils  in  regard  to  discipline,  and 
with  the  burgomasters  and  schepens  respecting  the  collec- 
curtius  re-  tiou  of  taxes,  ffom  which  he  claimed  to  be  exempt.     Cur- 
Houand.     tins,  therefore,  returned  to  Holland,  and  was  succeeded  by 
1662.   Domine  iEgidius  Luyck,  who. came  out  from  the  Fatherland 
Succeeded  especially  to  educate  Stuyvesant's  sons.     Under  Luyck's 
i?u>xk."''"*  superintendence,  the  High  School  at  New  Amsterdam 
gained  such  a  reputation  that  children  were  sent  to  it  from 
Fort  Orange,  the  South  River,  and  Virginia. 

A  number  of  breweries,  brick-kilns,  and  other  manufac- 
tories were  now  in  successful  operation  ;  and  the  potteries 
I  ppi     of  Long  Island  were  esteemed  equal  to  those  of  Delft.     Salt- 
14  April. '  works  were  also  attempted  ;  and  Dirck  de  Wolf,  having  ob- 
on  cm°ey  ^  taiucd  from  thc  Amsterdam  Chamber  an  exclusive  privilege 
for  seven  years  to  make  salt  in  New  Netherland,  began  its 
manufacture  upon  Coney  Island,  of  which  he  received  a 
grant.     But  the  people  of  Gravesend,  who  claimed  the  isl- 
and, forcibly  arrested  De  Wolf's  enterprise,  which  he  was 
obliged  to  abandon,  notwithstanding  Stuyvesant  sent  a 
military  force  to  protect  and  encourage  him.* 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  341,  373,  375,  387,  396,  411  ;  viii.,  319,  321  ;  xvii.,  150  ;  xviii.,  44,  85,  164 
228  ;  xxi.,  257-270  ;  New  Amst.  Rec,  i.,  99  ;  iv.,  136,  296,  408,  435,  635  ;  Bancroft,  ii.,  311 , 
O'Call.,  ii.,  542,  546;  ante,  p.  656,  674.    Luyck  afterward  became  a  magistrate  of  the  city 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  595 

In  the  mean  time,  the  New  England  colonies  had  re-cn».p.  xx. 
ceived  the  news  of  the  Restoration  with  varied  feelings. 
Massachusetts  adopted  an  apologetic  address  to  Charles  the  Massadm- 
Second ;  ordered  the  royal  warrants  against  the  fugitive  ^!^h!ide"''ii 
regicides,  Whalley  and  Goffe,  to  be  executed;  and  even  17 Max. 
asked  Stuy  vesant  to  deliver  them  up.     The  refugees,  how- 
ever, found  an  asylum  in  New  Haven.     The  G-eneral  Court  i;  June 
at  Hartford,  in  a  loyal  address  drawn  up  by  G-overnor  putmons 
Winthrop,  besought  the  king  to  accept  that  colony  as  "  ater. 
little  branch"  of  his  empire,  and  also  petitioned  for  a  royal 
charter  to  "assure"  them  possession,  against  their  "nox- 
ious neighbors"  the  Dutch,  of  the  territory  for  which  they 
had  "not  so  much  as  a  copy  of  a  patent."     The  governor  winthrcp 
was  also  commissioned  as  agent  in  England,  and  instruct- 
ed to  procure  a  charter  which  should  include  all  the  region 
"  eastward  to  Plymouth  line,  northward  to  the  limits  of  the 
Massachusetts  colony,  and  westward  to  the  bay  of  Dela- 
ware, if  it  may  be,"  together  with  the  adjacent  islands. 
With  these  instructions,  Winthrop,  repairing  to  New  Am-2ijuiy. 

1  1  1  ■  1  I   •      1  •  Sails  ironi 

sterdam,  where  he  met  "honorable  and  kmd  reception,"  set  New  Am- 

•  1         T\         1       1  •  T\      m  11  Sterdam. 

sail  lor  burope  in  the  Dutch  ship  "  De  Trouw." 

The  ready  submission  of  the  Hartford  Court  did  not 
please  the  more  sturdy  republicans  of  New  Haven,  who 
for  several  months  omitted  to  proclaim  the  king.    At  length,  f  f  au^js 
"  taking  encouragement  from  what  has  been  done  in  theiacltonat 
rest  of  the  United  Colonies,"  they  ungraciously  acknowl- veT 
edged  Charles  the  Second.     But  the  extorted  avowal  dis- 
gusted many  of  the  more  rigid  Puritans,  who  dreaded  a 
prelacy  surrounding  the  throne.* 

And  now  the  liberal  conditions,  which  the  States  Gen- 
eral and  the  West  India  Company  had  published  in  the 
spring,  becoming  generally  known,  several  persons  visited 
New  Netherland,  to  examine  the  lands  between  the  North 
and  South  Rivers  proposed  to  be  colonized.  A  report  of 
their  courteous  entertainment  soon  reached  New  Haven ; 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  382,  405  ;  xviii.,  180;  Lond.  Doc,  i.,  110-117  ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,39 
42  ;  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  456  ;  Hazard,  ii.,  451,  586-568  ;  Col.  Rec.  Conn.,  3C7-369,  579- 
565;  Trumbull,  i.,  240-248,  511-514  ;  Ilutchinaon,  i.,  195-201  ;  Chalmers,  250-253;  Bar- 
crofl,  ii.,  50-51,71-7 1  ;  llildrLth,  i.,  44S-450;  IIol.  Merc,  1C62,  p.  3,  4  ;  anrc,  p.  202, 654. 


696        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XX.  and  Fenn  and  Treat,  two  of  the  magistrates  of  the  dissat- 
isfied  colony,  accompanied  by  two  others,  came  to  New 
28  Nov      Amsterdam  to  negotiate  for  the  establishment  of  a  Puritan 
viXNew  colony  under  the   Dutch   provincial   government.      The 
dam*"      agents  insisted  upon  several  preliminary  conditions.    These 
Conditions  wcre  the  right  to  establish  a  church  "in  the  Congregation- 
'  al  way,  such  as  they  have  enjoyed  in  New  England  ;"  the 
calling  of  a  synod  by  the  English  churches  in  New  Neth- 
erland,  "  for  the  suppressing  of  heresies,  schisms,  and  false 
worship,  and  for  the  establishment  of  truth  and  peace"  in 
those  churches ;  the  establishment  of  a  civil  government, 
to  be  administered  by  their  own  elected  magistrates  and 
officers,  under  laws  similar  to  those  of  New  Haven,  and 
without  any  right  of  appeal ;  the  extinguishment  of  the  In- 
dian title  by  the  Dutch  government,  and  the  conveyance 
of  the  lands  to  the  settlers ;  the  exclusion  of  all  persons 
from  settling  among  them,  except  such  as  they  might  ap- 
prove ;  and  the  right  to  collect  debts, 
siuyve-  To  all  of  thcse  demands  Stuyvesant  promptly  acceded, 

cessions,    except  to  that  which  contemplated  the  introduction  of  the 
New  Haven  system  of  government.     "  In  the  way  of  mag- 
istrature,  judicature,  and  civil  affairs,"  he  replied,  ''  shall 
be  granted  to  the  petitioners  all  such  power,  authority, 
privilege,  and  liberty,  as  all  other  towns  and  colonies  in 
New  Netherland  have  obtained."     This,  however,  did  not 
satisfy  the  New  Haven  men.     They  insisted  upon  intro- 
ducing their  own  civil  code  in  all  its  vigor,  and  without 
any  appeal  to  the  supreme  provincial  authorities  of  New 
1662.  Netherland.     The  suspended  negotiation  was  renewed  the 
11  March.   ^^^^  spring.     But  Stuyvesant,  feeling  that  he  had  already 
conceded  enough,  insisted  upon  the   double   nomination 
30  May.      and  the  right  of  appeal ;  and  the  authoritative  decision  of 
tbe^vf i.*°  the  question  was  referred  to  the  Amsterdam  directors.* 
Company.       j)o^j]3^g  j^^d,  meanwhile,  arisen  in  the  council  of  Mary- 
land whether  New  Amstel  was  really  within  their  limits ; 
and  all  further  demonstrations  had  leen  delayed  until  the 

*  Alb.  Rec,  six.,  409-421 ;  xx.,  73-77,  147  ;  N.  A.  Rec. ;  a'Call.,  ii.,  447,  448 ;  White 
bead's  East  Jersey,  22,  183. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  697 

will  of  the  proprietary  should  he  ascertained.     Baltimore,  chap.  xx. 
however,  took  care  to  obtain  from  the  kino^  a  confirmation " 
of  the  patent  which  had  been  granted  by  Charles  I. ;  and  conflma- 
Stuyvesant,  receiving  the   news,  wrote   to  the   directors  J^^'^J^yi'^Ji'^'' 
"that  Lord  Baltimore's  natural  brother,  who  is  a  rigid  ^^-iTjuly. 
pist,  being  made  governor  there,  has  received  Lord  Balti-  fanl-rais- 
more's  claim  and  protest  to  your  honors  in  council  (where-  "^^^f  ^om^ 
with  he  seems  but  little  satisfied),  and  has  now  more  hopes  ^^"^' 
of  success.     We  have  advice  from  England  that  there  is 
an  invasion  intended  against  these  parts,  and  the  country 
solicited  of  the  king,  the  duke,  and  the  Parliament,  is  to  be 
annexed  to  their  dominions."     The  savages  around  the 
South  River  showing  signs  of  hostility,  Hinoyossa  and  Pie- 
ter  Alrichs  went  to  Maryland  to  propose  the  negotiation  of  6  sept. 
a  general  treaty  of  peace  with  the  neighboring  Indians. 
Calvert  approving  the  suggestion,  soon  afterward  sent  com- 
missioners to  the  South  River,  who  were  courteously  re- 
ceived by  Beeckman  at  Altona.    On  their  return,  they  were 
accompanied  by  Hinoyossa,  who  met  Calvert  at  the  head 
of  the  Apoquinimy  Creek,  where  a  treaty  was  concluded  October. 
with  the  sachem  of  the  savages.     The  English,  at  the  same  with  the 

1  1   ,  Indians. 

time,  proposed  to  dehver  two  or  three  thousand  hogsheads 
:  of  tobacco  annually  to  the  Dutch,  in  return  for  negroes  and 
merchandise.* 

Li  the  mean  time,  active  measures  had  been  taken  by 
the  city  of  Amsterdam,  whither  Van  Sweringen  had  gone, 
"  to  remonstrate  the  condition"  of  its  colony.  A  full  re- 9  March. 
port  was  made  to  the  burgomasters ;  and  the  West  India 
Company,  on  its  part,  readily  agreed  to  modify  the  condi- 21  March 
tions  under  which  New  Amstel  had  been  conveyed  in  1656. 
These  changes,  which  promised  great  advantages,  were  ap- 
proved by  the  city  government ;  and  the  burghers  of  Am- 
sterdam were  invited  to  take  an  interest  in  its  colony. 

Public  attention  was  soon  drawn  toward  the  South  Riv- 
er, and  various  plans  of  emigration  were  proposed.  The 
region  between  New  Amstel  and  Cape  Hinlopen  being 

*  Alb.  Rec,  xvii.,  100,  112,  124,  127,  129,  142,  146,  377;   xviii.,  146;   S.  Hazard,  Ann. 
Penn.,  320-330 ;  Smith's  N  V.,  i.,  13  ;  McMahon,  25 ;  Bancroft,  11.,  236,  309. 


698        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XX.  almost  unoccupiecl,  seemed  to  present  special  attractions, 
and  a  number  of  Mennonists,  or  Anabaptists,  proposed  to 
Mennon-*  establish  thcmsclves  in  a  colony  at  the  Horekill.  A  corre- 
pol/jo";^.  spondence  with  the  burgomasters  resulted  in  the  forma- 
'^1  rr9  ^^'^^  °^  ^  company,  and  the  adoption  of  one  hundred  and 
10  Jan.  seventeen  articles  of  association  for  the  government  of  the 
asso'cra'-''  proposcd  Settlement,  which  are  among  the  most  extraor- 
iiorekiii  ^  dinary  of  the  early  memorials  of  American  colonization. 
CO  ony.  ^j^^  associates  were  to  be  either  married  males,  or  single 
men  twenty-four  years  old,  who  were  free  from  debt. 
Each  was  to  bind  himself  to  obey  the  ordinances  of  the  so- 
ciety, and  not  to  seek  his  own  advancement  over  any  other 
member.  No  clergymen  were  to  be  admitted  into  the  so- 
ciety. Religious  services  were  to  be  as  simple  as  possible. 
Every  Sunday  and  holiday  the  people  were  to  assemble, 
sing  a  psalm,  and  listen  to  a  chapter  from  the  Bible,  to  be 
read  by  one  of  the  members  in  rotation ;  after  which  an- 
other psalm  was  to  be  sung.  At  the  end  of  these  exer- 
cises, the  court  was  to  be  opened  for  public  business.  The 
object  of  the  association  being  to  establish  a  hamionious 
society  of  persons  of  different  religious  sentiments,  it  was 
determined  to  exclude  from  it  "all  intractable  people — 
such  as  those  in  communion  with  the  Roman  See ;  usurious 
Jews;  English  stiff-necked  Quakers;  Puritans;  fool-hardy 
believers  in  the  Millennium ;  and  obstinate  modern  pre- 
tenders to  revelation."  Laws  were  to  be  ordained  by  the 
votes  of  two  thirds  of  the  members  ;  but  they  must  be  ap- 
proved by  the  authorities  of  the  city  of  Amsterdam  before 
they  could  become  binding.  Ten  persons  were  to  be  an- 
nually proposed  as  ofhcers,  of  whom  the  burgomasters  of 
Amsterdam  were  to  select  five,  to  serve  for  one  year.  Dur- 
ing the  first  five  years  after  their  arrival,  the  emigrants 
were  to  live  in  common.  At  the  end  of  that  time  the  prop- 
erty was  to  be  divided,  and  each  head  of  a  family  to  re- 
ceive his  proportionate  share.  Idle  and  dissolute  persons 
might  be  expelled  by  a  vote  of  two  thirds  of  the  members. 
The  laws  of  Holland,  and  especially  those  of  the  city  of 
Amsterdam,  were  to  govern  the  new  association,  and  no 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  699 

magistrate  was  to  receive  any  compensation,  "not  even  acHAP. xx. 
stuyver."  "^^ 

These  singular  articles,  together  with  a  description  of  publication 
the  country  and  various  papers  and  arguments  in  favor  of  veriTaci?"" 
the  project,  were  published  in  Holland  ;  and  the  city  gov- 
ernment granted  an  advance  of  one  hundred  guilders  each  20  April. 
to  twenty-five  families  of  Mennonists  ahout  to  emigrate  to 
New  Netherland.     A  few  months  afterward,  articles  were  9  June. 

1  -n-  /~i  Agreement 

agreed  upon  between  the  burojomasters  and  Pieter  Corne-  between 

01  D  _  Amster- 

lis  Plockhov,  as  the  leader  of  the  colonists,  to  whom  was  dam  and 
granted  a  tract  of  land  at  the  Horekill,  to  be  free  from  tax-  nonists. 
es  for  twenty  years.  The  emigrants  were  to  establish  for 
themselves  such  laws  as  they  thought  proper,  provided  they 
did  not  conflict  with  the  general  "  conditions"  which  the 
city  had  published  in  1656.  Arrangements  were  made  for 
the  transportation  of  the  colonists  ;  and  twenty-five  hund- 
red guilders  were  loaned  to  the  association,  for  the  repay- 
ment of  which  the  whole  body  was  to  be  bound.* 

The  condition  of  New  Amstel  and  Altona,  however,  had  Affairs  at 

New  Am- 

not  improved.     The  officers  of  the  city's  colony  became  stei  and  ai 
daily  more  independent,  refusing  to  publish  Stuyvesant  s  12  March, 
thanksgiving  proclamations,  and  requiring  vessels  to  lower 
their  colors  while  passing  New  Amstel.     Hinoyossa  de-  is  May. 
nounced  the  provincial  government,  and  threatened  that 
if  the  burgomasters  of  Amsterdam  did  not  support  his  au- 
thority he  would  follow  the  example  of  Minuit,  "  who,  in 
consequence  of  the  ill  treatment  he  had  received  from  the 
company,  had  brought  the  Swedes  to  the  South  River." 
Beeckman,  on  his  part,  charged  Hinoyossa  with  pecula- 
tion ;  and  Van  Sweringen,  having  accidentally  shot  one  of  21  Jnne. 
the  company's  soldiers,  was  protected  by  the  city's  director 
against  the  criminal  process  of  New  Netherland.     Mean- 
while, religious  ordinances  were  discontinued,  for  there 

*  IIol.  Doc,  XV.,  3T-51, 123-133 ;  xvi.,  231-235 ;  Alb.  Rec,  Iv.,  377 ;  viii.,  335-337 ;  xviii., 
195;  Lond.Doc.,iv.,177;N.Y.Col.MSS.,iii.,345;  Wagenaar,i.,595  ;  0'Call.,ii., 461-469. 
These  articles  form  a  part  of  the  Appendix  to  a  small  quarto  pamphlet  of  84  pages,  com- 
piled from  De  Laet,  De  Vries,  and  the  Vertoogh,  entitled  "  Korte  Verhael  van  Nieuw  Ne- 
derlandts  Gelegenthied,"  &c.,  &c.,  printed  in  16C2.  Tho  copy  which  I  procured  in  Hol- 
land is  in  the  library  of  the  N.  Y.  Historical  Society  ;  and  a  translation  will  probably  be 
included  in  its  collections. 


700        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XX.  Were  no  clergymen  to  baptize  the  children  or  administer 
the  communion.     It  was  now  evident  that  either  the  com- 
wantofre-P^^y  *^^  ^^®  ^^^Y  "^^^t  be  suprcmc  there.     To  accomplish 
^liivfces     *^^^  object,  earnest  representations  were  sent  to  Holland ; 
September,  whithcr  Hinoyossa  announced  that  he  would  return  by 
visits  Hoi-  way  of  Virginia,  "to  give  an  accurate  description  of  the 
colony  to  his  lords  and  patrons,  and  to  convince  them  of  the 
necessity  of  obtaining  possession  of  the  South  River."* 
In  the  mean  time,  the  relations  between  England  and 
1661.  the  Netherlands  had  been  far  from  harmonious.     Charles, 
sir"George  indccd,  had  paid  the  Dutch  the  compliment  of  accrediting 
g°ush"am-  to  them  the  first  ambassador  whom  he  sent  to  a  foreign 
ml  Hagie.' court  after  his  Restoration.     But  the  king's  choice  was 
singularly  infelicitous.      The  new  ambassador  was   Sir 
Greorge  Downing.     He  had  been  educated  in  Massachu- 
setts, and  was  one  of  the  earliest  graduates  of  the  college 
at  Cambridge  in  the  year  1642.     Going  over  to  England, 
Downing  entered  Cromwell's  army,  and  was  afterward  sent 
by  the  Protector  as  ambassador  to  the  States  Greneral.    In 
this  position  he  had  conducted  himself  with  great  haugh- 
tiness toward  the  republic,  and  had  become  personally  ob- 
noxious to  the  Dutch  statesmen.     Changing  with  the 
change  of  the  times,  he  recommended  himself  to  the  vers- 
atile king,  who  reinstated  him  in  his  former  post.     On  his 
return  to  the  Hague,  Downing  became  still  more  arrogant. 
Able  and  bold,  but  faithless  and  unscrupulous,  his  charac- 
ter had  already  become  a  proverb  among  his  countrymen, 
who  were  used  "  to  say  of  a  false  man  who  betrayed  his 
trust,  that  he  was  an  arrant  George  Downing."! 

It  was  no  wonder  that  the  negotiations  for  a  treaty  of 
commerce  and  alliance  between  England  and  the  United 
Provinces  were  protracted.  Besides  embarrassing  ques- 
tions arising  out  of  the  new  Act  of  Navigation,  there  were 
other  reasons  why  Charles  was  not  anxious  for  a  definitive 
arrangement  with  the  Dutch.    Lord  Baltimore  had  already 

*  Alb.  Rec,  xvii.,  151-247 ;  xviii.,  195  ;  O'Cal!.,  ii.,  464,  465  ;  S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn., 
330-341. 

t  Hutchinson,  i.,  107,  444;  Savage's  Winthrop,  i.,49;  ii.,  240-242;  Lettres  d'Estrades, 
ti.,  364  ;  Basnage,  i.,  634  ;  Brieven  van  De  Witt,  iv.,  139;  Davies,  iii.,  20,  21. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  701 

appealed  to  him  in  tehalf  of  Maryland  ;  and  now  Henry,  chap.  xx. 
the  third  Earl  of  Stirling,  urged  his  petition  that,  in  any 
treaty  which  might  he  made  with  the  Netherlands,  the 
Dutch  upon  Long  Island  should  be  required  to  submit  31  May. 
themselves  to  English  authority.     The  king's  obvious  pol-  ^^  *'"''*• 
icy  was  procrastination.     Not  so  that  of  the  Dutch.     The 
States  General,  wearied  with  delays,  at  length  sent  orders  March. 
to  their  ambassadors  to  conclude  the  treaty  which  had  been 
so  fully  discussed,  or  else  leave  London.     The  ambassadors 
were  put  off  some  time  longer ;  but,  in  the  end,  a  conven- 14  sept. 
tion  was  signed  at  Whitehall.     At  first  the  alliance  seem-  tion  be- 

twGcn  ttl6 

ed  to  promise  well ;  the  Dutch  fulfilled  their  stipulations  united 

Provinc6s 

with  promptness  and  honor ;  and  the  king  declared  that  and  Great 
as  they  had  been  the  first  to  execute,  so  he  would  be  the 
last  to  violate  the  treaty.  But  the  event  did  not  verify  the 
royal  word.  A  bitter,  hereditary  jealousy  of  the  Dutch 
was  deeply  seated  in  the  minds  of  the  English  people. 
Amsterdam  had  overshadowed  London ;  the  commerce  of 
Holland  had  prospered  more  than  that  of  England ;  Dutch 
fleets  had  humbled  the  arrogance  which  claimed  to  rule 
the  seas ;  and  Saint  John's  vindictive  Act  of  Navigation 
had  been  followed  up  by  the  still  more  selfish  statute  of 
the  Twelfth  of  Charles  the  Second.  That  act  contempla- 
ted the  total  exclusion  of  all  foreigners  from  any  trade  or 
commerce  with  the  British  colonies.  Though  its  restric- 
tions violated  the  rights  of  mankind,  they  were  looked  upon 
with  less  repugnance  in  New  England,  where  envy  of  the 
Dutch  in  New  Netherland  predominated,  than  in  Virginia, 
where  a  more  magnanimous  policy  obtained.  The  inter- 
colonial treaty  which  Stuyvesant  had  negotiated  with 
Berkeley  in  1660  had  given  satisfaction  to  the  people  of 
both  provinces.  The  new  Act  of  Navigation  was  felt  to  be 
a  serious  grievance,  and  its  provisions  were  virtually  evad- 
ed. Dutch  ships  continued  to  convey  to  foreign  markets 
the  tobacco  which  otherwise  would  have  been  the  prize  of 
monopoly  at  London  or  Bristol ;  and  Governor  Berkeley  Berkeley 
was  sent  to  England  as  agent  of  Virginia,  to  ask  relief  vlrgima. 
from  commercial  oppression.     But  the  king  was  indifFer- 


702  HISTORY  OF  THE  ST.\TE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XX.  ent,  and  Parliament  was  inexorable.     At  the  very  time  the 
"7~~~~  treaty  with  the  Netherlands  was  matured,  the  council  for 
•25  Au<Tist.  Foreign  Plantations  was  considering  the  question  of  the  se- 
» Sept.       cret  trade  hetween  the  Dutch  and  the  English  colonies  in 
^f  Sept.    America  ;  and  Berkeley  was  presently  instructed  to  cause 
gatioiiAct  tlic  Act  of  Navigation  to  be  "carefully  and  faithfully  ex- 
De  observed  ecu  ted  and  observed"  in  Virginia,  where  the  government 
iiish  coio-  had  certain  knowledge  that  "very  much  tobacco  is  shipped 
in  that  our  colony  in  Dutch  vessels."     "Well  might  Stujrve- 
sant  inform  the  Amsterdam  Chamber  that  Berkeley  had 
"effected  very  little  in  favor  of  the  English  Virginians."* 
Connecticut  was  more  fortunate  in  her  agent  than  was 
Virginia.     Though  the  son-in-law  of  the  executed  Hugh 
Peters,  Winthrop,  by  his  personal  character,  talents,  and  lit- 
erary attainments,  soon  commanded  respect  and  won  con- 
23  April,     fidence.     Before  long  a  royal  charter  passed  the  great  seal, 
ter  of  Con-  by  wliich  "the  governor  and  company  of  the  English  colony 
of  Connecticut,  in  New  England,"  were  incorporated,  and 
invested  with  jurisdiction  over  all  the  territory  bounded  on 
Bouada-     the  cast  by  the  Narragansett  Bay,  on  the  north  by  the  south 
line  of  Massachusetts,  on  the  south  by  the  sea,  and  on  the 
west  by  the  Pacific  Ocean ;  together  with  "  the  islands 
thereunto  adjoining."     Thus  the  "  careless  benevolence" 
of  Charles  the  Second  gave  to  Connecticut  the  whole  of 
New  Haven,  besides  the  greater  part  of  New  Netherland, 
including  Long  Island,  then  claimed  by  Lord  Stirling ;  and 
Encroach-  the  covctcd  posscssious  of  the  Dutch  appeared  at  last  to  be 

as  on  New 

Nether-  withiu  the  grasp  of  those  who  had  striven  so  long  to  ap- 
propriate the  territory  of  their  "noxious  neighbors,"  and 
"crowd  out"  the  original  discoverers  of  the  land.t 

The  next  autumn,  the  charter  was  presented  and  read 

September,  at  the  auuual  meeting  of  the  commissioners  of  the  United 
Colonies ;  and  the  English  settlers  at  the  eastern  end  of 
Long  Island  hastened  to  acknowledge  their  allegiance  to 

*  Lond.  Doc,  i.,  110-123  ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  39-44  ;  Alb.  Rec,  xriii.,  157,  15S,  19T  ; 
Chalmers,  242-244 ;  Hazard,  il.,  610 ;  Brieven  van  De  Witt,  iv.,  221-304 ;  Aitzema,  iv., 
1111-1114;  Basnage,i.,665;  Bancroft, ii., 69, 198,  309;  Verplanck,  in  iii.,  N.Y.  H.  S.Coll., 
67  ;  Hoi.  Merc,  Jan.,  1662,  p.  4  ;  ante.  p.  683,  685. 

t  Hazard,  ii.,  597-«05  ;  Chalmers,  293  ;  Bancroft,  i.,  425  ;  ii.,  51-54 ;  Trumbull,  i.,  249  ; 
a^ite,  p.  262,  324,  695. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  703 

Connecticut.     Southold  chose  Captain  John  Young  as  her  chap.  xx. 
deputy  to  the  next  General  Court  at  Hartford.     Young's     ~~ 
previous  proceedings  had  awakened  the  attention  of  the 
New  Netherland  government ;  and  Stuyvesant  now  inform- 13  October. 

.  .    .  Stuyve- 

ed  the  Connecticut  authorities  that  they  were  "  an  absolute  sam's  let- 
breach  and  a  nullification"  of  the  boundary  treaty  of  1650,  General 
and  that  they  gave  the  States  General  and  the  West  India  connecu. 
Company  a  just  ground  to  demand  and  recover  all  their 
ancient  rights  to  the  territory  between  Greenwich  and  the 
Fresh  River.     The  General  Court  was,  therefore,  request- 
ed to  return  its  "categorical  answer"  about  Young's  "se- 
ditious doings."     This  was  soon  given.     The  charter  was  f^  Oct. 
exhibited  to  Captain  Nicholas  Varlett,  who  had  brought  his 
brother-in-law's  letter,  and  the  court  desired  that  Stuyve-  Repiy  of 
sant  "would  not  m  any  wise  incumber  or  molest  his  maj-cut. 
esty's  subjects  comprehended  within  the  extent  of  our  pat- 
ent by  any  impositions,  that  thereby  more  than  probable 
inconveniences  may  be  prevented."    Southold  was  received 
under  the  protection  of  the  court,  and  Young  was  admitted 
a  freeman  of  the  corporation.     West  Chester  was  declared  23  October 

West  Ch6s 

to  be  included  in  Connecticut,  and  the  inhabitants  were  ter,  Green 
required  to  send  deputies  to  its  next  General  Court.   Green-  the  Long 
wich  was  also  accepted,  and  annexed  with  West  Chester  to  towns  an- 

Hexed 

the  jurisdiction  of  the  local  court  at  Fairfield.  The  settle- 
ments at  Huntington,  Setauket  or  Ashford,  and  Oyster  Bay, 
were  notified  to  choose  constables ;  and  "  all  the  Planta- 
tions on  the  island,"  including  Jamaica,  Flushing,  Graves- 
end,  Heemstede,  and  Middelburgh,  were  ordered  to  "  at- 
tend the  established  law  of  this  colony  for  the  rule  of  rat- 
ing," and  to  appear  at  the  General  Assembly  to  be  held 
the  next  May.* 

Religious  zeal  had,  meanwhile,  been  animating  the  Jes- 
uits in  Canada  to  new  efforts  for  the  conversion  of  the  sav- 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  379,  382  ;  xviii.,  218,  219 ;  xx.,  249,  253,  263  ;  xxi.,  97-101  ;  Dunlap,  ii., 
App.  xxix. ;  Hazard,  ii.,  467  ;  Ilartford  Rec,  i.,  12  ;  ii.,  1,168;  Col.  Rec.  Conn.,  384-390 ; 
Bolton's  West  Chester,  ii.,  20,  162,  163 ;  Riker's  Newtown,  54.  The  particular  reason 
why  Captain  Varlett  went  to  Ilartford  was  because  his  sister  Judith  had  been  imprisoned 
there,  on  a  "  pretended  accusation  of  witchery  ;"  and  the  Dutch  director's  letter  warmly 
urged  her  release.  Judith  afterward  married  Stuyvesant's  nephew,  Nicholas  Bayard,  and 
in  1686  resided  in  the  "  Iloogh  Straat,"  or  High  Street,  in  the  city  of  New  York. 


704        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XX.  ages,  and  Father  Le  Moyne  once  more  visited  the  country 
of  the  Iroquois.     Though  the  Mohawks  were  implacable. 
Le  Moyne  *^®  Wcstem  tribcs  showed  friendship ;  and  deputies  from 
nqSois!*^  the  Senecas,  Cayugas,  and  Onondagas,  assembled  at  the 
12  August.  gQun,^  of  the  bell,  which  had  once  summoned  the  faithful 
to  worship  in  the  deserted  chapel  of  the  Jesuits.    The  coun- 
cil seemed  inclined  to  peace ;  but  the  Western  nations  could 
1G62.  not  influence  the  fiercer  Mohawks,  and  the  next  spring  Le 
canX'"  Moyne  returned  to  Canada. 

After  having  crushed  the  Hurons,  the  Mohawks  execu- 
ted their  threatened  design  against  the  Eastern  savages, 
.so  April,     and  a  formidable  war  party  visiting  the  English  traders  on 
on  the  Ken-  the  Keunebcck,  forced  them  to  an  unwilling  traffic.   Thence 
they  proceeded  to  the  Penobscot  fort,  where  they  surprised 
3  May.      and  captured  a  party  of  Abenaquis,  who  had  come  thither 
theTbena-  to  trade.     On  their  return,  the  Mohawks  killed  the  cattle 
roMhe  En-  of  the  English,  and  robbed  their  store-houses  "  to  the  value 
^'*'"        of  three  hundred  pounds."     To  obtain  redress  for  these 
aggressions,  delegates  from  Boston  accompanied  Captain 
Thomas  Breedon,  the  governor  of  Nova  Scotia,  to  New  Am- 
27  July,      sterdam;  and  the  director  at  once  proceeded  with  the  En- 
glish agents  to  Fort  Orange.     The  Mohawk  sachems  offer- 
ed an  atonement  of  wampum,  but  would  surrender  no  pris- 
oners ;   and,  abruptly  breaking  up  the   conference,  they 
threatened,  unless  the  English  declared  themselves  satis- 
3  August,   fied,  to  ravage  the  borders  of  Connecticut.    At  length  Stuy- 
arninges'"  vcsant  arranged  an  accommodation,  and  purchased  by  pres- 
niodation.   euts  the  rclcasc  of  some  of  the  captives.     Breedon,  how- 
ever, still  unsatisfied,  complained  to  the  commissioners  at 
Boston  that  "  no  recompense"  could  be  obtained  ;  and  the 
U  Sept.     Board,  apprehending  "the  insolencies  and  wrongs  done  by 
ofTe"N.E.  the  aforesaid  Indian  Mohawkes  have  been  very  great,"  rec- 
ommended the  several  colonies  to  allow  the  governor  of 
Nova  Scotia  to  enroll  volunteers  within  their  jurisdictions 
"  for  his  just  relief  and  satisfaction." 

At  the  very  moment  Stuyvesant  and  the  English  dele- 
gates were  negotiating  with  the  sachems  at  Fort  Orange, 
a  war  party  of  Mohawks  and  Oneidas  was  threatening 


commis 
sioners. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL,  7O5 

Montreal.     A  post  near  its  gates  was  attacked,  and  the  chap.  xx. 
garrison  killed  or   captured.     Father  Vignal  was   slain  ; 
Brignac  was  burned  at  the  stake.     Three  of  the  prisoners  j,  ^ugil^t. 
escaping  with  great  difficulty,  after  nine  days  of  constant  „g°'jn'',n. 
suffering  and  peril,  reached  Fort  Orange,  where  they  were  H^';  ^^"' 
hospitably  entertained  and  clothed.     Thence  they  were 
conveyed  to  New  Amsterdam,  and  finally  reached  Quebec 
by  way  of  Boston.     The  situation  of  Canada  was  now,  in- 
deed, alarming.     Reduced  to  forty-five  associates,  the  im- 
poverished and  disheartened  proprietaries  of  New  France 
resigned  all  their  rights  to  the  king ;  and  the  surrendered  Reorgani 
province  was  soon  afterward  conveyed  by  Louis  XIV.  to  the  govem- 
the  new  and  wealthier  West  India  Company,  which  his  New 

^       *'  '  France. 

great  minister  Colbert  had  organized,  and  under  whose 
auspices  Alexander  de  Prouville,  Marquis  de  Tracy,  was   1663. 
commissioned  as  French  viceroy  in  America.*  '^ '  ""^ 

Stuyvesant  had  scarcely  returned  from  Fort  Orange 
when  he  felt  himself  called  upon  to  interfere  again,  to 
check  the  progress  of  Quakerism  on  Long  Island.   .  And 
now  the  scene  of  persecution  was  at  Flushing.    Among  the 
early  emigrants  thither  was  John  Bowne,t  a  plain,  strong-  john 
minded  English  farmer.     His  wife  soon  became  attached  Flushing 
to  the  society  of  the  Quakers,  who,  owing  to  the  severe 
measures  of  the  provincial  government,  were  obliged  to  hold 
their  meetings  privately,  in  the  woods  and  solitary  places. 
Bowne,  out  of  curiosity,  having  attended  some  of  these 
meetings,  invited  the  Quakers  to  his  house,  and,  before  long,    j^ggo 
ioined  their  society.     The  magistrates  of  Jamaica,  faith- 24  August 

...  Arrested 

ful  to  their  promise,  informed  the  director  that  Bowne's  and  fined 
house  had  become  a  "conventicle"  for  the  Quakers  of  allingQuau. 
the  neighboring  villages  ;  and  the  new  convert,  upon  being 


ers. 


*  Alb.  Rec,  Iv.,  423  ;  xx.,  178,  184-194  ;  Hoi.  Doc,  xi.,  211  ;  Hazard,  ii.,  4C2,  4f)3  ;  Re 
lation,  1660-1, 1661-2, 1663^,  1664-5  ;  Charlevoix,  i.,  348-380 ;  Bancroft,  iii.,  148 ;  O'Call., 
ii.,  452,  453  ;  Hildreth,  ii.,  91  ;  mite,  p.  C47,  682. 

t  Bowne  was  born  at  Matlock,  in  Derbyshire,  in  1627.  He  came  over  to  Boston  in 
1649,  and  soon  afterward  settled  himself  at  Flusliing,  where,  in  1656,  he  was  married  to 
Hannah,  a  daughter  of  Robert  Field,  and  a  sister  of  Elizabeth,  the  wife  of  Captain  John 
Underbill.  In  1661,  Bowne  erected  a  fine  dwelling-house  at  the  eastern  end  of  Flush- 
ing, where  it  may  still  be  seen.  Near  this  house  were  two  large  oak-trees,  under  which 
George  Fox  preached  in  1672.  One  of  these  trees  was  blown  down  in  September,  1841 ; 
ibe  other,  still  standing,  is  supposed  to  be  at  least  four  centuries  old. 

Y  Y 


706        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XX.  arrested,  confessed  his  offense.  To  punish  Bowne's  con- 
""""""" tempt  of  authority,  Stuyvesant  condemned  him  to  "an 
14  Sept.      amend"  of  twenty-five  Flemish  pounds,  and  threatened 

him  with  banishment. 
21  Sept.  The  next  week,  a  new  proclamation  declared  that  the 

lamltfjr  public   exercise  of  any  religion  but  the  Reformed,  "  in 
sectarian-   houscs,  bams,  ships,  woods,  or  fields,"  would  be  punished  by 
ditioi).       a  fine  of  fifty  guilders  ;  double  for  a  second  offense  ;  and 
for  the  third  quadruple,  with  arbitrary  correction.    The  im- 
portation or  distribution  of  all  seditious  books  was  forbid- 
den, under  penalty  of  fine  and  confiscation.     Strangers  ar- 
riving in  the  province  were  to  report  themselves  within  six 
weeks  to  the  secretary,  and  take  the  oath  of  allegiance. 
And  magistrates  who  permitted  the  violation  of  this  proc- 
lamation were  threatened  with  immediate  removal  from 
office.     But  the  threat  of  punishment  did  not  repress  the 
5  October,  zcal  of  the  Quakcrs.     John  Tilton,  and  Mary  his  wife,  and 
Michael  and  Samuel  Spicer,  of  Gravesend,  persisting  in  fre- 
quenting conventicles,  were  ordered  to  leave  the  province 
before  the  twentieth  of  November.     Meanwhile,  Bowne, 
refusing  to  pay  his  fine,  had  remained  imprisoned  at  New 
Amsterdam ;  and,  at  the  end  of  three  months,  "  for  the  wel- 
14  Dec.      fare  of  the  community,  and  to  crush  as  far  as  it  is  possi- 
councii      ble  that  abominable  sect  who  treat  wnth  contempt  both  the 
Bowne      political  magistrates  and  the  ministers  of  God's  holy  word, 
and  endeavor  to  undermine  the  police  and  religion,"  an  or- 
der was  made  in  council  "  to  transport  from  this  province 
the  aforesaid  John  Bowne,  if  he  continues  obstinate  and 
pervicacious,  in  the  first  ship  ready  to  sail,  for  an  example 
to  others."    The  Quaker  convert,  however,  remaining  firm, 
1663.  the  director  executed  his  threat.     Bowne  was  ordered  on 
Bou"ne      board  the  Gilded  Fox  ;  and  Stuyvesant  wrote  to  the  Am- 
bsnished.   g^gj.(ja.m  Chamber  that  the  contumacious  prisoner  had  been 
banished  as  a  terror  to  others,  who,  if  not  discouraged  by 
this  example,  would  be  dealt  with  still  more  severely. 

But  the  banishment  of  Bowne  was  the  harbinger  of  a 
better  day  for  New  Netherland.  On  reaching  Amsterdam, 
the  exile  "manifested  his  case"  to  the  directors  of  the  West 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  707 

India  Company,  who  did  not  utter  "  one  word  tending  to  chap.  xx 
the  approval  of  any  thing"  that  their  provincial  govern- 
ment  had  done  against  the  Quakers.     So  far  from  justify- 
ing Stuyvesant,  they  thus  rebuked  him  in  their  next  dis- 
patches.    "Although  it  is  our  cordial  desire  that  similar le Aprii. 

The  W.  I. 

and  other  sectarians  may  not  be  found  there,  yet  as  the  company 

11  11  111      enjoins  lol- 

contrary  seems  to  be  the  fact,  we  doubt  very  much  wheth-  oration. 
er  rigorous  proceedings  against  them  ought  not  to  be  dis- 
continued ;  unless,  indeed,  you  intend  to  check  and  destroy 
your  population,  which,  in  the  youth  of  your  existence, 
ought  rather  to  be  encouraged  by  all  possible  means. 
Wherefore,  it  is  our  opinion  that  some  connivance  is  use- 
ful, and  that  at  least  the  conscience's  of  men  ought  to  re- 
main free  and  unshackled.  Let  every  one  remain  free  as 
long  as  he  is  modest,  moderate,  his  political  conduct  irre- 
proachable, and  as  long  as  he  does  not  offend  others  or  op- 
pose the  government.  This  maxim  of  moderation  has  al- 
ways been  the  guide  of  our  magistrates  in  this  city  ;  and 
the  consequence  has  been  that  people  have  flocked  from  ev- 
ery land  to  this  asylum.  Tread  thus  in  their  steps,  and  we 
doubt  not  you  will  be  blessed."     This  reproof  was  effect-  Persccu- 

•  i-TVT  TvTiii  iT->  lion  ceases- 

ual.  Persecution  ceased  m  New  Netherland ;  and  Uowne, 
returning  after  two  years  absence,  met  Stuyvesant  as  a  pri- 
vate citizen,  who  "  seemed  ashamed  of  what  he  had  done."* 

The  Amsterdam  Chamber  also  instructed  their  director  26  March. 
that  it  would  gratify  them  if  the  proposed  settlement  of  tions"of  the 
Puritans  on  the  Raritan  River,  which  might  serve  as  a  bul-  paiiy  re°'" 
wark  against  the  Raritans  and  Minnisincks,  should  be  car-  PuHtaif  ^ 
ried  into  effect.     "The  principal  obstacle  was  the  appeal  on  the  Rar- 
in  criminal  cases,  and  capital  crimes  of  fornication,  adul- 
tery, and  similar  offenses,  which  they  punish  according  to 
the  law  and  the  expressed  word  of  Grod.     Against  which 
maxim,  although  the  laws  of  our  Fatherland  use  some  con- 
nivance in  this  respect,  we  make  no  objection ;  but  we 
could  not  willingly  transfer  to  them  the  absolute  disposal 
of  all  criminal  cases  whatever  without  appeal."     The  di- 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  427  ;  xviii.,  221,  222  ;  xx.,  199,  208-220,  230-233,  2G3,  291  ;  Bosso,  ii., 
237  ;  Thompson's  L.  I.,  ii.,  74-79,  293-295,  380-388  ;  Bancroft,  ii.,  300 ;  Dr,  De  Witt,  in  N. 
V.  H.  S.  Proc,  1844,  73  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  454-457  ;  ante,  p,  669, 


708        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

CHip.  XX.  rectors,  however,  consented  that  no  appeals  should  take 
place  in  cases  of  voluntary  confession  ;  but  this  could  not 
conces-     ^®  couccded  "in  all  other  cases  of  a  dubious  nature," 
^"j^ ^''^^^ Further,   "their  laws,  in   punishing   all   similar   crimes 
pany.        against  the  maxims  of  our  Fatherland,  should  only  be  put 
in  practice  against  their  own  countrymen,  and  not  against 
such  of  our  nation  as  might  settle  among  them."     "Your 
honor  must  not  give  up  this  point  as  long  as  it  is  tena- 
ble ;  it  is  of  too  high  importance.     If,  however,  the  ob- 
ject in  view  is  not  attainable  without  this  sacrifice,  then 
your  honor  is  authorized  to  treat  with  the  English  on  such 
terms  as,  in  your  opinion,  are  best  adapted  to  promote  the 
welfare  of  our  state  and  its  subjects." 
20  July.  On  receiving  this  dispatch,  so  consistent  with  the  con- 

feredby  "  ditions  offered  in  1661,  Stuyvesant  informed  the  applicants 
sani.  that  most  of  their  demands  would  be  granted,  and  a  char- 
ter be  sealed  to  assure  their  rights.  They  would  be  allow- 
ed to  elect  their  own  magistrates,  upon  condition  that  these 
should  be  annually  presented  to  the  director  and  council 
to  be  confirmed  and  sworn.  They  might  establish  their 
own  courts,  and  make  such  laws  as  they  pleased,  which,  if 
found  "to  concur  with  the  holy  Scriptures,"  would  be  con- 
firmed by  the  provincial  government.  In  convictions  upon 
confession,  capital  sentences  might  be  executed  without 
appeal ;  in  "  dark  and  dubious"  cases,  such  as  witchcraft, 
the  consent  of  the  director  and  council  must  be  first  ob- 
tained. In  civil  matters,  an  appeal  was  to  be  allowed  only 
in  cases  exceeding  one  hundred  pounds  Flemish ;  and  new 
settlers  were  to  be  admitted  only  with  the  consent  of  the 
local  magistrates,  and  upon  their  swearing  allegiance  to 
the  provincial  government.  But  fresh  elements  of  discord 
had  by  this  time  sprung  up  between  Connecticut  and  New 
Offers  not  Ncthcrland  ;  and  it  does  not  appear  that  the  Puritans, 
(iccepte  yyYio,  instead  of  being  "  obstructed  by  the  then  ruling 
Dutch,"  had  been  granted  all  they  could  fairly  ask,  ever 
availed  themselves  of  the  liberal  concessions  of  the  pro- 
vincial government.* 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  415,  416  ;  xxi.,  231-237  ;  Denton's  N.  Y. ;   Bancroft,  ii.,  317  ;  O'Cali.. 


PETER  STU  YVES  ANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  709 

Rejoicing  in  their  newly-acquired  patent,  the  General  chap,  xx 
Court  at  Hartford  had  lost  no  time  in  extendina;  their  iu- 
risdiction  over  the  adjoining  territory.     New  Haven,  how-  conntcu- 
ever,  feeling  wronged,  bore  testimony  "against  the  great ^"\^"^,^. 
sin  of  Connecticut  in  acting  so  contrary  to  righteousness,  ^"^"^ 
amity,  and  peace,"  and  poured  out  her  griefs  in  a  long  let-  /^  May. 
ter  to  the  Hartford  court.     While  New  Haven  protested, 
the  inhabitants  of  "West  Chester  were  placed  in  an  embar- 
rassing dilemma.     Stuyvesant,  observing  that  they  had  not  9  May. 
made  their  usual  annual  nomination  of  officers,  dispatched 
Waldron  to  inquire  into  the  cause  and  summon  the  magis- 
trates to  New  Amsterdam.     On  reaching  the  capital,  the  12  May. 

West  Ches- 

West  Chester  magistrates  were  interrogated;  and,  upon  ter  submitsi 
acknowledging  their  error,  they  were  discharged,  and  sentuutcn. 
back  with  a  letter  forbidding  the  people  to  send  delegates  to 
Hartford,  and  directing  them  to  submit  their  nominations 
for  officers.     Mills,  the  ringleader,  was,  however,  detained 
in  prison ;  and  the  next  week  the  West  Chester  settlers  sent 
in  their  nominations,  out  of  which  three  persons  were  se-  24  May. 
lected  and  confirmed  as  magistrates.    Upon  this.  Mills  was 
discharged.     The  Connecticut  council,  presently  appointed 
Captain  John  Talcott  to  go  down  to  West  Chester,  and  ad-  20  Juiy 
minister  the  oath  of  a  constable  "unto  him  whom  the  inhab- 
itants shall  desire  and  choose  to  that  service,  if  he  approves 
of  the  person."    Repairing  thither,  with  sixteen  or  eighteen  .Turisdic- 
armed  men,  Talcott  declared  that  the  inhabitants  were  ab-  nectiijifii' 
solved  from  their  allegiance  to  the  Dutch  government ;  sum- 
marily dismissed  the  old  magistrates,  and  appointed  others 
in  their  places.     Thus  Connecticut  enforced  her  claim  to 
West  Chester,  and,  at  the  point  of  the  sword,  affected  "to 
lead  the  inhabitants  to  the  choice  of  their  officers."* 

Early  this  year,  .a  severe  shock  of  an  earthquake  was  Earth 
felt  throughout  New  Netherland,  New  England,  Acadia, 
and  Canada.     This  was  followed  by  a  great  freshet,  which 
inundated  the  country  and  destroyed  the  harvests  around 

ii.,  448,  449  ;  Wliilcliead's  East  .Terscy,  22,  40,  181-163  ;  ante,  p.  068,  696.    It  would  seem, 

however,  that  some  of  these  persons  afterward  founded  Elizabethtown,  in  New  Jersey. 

*  Alb.  Rec.,  xxi.,  60,  93-95,  Ki.l,  141,  143  ;  Aitzema,  Iv.,  112  ;  Col.  Rcc.  Conn.,  403, 405, 

406;  Trumbull,  i.,  254-257,  51T-5U0;  O'Call.,  ii.,456;  Bolton's  West  Chester,  ii.,  164-109. 


710        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XX.  Fort  Orange.  The  small-pox  also  broke  out,  and  spread 
with  fatal  rapidity  among  Europeans  and  savages.  At 
Small-pox  Beverwyck,  twelve  of  its  slender  population  died  in  one 
wvxr'"^"  week ;  and  a  thousand  victims  perished  among  the  five  Iro- 
quois tribes.  The  court  at  Hartford,  "  understanding  that 
21  March,  the  hand  of  Grod  is  gone  out  against  the  people  at  New 
course  reg- Netherland  by  pestilential  infections,"  prohibited  all  per- 

ulations  of  ■         c  i  ij.it  i     r 

connecti-  SOUS,  commg  h'om  any  places  where  the  disease  raged,  from 
entering  the  colony  ;  and  masters  of  vessels  arriving  from 
infected  places  were  forbidden  to  land  any  persons  or  goods 
in  any  harbor  of  Connecticut.     This  order,  however,  was 

24  May.     repealed  about  two  months  afterward.* 

Three  years  had  now  passed  away  since  peace  had  been 

Affairs  at    covcnantcd  at  Esopus,  "under  the  blue  sky  of  heaven," 

or  Wild-  between  the  Dutch  and  the  savages.  Industry  had  grad- 
ually repaired  the  losses  of  war,  and  numerous  settlers,  at- 
tracted by  its  pleasant  situation,  had  flocked  to  Wiltwyck 
or  Wildwyck.  Domine  Blom  had  continued  his  ministra- 
tions with  success,  and  the  church  had  increased  from  six- 
teen to  sixty  members,  "  so  that  this  newly-rising  com- 
munity began  to  grow  and  to  bloom  right  worthily."     A 

New  vii-    new  village  was  laid  out  in  the  "  Grreat  Plot"  for  the  rap- 
lagc.  °  .  .  ^ 

idly  augmenting  population.     Most  of  the  soldiers  who  had 

garrisoned  the  first  settlement  had  been  withdrawn,  and 
"Ronduit,"  only  a  sergeant's  guard  was  maintained  at  the  "Ronduit" 
or  Redoubt,  which  had  been  erected  a  few  miles  off,  on  the 
Kill,  near  its  mouth.  Yet  the  red  men,  who  remembered 
their  brethren  whom  Stuyvesant  had  exiled  to  Curacoa, 
liked  not  the  "  new  fort,"  which  marked  the  progress  of  the 
whites  ;  and  muttered  threats  foreboded  a  new  outbreak 
of  the  Indians,  who,  in  spite  of  all  proclamations,  were  now 
supplied  more  freely  than  ever  before  with  the  "fire-water" 
and  the  fire-arms  of  their  European  neighbors.  The  tem- 
per of  the  savages  had  been  reported  to  Stuyvesant,  who 
5.iuiie.  sent  word  that  he  would  soon  visit  Esopus.  The  sachems 
replied,  that  if  he  came  to  renew  the  peace,  he  should  come 

*  Alb.  Rec,  vi.,  409,  428;  Relation,  1662-3,  6-18  ;  1664-5,  92;  Charlevoix,  i.,  363-399   • 
Renss.  MSS. ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  483  ;  Col.  Rec.  Conn.,  398,  402. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  71] 

anarraed,  and  "sit  with  them  in  the  open  field  outside  the  chap,  xx 
gate,  according  to  their  custom."  ~UT^ 

In  fancied  security  most  of  the  villagers  went  forth  to 
work  in  their  fields.     About  noon-tide,  bands  of  savages, :  June. 

WiltwytU 

entering  all  the  gates,  scattered  themselves  about,  and,  "  un-  and  the 


new  village 


der  the  guise  of  friendship,"  offered  corn  and  beans  for  sale  surpriseii" 
at  the  quiet  cottage  doors.  In  a  few  minutes  mounted 
horsemen  dashed  through  "  the  mill-gate,"  announcing  that 
the  Indians  had  destroyed  the  new  village.  The  work  of 
death  went  on ;  houses  were  plundered  and  fired ;  women 
and  children  were  hurried  as  prisoners  outside  the  gates ; 
and  the  alarmed  husbandmen,  rushing  toward  their  blaz- 
ing dwellings,  were  shot  down  by  foes  concealed  within 
their  own  doors.      Rallied   at  last  by  Swartwout,  their  The  sav 

ages  re- 

schout.  Captain  Chambers,  and  Domine  Blom,  the  few  men  puised 
at  home  secured  the  gates,  cleared  the  gun,  and  drove  the 
savages  out  of  the  village.  By  evening  all  was  still  again ; 
sixty-nine  efficient  men  were  mustered ;  the  palisades  were 
replaced ;  and  during  the  night  the  bereaved  inhabitants 
kept  mournful  watch.  "  The  burned  bodies  were  most 
frightful  to  behold."  Twenty-one  lives  were  lost;  nine 
were  wounded ;  and  forty-five,  chiefly  women  and  children, 
were  carried  off"  captives.  Twelve  houses  were  burned  in 
AViltwyck,  and  the  new  village  was  almost  annihilated.* 

Intelligence  of  the  calamity  was  quickly  sent  from  Ron-  lo  June 
duit  to  New  Amsterdam ;  and  Stuyvesant  dispatched  Coun- 
selor De  Decker  to  Fort  Orange,  to  raise  a  loan,  engage  vol- 
unteers, and  enlist  the  Mohawks  and  Senecas.     The  lat- 
ter,  however,  were  already  at  war  with  the  Minquas  ;  and  12  .lune. 
when  the  news  from  Wiltwyck  reached  Beverwyck,  the  Bever- 
whole  neighborhood  was  seized  with  panic.     The  farmers 
fled  to  the  patroon's  new  fort  "Cralo,"  at  Greenbush;  theFoncraio 
plank  fence  which  inclosed  Beverwyck,  and  the  three  guns 
mounted  on  the  church,  were  put  in  order ;  and  Fort  Or- 
ange, with  its  nine  pieces  of  artillery,  was  prepared  against 
an  attack. 

*  Alb.  Rec,  xvi.,  148-199;  xviii.,  193;   xx.,  113-120,  352 ;   xxi.,  87  ;   Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y., 
iii.,  962  ;  iv.,  39-44  ;  ante,  p.  76,  678,  690  ;  note  H,  Appendix. 


?12  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

HA»  XX  A  re-enforcement  of  forty-two  men,  under  the  command 
of  Ensign  Christiaen  Niessen,  was  immediately  sent  from 
Fort  Amsterdam  to  Wiltwyck  ;  and  the  inhabitants  of  the 
metropolis  and  of  the  surrounding  villages  were  offered 


1663. 

Re-enforce- 
ments sent 
from  New 

daT.'"'     large  rewards  if  they  would  enlist.     The  chief  men  in  the 
19  June.     English  settlements  on  Long  Island  discouraged  the  rais- 
ing of  volunteers,  and  few  were  obtained  there  ;  but  a  con- 
siderable force  was  collected  in  New  Amsterdam,  and  for- 
ty-six "Marseping"  savages  from  Fort  Neck  were  engaged 
26  June,     as  auxiliaries.     The  command  in  chief  was  intrusted  to 
expe^dition.  Burgomastcr  Martin  Kregier  as  captain  lieutenant,  under 
whom  were  Schepen  Van  Cou\venhoven,  Lieutenant  Nich- 
olas Stillwell,  and  Sergeant  Pieter  Ebel. 
4  July.  The  expedition,  sailing  in  two  yachts,  soon  landed  at  the 

Rendu  it,  and  marched  up  to  Wiltwyck.     Guarded  w^agons 
conveyed  abundant  supplies  to  the  village,  where  a  "coun- 
cil of  war"  was  established ;  and  scouting  parties  were  sont 
up  the  river  to  surprise  some  of  the  savages  who  lurked  be- 
15  July,      hind  Magdalen  Island.     In  a  few  days  De  Decker  arrived 
from  Fort  Orange  with  five  Mohawks,  by  whose  mediation 
some  of  the  Dutch  captives  were  recovered.     The  Esopus 
savages,  however,  would  not  release  the  rest  of  their  pris- 
oners, unless  "  Corlaer  and  Rensselaer"  should  bring  them 
Fort  at      presents,  and  make  a  peace  within  ten  days,  at  their  fort 
gunk.        upon  the  Shawangunk  Kill,  in  the  present  town  of  Shaw- 
angunk,  about  thirty  miles  southwest  of  Wiltwyck.     It 
26  July,      was,  therefore,  determined  to  attack  them ;  and  Kregier 
the  Esopus  set  out  with  a  force  of  two  hundred  and  ten  men,  two  pieces 
of  cannon,  and  two  wagons,  guided  by  Rachel  la  Montague, 
wife  of  Surgeon  Grysbert  van  Imbroeck,  who  had  been  tak- 
en prisoner  on  the  seventh  of  June,  and  had  escaped.    Aft- 
er hauling  the  wagons  and  cannon  over  many  hills,  and 
crossing  many  streams  upon  bridges  made  of  trees  which 
s-T  Jul)       they  cut  down,  the  expedition  arrived  near  the  fort,  \vhich 
Couwenhoven,  Avith  one  hundred  and  sixteen  men,  was 
sent  forward  to  surprise.     Coming  up  with  his  party,  Kre- 
gier found  his  friends  in  possession,  as  the  savages,  two 
days  before,  had  fled  with  their  prisoners  to  the  mountains. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  713 

The  fort  contained  several  strongly-built  houses,  and  was  chap.  xx. 
inclosed  by  three  rows  of  palisades.     Here  the  expedition 
remained  overnight.     At  dawn  of  the  next  morning,  Cou-  29  ju],,.  " 
wenhoven  was  dispatched  with  one  hundred  and  forty  men, 
and  a  captured  squaw  as  a  guide,  to  a  high  mountain  sev- 
eral miles  off;  but  no  Indians  were  there.     As  it  was  use- 
less to  continue  the  pursuit  of  their  subtile  enemies,  the 
expedition  destroyed  the  corn  of  the  savages,  burned  their  31  juiy. 
fort  and  houses,  and,  after  a  long  day's  march,  returned  in  destroyed, 
safety  to  Wiltwyck. 

Unsuccessful  efforts  were  made,  through  the  mediation  unsuccess- 
of  the  Wappingers,  to  obtain  the  release  of  the  Christian  tion  of  the 
captives;  and  the  Esopus  savages  having  built  a  new  fortgers. 
"about  four  hours"  further  off,  another  expedition  was  or- so  August 
dered.     Heavy  rains  delayed  the  forces  several  days ;  but 
at  length,  Kregier  set  out  with  fifty-five  men,  guided  by  a  3  sept. 
young  Wappinger.     After  a  toilsome  march  of  two  days, 
they  reached  the  new  fort,  about  thirty-six  miles  south  5  Sept. 
southwest  of  Wiltwyck,  and  probably  in  the  present  town 
of  Mamakating,  in  the  county  of  Sullivan.     Taken  by  sur-  New  eso 
prise,  the  savages  retreated  across  the  Shawangunk  Kill ;  surprised 
and  the  Dutch  having  slain  Papequanaehen  their  chief,  and 
fourteen  warriors,  besides  several  women  and  children,  re- 
mained conquerors,  with  the  loss  of  three  killed  and  six 
wounded.     Thirteen  prisoners  were  taken,  and  twenty- 
three  Christian  captives  recovered.     Spoil  enough  "  well  to 
fill  a  sloop"  was  destroyed  ;  several  guns  and  a  quantity 
of  ammunition  were  seized  ;  and  the  victorious  expedition 
returned  to  Wiltwyck  with  the  rescued  captives  and  the  7  Sept. 
Indian  prisoners,  one  of  whom,  refusing  to  proceed,  was 
dispatched  on  the  way. 

The  enemy  was  now  nearly  crushed  ;  yet  detachments 
were  prudently  ordered  to  guard  the  Dutch  reapers  in  their 
fields.     Even  the  peaceful  Katskill  savages  were  suspect- 
ed ;  and  a  party  was  sent  about  nine  miles  from  the  fort,  24  sept- 
to  a  maize  plantation  on  the  "  Sager's  Kill."     No  Indians,  tolhe ^^sl 
however,  were  found ;  but  some  corn  was  secured,  and  the  ^'^^^ 
party  reported  that  "  it  is  a  beautiful  maize  land,  suitable 


714        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

CHiLP.  XX.  for  a  number  of  bouweries."     This  report  is  confirmed  at 
the  present  day  by  the  flourishing  farmers  of  Ulster.* 
The  council  of  war  now  resolved  to  dispatch  a  third  ex- 
1  October,  pedition  against  the  Esopus  savages ;  and  one  hundred  and 
pedition     fifty-four  soldicrs  and  Long  Island  Indians  marched  from 
Esopus  In-  Wiltwyck,     The  next  afternoon  they  came  to  the  scene 
of  their  recent  victory,  where  all  was  now  desolation.    Sev- 
eral pits  had  been  filled  with  dead  Indians ;  the  unburied 
corpses  of  others  lay  around.     Parties  were  sent  into  the 
neighboring  woods,  but  no  savages  were  seen.     They  had 
fled  southward  among  the   Minnisincks.     The  fort  and 

4  October,  wjgwams  wcre  burned ;  the  maize  was  destroyed ;  and  the 

5  October,  expedition  returned  in  safety,  after  a  fatiguing  march 

through  an  incessant  rain. 

Tranquillity  being  restored,  Couwenhoven  was  sent  back 

to  New  Amsterdam,  with  several  of  the  soldiers  and  the 

9  October.  Loug  Islaud  auxiliaries  ;  and  Wiltwyck,  which  now  con- 

Wiltwyck         .  .  . 

palisaded    talucd  thirty-four  occupied  lots,  was  palisaded  anew,  "  from 


anew. 


the  water-gate,  along  the  curtains,  unto  the  lot  of  Arent 
Pietersen  Tack."    After  making  arrangements  with  a  Wap- 
pinger  sachem  for  an  exchange  of  prisoners,  Kregier,  leav- 
ing the  post  in  charge  of  Ensign  Niessen,  with  a  garrison 
17  Nov.      of  sixty  soldiers,  paid  a  short  visit  to  the  capital.     On  his 
22  Dec      return,  he  found  that  some  of  the  captives  had  been  re- 
stored, and  the  release  of  the  remainder  been  promised. 
24  Dec.      Swartwout's  conduct,  however,  having  displeased  Stuy ve- 
discharged.  saut,  hc  was  discharged  from  his  office  of  schout  of  Wilt- 
wyck ;  and  Matthys  Capito,  the  secretary  of  the  village 
court,  was  installed,  provisionally,  in  his  place.t 
8  Feb.  Negotiations  had  meanwhile  been  going  on  between  the 

Company'  West  India  directors  and  the  burgomasters  of  Amsterdam, 
soum  nfy.  which  resulted  in  the  surrender  to  the  city  of  all  the  com- 
city  of  Am-  pany's  territory  on  the  South  River,  upon  condition  that  the 
rights  of  the  colonists  should  be  respected ;  sufficient  garri- 

*  The  "  Sager's  Kill"  is  now  known  as  the  Esopus  Creek,  which,  running  northeaster- 
ly from  Kingston,  empties  into  the  river  at  Saugerties.  The  "  Sager's  Killetje,"  or  Little 
Kill,  crosses  the  road,  and  empties  into  the  river  about  a  mile  north  of  Saugerties. 

t  Alb.  Rec,  vi.,  388,  415  ;  xii.,  331  ;  xvi.,  171-270  ;  xviii.,  248  ;  sx.,  313,  356  ,  xxi.,  129- 
1*1.203-208,249,261,294,313;  New  Amst.  Rec,  v.,  248-257  ;  IIol.  Doc.xii.,  347  ,  Renss 
MSS. :  O'Call.,  ii.,  473-4S2;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii..  964  ;  iv.,  41-98;  Hoi.  Merc.  1664,  p  11 


PETER  STU  k^VESAXT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  7x5 

sons  Le  maintained ;  the  space  of  a  mile  be  cleared  and  set-  ciup.  xx 
tied,  and  four  hundred  emigrants  be  sent  out  every  year ; 
and  that  the  city  should  never  sell  or  dispose  of  any  part, 
upon  pain  of  forfeiting  the  whole  of  their  privileges.     The 
commissaries  of  the  city  colony  in  an  able  report  set  forth  10  March, 
the  commercial  advantages  which  New  Netherland  would  the  cny-s 


comuiissa- 


enjoy  if  sufficiently  peopled.  Its  trade  with  tlie  AVest  In-  nes. 
dies  and  the  neighboring  English  colonies  now  employed 
two  hundred  vessels  annually.  The  English  near  the  South 
River  had  shown  themselves  well  disposed ;  and  even  if 
their  own  government  should  enforce  the  Navigation  Act, 
they  would  still  "open  a  small  door"  by  which  the  Dutch 
might  trade  with  them  overland.  To  foster  the  colony  on 
the  South  River  would  be  the  wisest  expenditure  of  the 
city's  funds.  Holland  was  crowded  with  refugee  Hugue- 
nots, "Waldenses,  Norwegians,  and  Grermans ;  and  many  of 
a  better  class  from  Rochelle  were  desirous  to  emigi-ate  to 
New  Netherland  at  their  own  expense.  All  that  these  col- 
onists desired  was  to  be  protected  from  the  savages  for  a 
few  years  in  their  new  home.  This  report  was  received 
with  favor  by  the  burgomasters  of  Amsterdam,  and  large  le  March. 
sums  were  appropriated  for  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  the 
work  of  colonization. 

These  views  were  warmly  supported  by  Hinoyossa,  who  25  June, 
arrived  not  long  afterward.     He  represented  the  Maryland  sa's  repre- 
authorities,  with  whom  he  had  communicated,  as  anxious 
to  promote  intercolonial  commerce ;  that  the  Swedes,  Finns, 
and  others  had  already  one  hundred  and  ten  plantations, 
and  thousands  of  cattle   and  swine,  besides  horses   and 
sheep ;  that  the  city  had  already  two  or  three  breweries, 
and  more  were  wanted  to  supply  the  English  with  beer, 
who,  in  return,  could  furnish  a  thousand  tubs  of  tobacco  a 
year  ;  and  that  ten  thousand  furs  and  other  articles  could 
be  annually  procured  from  the  Indians  and  exported  from 
the  colony.     These  representations  had  their  effect.     Thei4Jniy. 
next  month,  Hinoyossa  set  sail  for  the  South  River,  with  iiinoyossa 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  colonists,  and  arrangements 
were  made  to  dispatch  another  ship. 


716  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XX.      Tlie  directors,  on  their  part,  informed  Stuy  vesant  of  their 
;     proceedings,  and  ordered  him  to  transfer  to  the  .city's  agent 
11  Sept      ^11 1^^®  company's  possessions  on  the  South  River,  as  stip- 
the"w°[    ulated  in  the  articles  of  agreement.     In  a  subsequent  dis- 
^°gPp">'-  patch  they  explained  in  detail  that,  by  this  step,  they  hoped 
ftmatonsto  sccure  the  South  River  more  effectually  "from  the  en- 
sant."^''^   croachments  of  our  English  neighbors  at  the  South,  of  whom 
nothing  more  favorable  can  be  expected  than  from  those 
of  the  North,  who,  notwithstanding  the  alliance  between 
the  crown  of  England  and  this  republic,  are  continuing 
their  usurpations."     "  It  appears,  too,  that  this  city  is  will- 
ing to  fulfill  her  engagements  ;  while  she,  since  that  event, 
not  only  with  more  zeal,  but  with  more  vigor,  exerts  her- 
self in  watching  her  own  interests  in  that  distance,  having 
resolved  to  transport  to  that  country  annually  four  hundred 
colonists  and  other  useful  husbandmen,  if  a  larger  number 
is  not  obtained,  which  must  contribute  to  our  security 
against  the  English  North.     We  may  expect,  besides  this, 
a  more  powerful  intercession  of  this  city  with  our  govern- 
ment, to  obtain  from  the  crown  of  England  the  final  set- 
tlement of  the  long-desired  boundaries,  for  which  we  shall 
leave  nothing  undone,  and  communicate  the  result.    Mean- 
while, we  renew  our  recommendation  to  maintain  yourself 
in  possession  of  the  territory  which  has  been  allotted  to  us 
by  the  provisional  treaty,  and  to  resist  all  new  encroach- 
10  October,  mcuts  of  our  English  neighbors."     Rumors  soon  afterward 

Precau-  . 

tions         reaching  Holland  that  the  Swedish  government  was  equip- 

swedes.     ping  two  frigatcs  to  retake  New  Sweden,  Stuyvesant  was 

admonished  to  be  on  his  guard,  and  directed  not  to  remove 

the  company's  artillery  from  Fort  Altona.* 

May.  In  the  mean  time,  the  war  between  the  Senecas  and  the 

troubles  on  Mluquas  had  produced  great  alarm  at  New  Amstel.     A 

iiiver.    *   body  of  eight  hundred  Senecas  attacked  the  Minqua  fort, 

but  they  were  put  to  flight  and  pursued  northward  for  two 

days.     This  only  produced  fresh  rumors  of  war,  and  the 

Mohawks  were  reported  to  be  preparing  to  assist  the  Sen- 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  415,  431,  437,  444,  447  ;  viii.,  352-363;  xvii.,  309-311  ;  Hd   Dec  ,  xr^ 
52-67,  81-85,  01-108  ;  ante,  p.  700. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  717 

ecas ;  while  the  Esopus  Indians,  after  the  destruction  of  chap.  xx. 
their  fort  at  Shawangunk,  were  said  to  have  encamped 
among  their  friends,  the  Minnisincks,  at  the  head  of  the 
South  River.     News  now  came  that  the  heir  of  Lord  Bal- 
timore was  about  to  visit  Altona  ;  and  Beeckman,  finding  24  juiy. 
that  "here  on  the  river  not  a  single  draught  of  French  wine 
is  obtainable,"  requested  Stuyvesant  to   send  him  some 
from  Manhattan,  "  to  treat  the  nobleman  with."     The  next  9  August. 
month.  Lord  Baltimore's  son,  Charles  Calvert,  came  to  New  its  New 

i  1    A  1  •        f  •  Amstel  and 

Amstel  and  Altona  with  a  suit  of  twenty-six  or  twenty-sev-  AUona. 
en  persons.  Beeckman  entertained  him,  not  as  a  proprie- 
tary, but  as  a  guest ;  and  their  intercourse  was  pleasant 
and  harmonious.  In  conjunction  with  Van  Sweringen,  the  12  August. 
schout  of  New  Amstel,  Calvert  renewed  the  treaty  with 
the  savages ;  but  when  it  was  proposed  to  define  the  lim- 
its of  the  two  colonies,  he  replied  that  he  would  communi- 
cate with  Lord  Baltimore.  The  young  nobleman  took 
leave  of  his  Dutch  hosts  in  all  good  feeling ;  and  propos- 
ing to  visit  Boston  the  next  spring,  by  way  of  Manhattan, 
he  desired  Beeckman  to  convey  his  thanks  to  Stuyvesant 
for  his  "  offer  of  convoy  and  horses." 

Not  long  afterward,  Hinoyossa  arrived  from  Holland ;  3  Dec. 
and  Beeckman,  in  obedience  to  the  company's  orders,  im-  returns 
mediately  recognized  him  as  chief  of  the  Dutch  on  the  land. 
South  River.     In  a  few  days,  Stuyvesant  executed  a  form- 
al act,  ceding  to  Hinoyossa,  as  the  representative  of  the  22  Dec. 
burgomasters  of  Amsterdam,  "the  South  River  from  the  surrenders 

,  -.  1      •        T  f  11       '^8  South 

sea  upward  so  far  as  that  river  extends  itself,  toward  the  River  10 
country  on  the  east  side,  three  miles  from  the  borders  of 
the  river,  and  toward  the  west  side  so  far  as  the  country 
extends,  until  it  reaches  the  English  colonies."  The  city's 
director  organized  his  government ;  made  arrangements 
for  the  superintendence  of  the  fur  trade  at  New  Amstel, 
Passayunk,  and  the  Horekill ;  and  chose,  for  his  own  res- 
idence, a  spot  on  the  Apoquinimy  Creek,  just  below  New 
Amstel,  where  he  proposed  to  build  the  metropolis,  and 
promote  commerce  with  the  English  in  Maryland  and 
Virginia.      And  Beeckman,  now  shorn  of  authority,  ap- 


718  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YOKlv. 

CHAf  XX  pealed  to  Stuyvesant  for  some  official  employment  under 
the  Provincial  government,  on  the  North  River.* 

Meanwhile,  the  West  India  directors,  mistrusting  "Win- 
throp,  with  whom  they  had  conversed  at  Amsterdam,  had 
instructed  Stuyvesant  to  "explore  his  mind,"  and  effect,  if 
6  Sept.      possible,  a  definitive  settlement  with  Connecticut.    The  di- 
visits  Bos-  rector  accordingly  visited  Boston,  to  meet  the  commission- 
ers of  the  United  Colonies.     Appearing  hefore  them,  he 
19  Sept.     complained  of  the  non-observance  of  the  Hartford  treaty, 
tion  w'ft'h    particularly  with  respect  to  West  Chester,  and  demanded 
commis-    whether  they  considered  it  still  in  force.     Winthrop  and 


sioners. 


Talcott,  the  commissioners  for  Connecticut,  asked  a  respite 
of  the  question  until  the  next  year.  The  other  commission- 
ers declared  that,  saving  their  allegiance  to  the  king,  and 
his  majesty's  claim,  and  the  rights  of  Connecticut  under 
her  late  charter,  they  held  the  Hartford  treaty  binding,  and 
would  not  countenance  its  violation.  At  the  same  time, 
they  advised  that  the  case  should  be  fully  heard  at  the  next 
annual  meeting ;  and  that,  in  the  mean  time,  "all  things 
may  remain  and  be  according  to  the  true  intent  and  mean- 
ing of  the  aforesaid  articles  of  agreement."  This  evasive 
reply,  which  practically  gave  Connecticut  all  that  she  re- 
quired, a  year's  delay,  was  a  severe  mortification  to  the 

21  Sept.  Dutch  director.  He  replied  that  the  postponement  asked 
was  "frivolous;"  yet,  holding  the  Hartford  treaty  binding, 
he  offered  to  submit  all  questions  in  dispute  to  "  any  im- 
partial committee  not  concerned  in  either  right."    But  the 

23  Sept  commissioners  were  inexorable  ;  and  Stuyvesant,  finding 
their  "demands  so  great  and  heavy,"  proposed  to  refer  " the 
matters  unsettled  to  both  superiors ;"  and  that,  in  the  mean 
time,  there  should  be  a  free  intercolonial  trade  in  the  prod- 
ucts of  the  colonies,  and  a  "  neighborly  confederacy  and 
union  against  so  great  multitude  of  barbarous  Indians  as 
the  Christian  people  of  both  nations  are  dispersed  among." 

li  Sept      The  commissioners  rejoined  that  they  would  willingly  see 

*  Alb.  Rec,  xvii.,  27&-298,  309-311,  317,  318;  xxi.,  443^45;  xxiv.,286;  Acrelius,  423- 
425;  Chalmers,  361,  634;  Smith's  N.  Y.,  i.,  13;  Bancroft,  ii.,  309;  O'Call.,  ii.,  470-472; 
S.  Hazard,  Ann.  Penn.,  343-356.  Hudde,  the  former  commissary  on  the  South  River,  died 
at  Apoquinimy,  on  his  way  to  Maryland,  on  the  4th  of  November,  1663. 


PETER  STU  YVES  ANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  719- 

a  •'  correspondency  in  traffic,"  not  contrary  to  the  late  Act  chap.  xx 
of  Parliament,  and  would  submit  to  their  respective  gov- 
ernments  the  proposition  for  a  general  union  against  the  unsatisfac- 
savages.*     Thus  ended  the  last  conference  between  Stuy-  o7stuyt"-' 
vesant  and  the  commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies.         sam's  visit. 

On  his  return  to  New  Amsterdam,  the  baffled  director 
found  that  fresh  difficulties  had  occurred.    After  executing  Difficulties 
his  commission  in  West  Chester,  Talcott  had  crossed  over  island. 
to  Long  Island,  and  through  his  agent,  James  Christie,  had 
announced  to  the  people  of  Gravesend,  Heemstede,  Flush- 
ing, and  Jamaica,  that  they  were  now  under  Connecticut, 
and  no  longer  subject  to  New  Netherland.     Christie,  how-  23  Sept. 
ever,  was  promptly  arrested  by  Stillwell,  the  sheriff  of  rested  at 
Grravesend,  and  sent  a  prisoner  to  New  Amsterdam.     This 
exasperated  the  villagers,  and  a  mob  searched  the  dwelling 
of  the  obnoxious  officer.     Finding  that  he  had  escaped  to 
New  Amsterdam,  they  wrote  to  the  council  accusing  him  ye  sept. 
of  having  caused  the  hubbub ;  and  the  people  of  Middel- 
burgh,  still  more   excited,  threatened  retaliation  unless 
Christie  should  be  discharged.     But  the  council,  approv- 2:  Sept. 
ing  Stillwell's  conduct,  ordered  all  the  English  villages  to 
arrest  and  send  to  New  Amsterdam  any  seditious  emissa- 
ries.    The  representations  of  the  Connecticut  agent,  how- 
ever, produced  their  effect.     Several  English  inhabitants  29  sei-.t. 
of  Jamaica,  Middelburgh,  and  Heemstede  signed  a  petition  pe^-j-on  of 
to  the   General  Court  at  Hartford,  complaining  of  their  ^"'J*;^^!'' 
"present  bondage,"  and  praying  that  Connecticut  would J°.J;|t°""'^''" 
cast  over  them  "  the  skirts  of  its  government  and  protec- 
tion."    This  petition  was   dispatched  to  Hartford  by  a 
"trusty  messenger,"  Sergeant  Hubbard,  whom  Stuy  vesant 
had  released  from  imprisonment  in  1656,  upon  his  promise 
of  good  behavior.     Besides  submitting  the  petition,  Hub- 
bard demanded  that  the  General  Court  should  take  steps 
to  reduce,  under  their  authority,  the  adj  lining  Dutch  vil- 
lages on  Long  Island.     And  to  prepare  the  way  for  this  Midwout 
change,  an  armed  English  party,  headed  by  Richard  Pan- 

«  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  382,  405,  424;   xii.,  329;   xvui.,  224  ;   xxi.,  287-290 ;   Hazard,  ii.,  479- 
483  ;  Hol.  Merc,  .lai  .  1GC4,  p.  10,  11  ;  a7ite,  p.  700. 


720  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEAV  YORK. 

Chap.  XX.  ton,  threatened  the  people  of  Midwout  with  the  pillage  of 
their  property  if  they  should  refuse  to  take  up  arms  against 
■  the  Dutch  provincial  government. 

Stuyvesant  now  appointed  Secretary  Yan  Ruyven,  Bur- 
i3  October,  gomaster  Van  Cortlandt,  and  John  Lawrence,  a  burgher 
missioners  of  New  Amsterdam,  commissioners  to  the  government  of 
Hartford.    Connecticut.     At  the  same  time,  he  drew  upon  the  com- 
pany for  four  thousand  guilders,  to  meet  the  pressing  ne- 
cessities of  his  government.     But  the  public  credit  had 
fallen  so  low,  that  the  director  could  find  no  one  to  cash 
his  bill  until  he  pledged  four  of  the  brass  guns  of  Fort  Am- 
sterdam as  security  for  the  repayment  of  the  advance.* 
15  October.      The  Dutch  commissioners,  setting  sail  from  Manhattan, 
in  two  days  landed  at  Milford.     Procuring  horses  with 
some  difficulty,  they  rode  on  to  New  Haven,  where  they 

18  October,  lodged.     The  next  day  they  reached  Hartford,  and  found 
tionwith    the  Greneral  Assembly  in  session,  rejoicing  in  the  recent 
Assembly,  rctum  of  Wiuthrop,  their  successful  agent.     The  Assem- 
bly appointed  Allen,  Talcott,  and  Clarke  as  a  committee  of 
conference,  and  a  long  negotiation  followed.     The  Dutch 

19  October,  agents  urged  the  Hartford  treaty,  and  the  recent  advice  of 

the  commissioners  of  the  other  three  New  England  colo- 
nies ;  the  Connecticut  committee  declined  to  yield  to  that 
advice,  and  sheltered  themselves  behind  the  royal  patent. 

21  October.  In  vain  did  "Winthrop  himself  expressly  declare  "that  the 
intent  of  the  patent  was  by  no  means  to  claim  any  right 
to  New  Netherland,  but  that  it  only  comprehended  a  tract 

23  October,  of  land  in  New  England."  The  committee  replied,  "the 
governor  is  but  a  man  alone,"  and  "our  patent  not  only 
takes  in  that,  but  extends  northward  to  the  Boston  line, 
and  westward  to  the  sea."  "  In  case  there  was  another 
royal  patent,  between  where  would  New  Netherland  then 
lie  ?"  demanded  the  Dutch  agents ;  and  the  Connecticut 
committee,  without  hesitation,  answered,  "We  know  of  no 

"No New  New  Netherland,  unless  you  can  show  a  patent  for  it  from 

Nether- 

land."       his  majesty."     This  reply  was  nearly  that  of  Calvert  to 

*  Alb.  Rec,  xxi.,  303-341  ;  Letters  in  Stuyvesant's  time  ;  Aitzema,  iv.,  1121 ;  Hartford 
Rec,  i.,  13,  18  ;  ii.,  6  ;  Col.  Rec.  Conn.,  410 ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  483-487  ;  Riker's  Newtown,  55  , 
ante,  p.  619. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  721 

Heermans  and  Waldron  four  years  before.  The  Dutch  chap.  xx. 
agents  appealed  to  the  charter  of  the  West  India  Com- 
pany,  and  the  approbation  of  the  Hartford  treaty  by  the 
States  Greneral.  "  They  answered,"  is  the  record  of  the 
embassy,  "that  the  charter  is  only  a  charter  of  commerce,* 
and  the  said  settlement  of  the  limits  was  only  conditional : 
if  you  can  not  show  a  special  patent  for  the  land,  it  must 
fall  to  us.  We  said  that  the  right  of  their  High  Mighti- 
nesses was  indisputable,  as  appears  by  the  first  discovery, 
the  purchase  from  the  natives,  the  oldest  possession,  &c. 
They  answered  that  they  would  let  us  keep  as  much  as 
was  actually  possessed  and  occupied  by  our  nation,  but 
that  we  could  not  hinder  them  from  possessing  that  which 
was  not  occupied  by  our  nation." 

The  fruitless  negotiation  ended  with  a  proposition  of  the  Demands 
Hartford  committee  that  West  Chester  and  all  the  territo-  ucu  °""^"* 
ry  eastward  should  belong,  "till  it  be  otherwise  issued,"  to 
Connecticut,  which  would  abstain  from  exercising  author- 
ity over  "  Heemstede,  Jamaica,  &c.,"  provided  the  Dutch 
would  likewise  forbear  to  coerce  "  any  of  the  English  plant- 
ations upon  Long  Island."     This  the  Dutch  agents  deemed 
"wholly  unreasonable;"  but,  by  way  of  concession,  they 
proposed  that  West  Chester  should,  for  the  present,  "  abide  Proposu 
under  Connecticut,"  while  the  disaffected  towns  on  LongDutci" 
Island  should  remain  under  New  Netherland.     Even  this 
was  not  enough  ;  several  of  the  Hartford  men  declared  that 
"  they  knew  of  no  New  Netherland  province,  but  of  a  Dutch 
governor  over  the  Dutch  plantation  on  the  Manhattans,  that 
Long  Island  was  included  in  their  patent,  and  that  they 
would  also  possess  and  maintain  it."     In  the  evening,  the  23  October 
secretary  handed  a  letter  from  the  Assembly,  addressed  to 
Stuyvesant  merely  as  "Director  Greneral  at  the  Mana- Return  or 
dos,"  to  the  mortified  Dutch  agents,  who,  leaving  Hart- agent". ' 
ford  the  next  morning,  after  three  days'  travelling  reached  20  October 
New  Amsterdam. 

More  clearly  to  define  their  position,  the  Greneral  Assem- 

*  The  charter  of  the  West  India  Company  was  certainly  much  more  ample  than  the 
English  alTected  to  consider  it,  for  it  bound  the  directors  to  "advance  the  peopling  of 
those  fruitful  and  unsettled  parts  ;"  see  ante,  p.  135,  136,  666. 

Zz 


722        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XX.  blj  declared  that  "West  Chester  and  Stamford  belonged  to 
Connecticut ;  and  resolved  that  for  the  present  they  would 
Act  ofcon-  " forbear  to  put  forth  any  authority  over  the  English  plant- 
speet^ng'^^'^^^o^^s  ou  the  Westerly  end  of  Long  Island,  provided  the 
t^r^fnd'the'  I^^tch  forbcar  to  exercise  any  coercive  power  toward  them, 
and  ww'ns.  ^'^^  this  court  shall  cease  from  further  attendance  unto 
the  premises,  until  there  be  a  seasonable  return  from  the 
General  Stuyvesant  to  those  propositions  that  his  messen- 
gers carried  with  them,  or  until  there  be  an  issue  of  the 
differences  between  them  and  us."* 

While  Stuyvesant  was  thus  endeavoring  to  stay  the  prog- 
ress of  Connecticut  encroachment,  the  internal  condition 
of  the  Dutch  province  was  becoming  more  and  more  alarm- 
ing. Her  treasury  was  exhausted,  Long  Island  in  revolt, 
and  the  Esopus  war  not  yet  ended.  But  if  New  Nether- 
land  was  too  feeble  successfully  to  resist,  unaided,  her  En- 
glish neighbors,  as  well  as  the  savages,  it  was  not  because 
"the  province  had  no  popular  freedom,  and  therefore  had 
no  public  spirit."  The  hour  of  trial  again  suggested  an 
appeal  to  the  people ;  and  the  municipal  government  of 
22  October,  Ncw  Amsterdam  called  upon  Stuyvesant  to  summon  a 
tion  called  "  Landt's  Vcrgadcringe,"  to  deliberate  on  the  affairs  of  the 
Amster-  couutry.  Lcttcrs  were  accordingly  sent  to  the  neighboring 
villages,  enjoining  each  to  depute  two  delegates  to  a  con- 
vention at  New  Amsterdam.  It  was  too  late  in  the  year  to 
secure  the  attendance  of  deputies  from  Rensselaerswyck, 
Fort  Orange,  or  Esopus.     But  Breuckelen,  Midwout,  Am- 

1  Nov.       ersfoort,  New  Utrecht,  Boswyck,  Bergen,  Haerlem,  and  New 

Amsterdam  were  all  represented.     The  convention  adopt- 

2  Nov.  ed  an  earnest  remonstrance  to  the  Amsterdam  Chamber, 
straJTce'to  in  whicli  tlic  disastrous  situation  of  the  province  was  main- 
dam  Cham-  ly  attributed  to  the  mismanagement  and  supineness  of  the 

authorities  in  Holland.  The  people  of  Connecticut  were 
enforcing  their  unlimited  patent  "  according  to  their  own 
interpretation,"  and  the  total  loss  of  New  Netherland  was 
threatened.     "  The  English,  to  cloak  their  plans,  now  ob- 

*  Alb.  Rec.,xvi.,  292-315;  Hazard,  ii.,  623-633  ;  Aitzema,  v.,  64  ;  Col.  Rec.  Conn.,  410, 
411,  415,  416  ;  Trumbull,  i.,  260  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  467-190  ;  Bancroft,  ii.,  310 ;  Bolton,  ii.,  169 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  723 

ject  that  there  is  no  proof,  no  legal  commission  or  patent  chap.  xx. 
from  their  High  Mightinesses  to  substantiate  and  justify  [ 

our  rights  and  claims  to  the  property  of  this  province,  and 
insinuate  that,  through  the  backwardness  of  their  High 
Mightinesses  to  grant  such  a  patent,  you  apparently  in- 
tended to  place  the  people  here  on  slippery  ice,  giving  them 
lands  to  which  your  honors  had  no  right  whatever ;  that 
this,  too,  is  the  real  cause  of  our  being  continually  kept  in  a 
labyrinth,  and  of  the  well-intentioned  English  settled  under 
your  government  being  at  a  loss  how  to  acquit  themselves 
of  their  oaths."  Stuyvesant  himself  dispatched  this  re-ioNov 
monstrance  to  the  Amsterdam  Chamber,  and  at  the  same  sanfs  dig- 
time  urged  that  the  boundary  question  should  be  settled ; 
that  the  States  Greneral  should  send  letters  to  the  English 
villages  on  Long  Island,  commanding  them  to  return  to 
their  allegiance,  and  to  the  Dutch  villages,  exhorting  them 
to  remain  loyal ;  and,  that  the  objections  of  Connecticut 
might  be  met,  the  original  charter  of  the  West  India  Com- 
pany should  be  solemnly  confirmed  by  a  public  act  of  their 
High  Mightinesses  under  their  great  seal — "which  an  En- 
glishman commonly  dotes  upon  like  an  idol."* 

At  this  very  moment  a  revolution  was  in  progress  on 
Long  Island.     News  soon  reached  the  capital  that  Anthony  9  Nov. 

Njinfics  or 

Waters,  of  Heemstede,  and  John  Coe,  of  Middelburgh,  with  the  Enghsii 
a  force  of  seventy  or  eighty  men,  had  visited  the  English  Long  isi- 
settlements,  changed  the  names  of  several,  proclaimed  the  changed. 
king,  appointed  new  magistrates,  and  threatened  the  Dutch 
villages.     G-ravesend  and  Heemstede  retained  their  old 
names ;   but  Flushing  was  called  "  Newarke ;"  Middel- 
burgh, "  Hastings ;"  Jamaica,  "  Crafford ;"  and  Oyster  Bay, 
"  Folestone."     Stuyvesant,  now  thoroughly  alarmed,  dis- 
patched Fiscal  De  Sille  with  some  soldiers  to  protect  the 
Dutch  villages.     He  also  wrote  to  the  authorities  at  Hart-  is  Nov 
ford,  accepting  their  proposition  respecting  a  mutual  for-  surrVndTr's' 
bearance  of  jurisdiction,  which  the  Dutch  agents  had  de- vvestcLrs, 
clincd.     By  this  step  the  director  virtually  surrendered  to 

*  New  Amst.  Rec,  v.,  333-353  ;  Alb.  Rec,  xxi.,  351-376  ;  IIol.  Doc,  xii.,  201,  3-lC,  363  , 
Uol.  Merc,  Jan.,  10C4,  p.  10,  II  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  490-494  ;  Bancroft,  ii.,  311. 


724        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap  XX.  Connecticut  West  Chester  and  the  EnjTlish  villas^es  on 

Long  Island.     These  villages  had  grown  rapidly ;  and  at 

Meeting.    Jamaica  a  "meeting-house,"  twenty-six  feet  square,  was 

Jamaica'     built  this  year,  in  which  Zachariah  "Walker,  who  had  been 

educated  in  the  college  at  Cambridge,  but  had  not  been 

ordained,  preached  for  some  time. 

The  next  month,  some  twenty  Englishmen  from  Graves- 
end,  Flushing,  and  Jamaica,  went  secretly  in  a  sloop  to  the 
English     Raritan  River,  for  the  purpose  of  buying  land  from  the  Nev- 
^aruan.  ^  csiucks  and  Raritans.     As  the  Dutch  had  already  made 
fiDec.       large    purchases    there,  Stuyvesant    dispatched    Kregier, 
Loockermans,  and  Cortelyou,  with  some  soldiers,  through 
the  "  Kil  van  Kol,"  to  prevent  the  proceedings  of  the  En- 
8  Dec.       glish.    Finding  that  they  had  gone  up  the  Raritan,  "  Hans 
the  Indian"  was  sent  to  warn  the  sachems,  and  arrived  just 
10  Dec.      in  time  to  stop  the  sale.     The  English  now  went  down  the 
bay,  "between  Rensselaer's  Hoeck  and  the  Sandy  Hoeck," 
The  project  whithcr  they  were  followed  by  Kregier,  who  forbade  their 
purchasing  any  land  from  the  savages,  as  the  largest  part 
of  it  already  belonged  to  the  Dutch.     "Ye  are  a  party  of 
traitors,  as  ye  act  against  the  government  of  the  state,"  said 
Loockermans  ;  and  the  English  replied,  "  The  king's  pat- 
ent is  quite  of  another  cast."     The  Dutch  sloop  now  re- 
12  Dec.      turned  to  New  Amsterdam  ;  and  the  next  day,  some  In- 
th'e'^Neve-   diau  sachcms  came  to  the  capital  to  sell  to  the  Dutch  the 
hinds        remainder  of  the  Nevesinck  lands.     A  provisional  agree- 
ment was  soon  made  ;  and  Stuyvesant,  to  ratify  it  on  his 
part,  gave  the  savages  presents  of  blankets  and  frieze  "for 
their  great  chief  Passachynon."* 
•24  June.         In  the  mean  time,  the  English  Privy  Council  had  ad- 
inimic-     dressed  a  circular  letter  to  the  governors  of  the  American 
p?i"vy°^'^^  colonies,  warning  them  against  any  further  contempt  of 
en°fbrce\h8  tlic  law,  wliich  the  statesmen  of  England  generally  esteem- 
llwinihe"  ed  "essential  to  its  power,"  by  trading  "into  foreign  parts, 
from  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  other  plantations,  both  by  sea 
and  land,  as  well  into  the  Monadoes,  and  other  plantations 

*  Alb.  Rec,  Iv.,  444  ;  xviii.,  238,  240  ;  xxi.,  382-385,  418,  431-435 ;  Hoi.  Doc,  xii.,  3t"S, 
Hartford  Rec.  Col.  Bound.,  ii.,  8 ;  Whitehead's  East  Jersey,  22,  177-179  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  4'Ja, 
496  ;  Thompson's  L.  I.,  ii.,  97-101  ;  Riker's  Newtown,  59  ;  ante,  p.  31?  537. 


Planta- 
lior.; 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  79.3 

of  the  Hollanders,  as  into  Spain,  Venice,  and  Holland."  The  chap.  xx. 
possession  of  New  Netherland  by  the  Dutch  was,  in  truth,       77;^ 
the  main  obstacle  to  the  enforcement  of  the  restrictive  co-         '-'■ 
lonial  policy  of  England  ;  and  the  attention  of  the  Plant- 
ation Board  was  accordingly  directed  to  the  situation  of 
the  obnoxious  province. 

The  tidings  of  the  Restoration  had  attracted  over  from 
America  several  prominent  colonists,  among  whom  were 
George  Baxter  and  John  Scott,  who  had  both  been  con- 
cerned in  the  troubles  in  1654.     Recommending  himself 
as  a  zealous  Royalist,  Scott  petitioned  the  king  to  bestow 
upon  him  the  government  of  Long  Island,  of  which  he 
claimed  to  have  "purchased  near  one  third  part,"  or  to  grant 
the  inhabitants  liberty  to  choose  a  governor  and  assistants 
yearly.     This  petition  was  referred  to  the  Council  for  For-  as  June. 
eign  Plantations,  which  had  already  been  ordered  to  con-^''"'^- 
sider  Lord  Stirling's  opposing  claim.    Upon  hearing  Scott's  scmi's 
complaint,  "  that  the  Dutch  have  of  late  years  unjustly  in-  to  the 
truded  upon  and  possessed  themselves  of  certain  places  on  Board. 
the  main  land  of  New  England  and  some  islands  adjacent, 
as,  in  particular,  on  the  Manahatoes  and  Long  Island,  being 
the  true  and  undoubted  inheritance  of  his  majesty,"  the 
council,  suspecting  "that  the  good  intention  of  the  late  Act 
of  Navigation  is  in  great  part  frustrated  by  their  practices," 
ordered  Scott,  together  with  Maverick  of  Boston,  and  Bax-  le  .iu:.\ . 
ter,  to  prepare  a  statement  of  the  English  title  ;  of  the  recmir  ,1 
"Dutch  intrusion;"  of  their  "deportment  since,  and  man-M!ivcMck,' 
agement  of  that  possession,  and  of  their  strength,  trade,  and 
government  there ;"  and,  lastly,  "  of  the  means  to  make 
them  acknowledge  and  submit  to  his  majesty's  government, 
or  by  force  to  compel  them  thereunto  or  expulse  them."* 

Returning  to  America,  Scott  brought  out  with  him  the  scott  rp- 
council's  instructions  regarding  the  Navigation  Laws,  and  New  eh 
royal  letters  recommending  him  to  the  New  England  gov- 
ernments.    New  Haven  received  him  with  favor,  and  en- 
deavored to  engage  his  assistance  in  procuring  a  patent  for 

*  Lend.  Doc,  i  ,  110-120  ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  lii.,  43-40  ;  Alb.  Rec,  xviii.,  108 ;  Chalmers, 
242,  200-262 ;  Hutch.  Coll.,  380,  3bl  ;  ante,  p.  671. 


726        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


1663. 


Chap.  XX.  the  lands  they  coveted  upon  the  Delaware,  declaring  that 
in  England  he  had  been  a  good  friend  ot  that  colony.     But 
Scott's  chief  object  now  was  to  promote  his  private  inter- 
est, in  securing  the  ascendency  of  the  English  over  Long 
Island.     He  accordingly  offered  his  services  to  the  govern- 
scott  a       ment  of  Connecticut,  which  appointed  him  a  commissioner 
feiouerat    at  Sctaukct  or  Ashford,  wath  the  powers  of  a  magistrate 
throughout  the  island,  in  conjunction  with  Talcott,  Young, 
and  "Woodhull.     The  oath  of  office  was  administered  by 
Winthrop  ;  and  Scott  earnestly  set  about  the  work  of  free- 
i-|  Dec      ing  those  whom  he  described  to  Under-secretary  William- 
son as  "  inslaved  by  the  Dutch,  their  cruel  and  rapacious 
neighbors."     His  first  business  was  to  arrange  the  difficul- 
ties in  the  English  villages,  which,  by  Stuyvesant's  accept- 
ance of  the  terms  offered  at  Hartford,  were  no  longer  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  New  Netherland.     These  villagers,  how- 
ever, were  not  unanimous.     Those  in  favor  of  annexation 
complained  that  they  received  nothing  but  "  if-so-be's  and 
doubtings"  from  Connecticut,  while  the  Baptists,  Mennon- 
ists,  and  Quakers  dreaded  a  Puritan  government.     They, 
^  Dec.     therefore,  invited  Scott  to  "  come  and  settle"  their  troubles. 
1664.       Upon  visiting  them,  Scott  announced  that  the  king  had 
EngifshW  granted  Long  Island  to  the  Duke  of  York,  who  would  soon 
lages.        make  his  intentions   manifest.      Heemstede,  Gravesend, 
4  Jan.        Flushing  or  Newarke,  Middelburgh  or  Hastings,  Jamaica 
tioii'form-  or  Crafford,  and  Oyster  Bay  or  Folestone,  therefore  formed 
Scott  elect-  a  "combination"  to  govern  themselves  independently  of 

cd  Prcsi"  *' 

•ient.  Connecticut,  and  empowered  Scott  "to  act  as  their  Presi- 
dent until  his  Royal  Highness  the  Duke  of  York  or  His 

n  Jan.  Majesty  should  establish  a  government  among  them."  Aft- 
er proclaiming  the  king,  the  new  president,  at  the  head  of 
one  hundred  and  seventy  men,  set  out  to  reduce  the  neigh- 

scott's  con- boring  Dutch  villages.     Coming  to  Breuckelen,  ho  fruit- 

DutL-hvii-  lessly  attempted  to  withdraw  the  inhabitants  from  their 
allegiance,  and  avenged  himself  by  striking  Captain  Kre- 
gier's  little  son,  who  refused  to  take  off  his  hat  to  the  royal 
flag.  Advancing  to  Midwout,  Scott  harangued  the  people 
"like  a  quacksalver."  but  could  not  shake  their  fidelity. 


lages. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  737 

Amersfoort  was  equally  loyal ;  and  New  Utrecht  refused  chap.  xx 
to  recosrnize  the  kinj?,  thouofh  the  English  forces  took  pos- 
session  of  the  block-house,  and  fired  a  royal  salute. 

The  director  immediately  sent  Secretary  Van  Ruyven, 
with  Van  Cortlandt,  Kregier,  and  some  others,  to  Jamaica, 
where  a  conditional  arrangement  was  made  with  Scott,  m  .lan. 
who,  announcing  that  he  would  return  in  the  spring,  warned  ai  arraiig.!- 
the  Dutch  delegates  that  the  Duke  of  York  was  determined  maica. 
to  possess  himself  not  only  of  Long  Island,  but  of  the  whole 
of  New  Netherland.     Disorders,  however,  still  continued ; 
several  Dutch  families  were  obliged  to  abandon  their  dwell- 
ings; and  the  schout  and  magistrates  of  the  "Five  Dutch 27  Feb. 
Towns,"  meeting  at  Midwout,  drew  up  a  spirited  remon-  .strance  ot 
strance  to  the  Amsterdam  Chamber.*  towns. 

Stuy  vesant  now  demanded  the  advice  of  the  council  and 
the  municipal  authorities  of  New  Amsterdam.     The  bur-  8  Feb. 
gomasters  and  schepens  recommended  that  the   capital,  mendations 
which  "is  adorned  with  so  many  noble  buildings,  at  theAmster- 
expense  of  the  good  and  faithful  inhabitants,  principally 
Netherlanders,  that  it  nearly  excels  any  other  place  in 
North  America,"  should  be  completely  fortified,  and  its 
military  force  be  increased,  so  as  to  "  instill  fear  into  any 
envious  neighbors,"  and  protect  the  province,  which  would 
soon  become  "  an  emporium  to  Fatherland."     For  this  pur- 
pose, the  municipal  government  offered  to  appropriate  all 
its  revenue,  and  also  raise  a  loan,  if  the  excise  should  be 
given  up  to  the  city.     This  the  director  and  council  agreed 
to,  upon  condition  that  New  Amsterdam  should  enlist  two 
hundred  militia-men,  and  also  maintain  one  hundred  and 
sixty  regular  soldiers.      In  a  few  days,  a  loan  of  nearly  22  Feb. 
thirty  thousand  guilders  was  subscribed,  at  an  interest  of  raised  for 
ten  per  centum  ;  to  secure  which  sealed  letters  surrender-  the  capirai 
ing  the  excise  were  handed  to  the  burgomasters.     While 
the  city  authorities  thus  took  prompt  measures  for  the  safe- 
ty of  the  metropolis,  they  held  that  the  West  India  Com- 

*  Lend.  Dor.,  i.,  132;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  48  ;  Hazard,  ii.,  498;  Col.  Rec.  Conn., 
Towns  and  Lands,  i.,  21,  25,  30  ;  Alb.  Rec,  xviii.,  237,  242  ;  xx.,  374  ;  xxii.,  68,  69  ;  IIol. 
Doc,  xl.,  253-259  ;  xii.,  303-327  ;  xiii.,  83  ;  Bushwick  Rec,  35-39  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  498-502  ; 
Thompson's  L.  I.,  11.,  321  ;  Hiker's  Newtown,  60 -(32 


728  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XX.  pany,  which,  instead  of  applying  its  revenue  from  Now 
Netherland  to  the  defense  of  the  province,  expended  it  in 
Holland,  was  chiefly  responsible  for  the  disorders  on  Long 
Island. 

Opinions,  however,  differed  respecting  the  course  to  be 
pursued  respecting  "  the  usurper,"  John  Scott.  At  length, 
Stuyvesant,  believing  it  best  to  ratify  the  conditional  ar- 
rangement which  had  been  made  in  January,  went  with  a 
military  escort  to  Heemstede,  where  he  met  the  president 

3  March,    and  deputies  of  the  English  towns.   Burgomaster  Van  Cort- 

Agreement  .         ^  it>i  itit 

between     land,  With  JacoD  Backcr  and  John  Lawrence,  were  appoint- 

Stuyvesant      ,  .      .  '  i  i 

and  Scott  ed  Commissioners  on  the  Dutch  side,  and  Captain  Under- 
bill, with  Daniel  Denton  and  Adam  Mott  on  the  English, 
and  a  formal  agreement  was  concluded.  The  English 
towns  on  Long  Island  were  to  remain,  without  molestation, 
under  the  King  of  England  for  twelve  months,  and  until 
his  majesty  and  the  States  General  should  settle  "  the  whole 
difference  about  the  said  island  and  the  places  adjacent;" 
the  Dutch  towns  were  to  remain  for  the  same  term  under 
the  States  General,  "his  majestie's  royalties  excepted ;"  and 
the  English  were  to  have  "  free  egress  and  regress"  to  and 
from  New  Amsterdam  and  all  the  Dutch  towns,  according 
to  the  arrangement  in  January,  while  the  Dutch  were  to 
enjoy  similar  freedom  in  the  English  towns,  "according  to 
the  laws  of  England."* 

New  Netherland  now  appeared  to  be  in  such  jeopardy, 

that  the  sellout,  burgomasters,  and  schepens  of  the  metrop- 

is  March,   olis  requested  the  director  to  summon  another  "  Landtdag," 

to  consider  the   state  of  the  province ;  and   Stuyvesant 

19  March,   promptly  assenting,  sent  letters  to  the  several  Dutch  set- 

Prownciai  tleiTicnts,  requiring  each  to  depute  two  representatives  to  a 

called"  ^   General  Provincial  Assembly  at  New  Amsterdam  on  the 

tenth  of  April.     Elections  were  immediately  held;  and,  at 

10  April,    the  appointed  day,  the  delegates  met  at  the  City  Hall 

iTiee^t°at*^   Ncw  Amsterdam  was  represented  by  Burgomaster  Cornells 

Bterdam.'  Steenwyck  and  Schepen  Jacob  Backer;  Rensselaerswyck 

*  Alb.  Rec,  xviii.,  242;   xxii.,  138;   Stuyvesant's  Letters;   Hoi.  Doc,  xii.,  230  ;  New 
Amst  Kec,  v.,  410-429  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  502-504,  578  ;  Smith's  N.  Y.,  i.,  26. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  729 

by  Jeremias  van  Rensselaer,  its  director,  and  Dirck  van  chap.  xx. 
Schelluyne,  its  secretary ;  Fort  Orange  by  Jan  Verbeck  and 
Grerrit  van  Slechtenhorst;  Breuckelen  by  William  Breden- 
bent  and  Albert  Cornells  "Wantenaar ;  Midwout  by  Jan 
Strycker  and  William  Gruilliams ;  Amersfoort  by  Elbert 
Elbertsen  and  Coert  Stevensen ;  New  Utrecht  by  David 
Jochemsen  and  Cornells  Beeckman  ;  Boswyck  by  Jan  van 
Cleef  and  Grysbert  Teunissen ;  New  Haerlem  by  Daniel 
Terneur  and  Johannes  Verveeler ;  Wiltwyck  by  Thomas 
Chambers  and  Grysbert  van  Imbroeck  ;  Bergen  by  Engel- 
bert  Steenhuysen  and  Hermanns  Smeeman  ;  and  Staten 
Island  by  David  de  Marest  and  Pierre  Billou.  As  the  me- 
tropolis, New  Amsterdam  claimed  the  honor  of  presiding ;  presidency 
but  Rensselaerswyck  being  the  oldest  "colonic,"  the  chair 
was  awarded  to  Van  Rensselaer,  "under  protest." 

The  Landtdag  at  once  called  upon  the  provincial  govern-  The  as- 

,.,,.  .,  sembly's 

ment  to  protect  the  inhabitants  against  the  savages  and  demands, 
the  "  malignant  English."     Stuyvesant  replied  that  the  di-  n  April. 

,  11-  •  Stuyve- 

rector  and  council  had  even  exceeded  their  powers  in  en-sam'sprop. 

11         11  ositioiia 

listing  and  maintaining  soldiers,  and  asked  the  delegates 
to  furnish  supplies  for  a  regular  force,  or  else  call  out  every 
third  man,  "as  had  more  than  once  been  done  in  the  Fa- 
therland." The  Assembly  now  inquired  whether  it  should  12  April. 
address  the  company  or  the  States  Gfeneral.  The  director 
insisted  that  the  people  of  New  Netherland  had  not  con- 
tributed to  its  support  and  defense  ;  that  the  company  had 
expended  on  the  province  twelve  hundred  thousand  guild- 
ers more  than  it  had  received ;  and  required  the  advice  of 
the  delegates  in  regard  to  hostilities  with  the  Indians  and 
the  English,  the  enrollment  of  two  hundred  militia,  and  the 
raising  of  means  by  taxation.  The  Assembly,  however,  de-  is  April. 
dining  to  vote  supplies,  adjourned  its  session  for  a  week.*  meat. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  West  India  directors,  upon  receiv- 
ing the  dispatches  of  November  from  New  Netherland,  had 
united  with  the  burgomasters  of  Amsterdam  in  demanding 
of  the  States  General  aid  against  Connecticut ;  an  act  un-  21  Jan. 

♦  New  Amst.  Rec.,  v.,  429-431,  450 ;  Alb.  Rec.,  xviii.,  237  ;  xxii.,  78-90,  105,  106,  14i- 
182  ;  Renss.  MSS.  ;  Kingston  Rec. ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  505-508  ;  Bancroft,  ii.,  312. 


730        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XX.  (ler  the  Great  Seal,  confirming  the  charter  of  the  company ; 

mandatory  letters  to  the  several  towns  on  Long  Island ;  and 

■  a  prompt  intervention  with  the  King  of  England.     The 

23  Jan.       States  General  now  took  those  steps  which,  if  earlier  adopt- 

the  States  cd,  might  liavc  prevented  many  unnecessary  douhts,  and 
have  permanently  secured  New  Netherland.  The  ambas- 
sadors at  London  were  instructed  to  insist  upon  the  ratifi- 
cation by  the  British  government  of  the  Hartford  articles 

Charter  of  of  1650.     An  act  was  also  passed  under  the  Great  Seal,  de- 

the  W.  I.  . 

Company,  claring  that  the  charter  of  the  West  India  Company  au- 
thorized it  to  plant  colonies  in  any  unoccupied  parts  of 
America,  from  Newfoundland  to  the  Straits  of  Magellan, 
and  particularly  in  New  Netherland,  the  boundaries  of 
which  were  defined  to  be  those  agreed  upon  at  Hartford. 

Letters  to  Lcttcrs,  signed  by  the  greflSer  of  the  States  General,  were 
likewise  addressed  to  Oostdorp,  Gravesend,  Heemstede, 
Vlissingen,  Middelburgh,  Rustdorp,  Amersfoort,  Midwout, 
New  Utrecht,  Breuckelen,  and  Boswyck,  charging  them  to 
remain  in  allegiance  until  the  boundary  question  should 
be  settled  with  the  King  of  Great  Britain.  Hoping  much 
from  the  "peaceable  inclinations  of  Governor  Winthrop," 

1  Feb.  the  directors  sent  these  documents  to  Stuy  vesant  by  Abra- 
ham Wilmerdonck,  one  of  their  colleagues,  and  ordered  six- 
ty additional  soldiers  to  New  Amsterdam.  The  provincial 
government  was  instructed  to  exterminate  the  Esopus  In- 
dians ;  to  check  the  English,  and  reduce  the  revolted  vil- 
lages to  allegiance ;  and  to  receive  with  favor  a  number  of 
"Frenchmen  of  the  Reformed  Church  at  Rochelle,"  who 

Return  of  uow  souglit  homes  in  New  Netherland.     Domine  Samuel 

Samuel  Me- Megapolensis,  having  taken  his  university  degrees,  at  the 
'  same  time  returned  to  New  Amsterdam,  on  terms  similar 
to  those  agreed  upon  with  Blom  and  Selyns.* 

22  April.         These  dispatches  were  communicated  to  the  Landtdag 

Opinion  of  .  .  i  r  ^    ^■^  •  i  i 

the  Asaem- when  it  met  aji^am.     Alter  deliberatmg,  the  members  con- 

bly.  °  ° 

sidered  it  impossible  to  execute  the  company's  orders  re- 

*  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  449-465  ;  viii.,  380  ;  xviii.,  295  ;  xxii.    182  ;  Hoi.  Doc,  ix.,  302  ;  x.,  1 
21  ;  Groot  Placaatboeck,  ii.,  3153  ;   Aitzema,  v.,  64,  65  ;    Holl.  Merc,  1664,  10,  15;  Hart. 
Rec.  Col.  Bound.,  ii.,  11;  O'Call.,ii.,508,  509,  579, 580  ;  Ebeling,  iii.,  31 ;  Selyns  to  Classis, 
9th  June,  1664  ;  ante,  p.  643,  680,  723. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  73] 

specting  the  English  rebels,  who  were  "as  six  to  one,  and,  chap.  xx. 
with  aid  from  Hartford,  would  easily  overcome  and  mas- 
sacre  the  few  Dutch  soldiers  that  could  be  broujjht  asfainst  ^^^~^- 
them."  As  the  Esopus  Indians  were  now  completely  hum- 
bled, and  all  the  Christian  captives,  except  three,  recovered  ; 
and  as  the  Minquas,  Mohawks,  and  river  tribes  were  all 
urging  peace,  a  general  treaty  was  now  thought  advisable, 
especially  as  the  Connecticut  people  had  been  discovered 
tampering  with  the  Wappinger  savages. 

In  a  few  days,  chiefs  from  Esopus,  the  Wappingers,  and 
other  river  tribes,  and  from  Hackinsack,  Staten  Island,  and 
Long  Island,  met  Stuyvesant,  who  was  assisted  by  Wilmer- 15  May. 
donck  and  several  of  the  most  prominent  citizens,  in  the 
council  chamber  of  Fort  Amsterdam.     Sarah,  the  daughter  sarau  Kier- 
of  Annetje  Jansen  Bogardus,  and  wife  of  Surgeon  Hans  preter!"  " 
Kierstede,  acted  as  interpreter.     Calling  on  "Bachtamo," 
his  Grod,  Sewackenamo,  chief  of  the  Esopus  Indians,  gave 
the  right  hand  of  friendship  to  the  director  general ;  and 
the  last  treaty  between  the  Hollanders  and  the  Indians  was  le  May. 
signed  the  next  day,  under  a  salute  from  Fort  Amsterdam,  peace  with 
The  Esopus  country,  including  the  two  Shawangunk  forts,  savages, 
now  "conquered  by  the  sword,"  was  ceded  to  the  Dutch. 
No  savages  were  in  future  to  approach  the  farms  of  the 
Christians  ;  but  they  might  come  to  trade  at  the  Ronduit 
with  three  canoes  at  a  time.     Reciprocal  presents  were  an- 
nually to  ratify  this  treaty,  for  the  faithful  observance  of 
which  the  Hackinsack  and  Staten  Island  sachems  became 
bound.     Thus  ended  the  Esopus  war;  and  Stuyvesant,  31  May. 
partaking  of  the  universal  satisfaction,  proclaimed  a  day  ing.    ""' 
of  general  thanksgiving  to  the  Almighty.* 

Roelof  Swartwout,  the  discharged  sellout  of  "Wiltwyck,  14  Feb. 
had,  meanwhile,  been  reinstated,  upon  his  asking  pardon  of  reinstatpit 
the  director.     It  was,  howevt^r,  thought  pro])er  to  have  a  wyck 
more  immediate  representative  of  the  West  India  Compa- 
ny's interests  there ;  and  Willem  Beeckman,  whose  employ- 

*  Alb.  Rec,  xviii.,  23&-2-18,  259,  263  ;  xxii.,  119,  180,  214-227,  245,  275  ;  Hoi.  Doc,  xii., 
234  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  509-511.  Mevrouw  Kierstede,  having  often  acted  as  Indian  interpreter, 
was  presented  with  a  large  tract  of  land,  on  the  west  side  of  the  North  River,  by  Orilany, 
the  chief  of  Hackinsack  and  Tappan. 


732        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XX.  ment  at  the  South  River  had  ceased,  was  appointed  com- 
missary  at  Esopus  and  its  dependencies.  His  jurisdiction 
4  July  extended  from  Katskill,  where  that  of  Fort  Orange  termin- 
appmineT  ^ted,  to  the  Dans-Kamer,  just  above  the  Highlands,  which 
rT.'^v^n'  was  the  northern  limit  of  that  of  Fort  Amsterdam.     The 

ry  at  r^au- 

''"^-         local  court  of  Wiltwyck  was  to  be  in  subordination  to  Beeck- 
man,  who,  as  commissary,  had  the  right  to  summon  and 
preside  at  its  meetings.* 
Settlement      The  proviucial  government  having,  in  the  spring  of  1662, 
hechstede.  Confirmed  Van  Curler's  purchase  of  Schonowe,  upon  condi- 
tion that  the  frontier  settlement  of  New  Netherland  should 
be  wholly  agricultural,  a  "concentration"  soon  arose  at 
"  Schaenhechstede."     The  West  India  directors,  however, 
were  desirous  to  obtain  a  cession  of  the  Mohawks'  lands, 
"  by  which  our  English  neighbors  would  be  prevented  from 
dispossessing  the  company  of  that  immense  beaver  trade 
which  our  nation  is  in  possession  of  by  the  Seneca  Indians." 
Stuyvesant  accordingly  refused  to  allow  Cortelyou,  the  sur- 
veyor, to  lay  out  the  lands  at  Schaenhechstede,  unless  the 
inhabitants  would  promise  to  devote  themselves  to  agricul- 
Trade  with  turc,  and  abstain  from  any  traffic  with  the  savages.  Against 
restr^cted!^  tliis  iuvidious  systcm  Van  Curler  remonstrated  in  vain.  The 
fur  trade  must  be  retained  at  Beverwyck ;  and  the  Indians 
must  not  be  tempted  to  repeat  their  attacks  upon  the  wag- 
ons conveying  merchandise  across  the  plain.     The  schout 
of  Fort  Orange,  of  which  the  new  settlement  was  a  de- 
pendency, was  directed  to  enforce  these  orders,  and  the  sur- 
May.        vey  of  Schaenhechstede  was  not  permitted  until  the  spring 

Surveyed.       ,.  ,,  .  , 

of  this  year.t 

Notwithstanding  the  accommodation  which  Stuyvesant 
Hostiiiiies  had  arranged  in  1662,  the  Mohawks  had  continued  hostile 
thTuT  to  the  Abenaquis,  and  had  provoked  the  enmity  of  the  So- 
EaTterif"  quatucks,  at  the  head  of  the  Connecticut  River,  within  the 
present  State  of  New  Hampshire.  Upon  the  complaint  of 
Colonel  Temple,  the  authorities  at  Fort  Orange  held  inter- 
19  May.     vicws  with  tlic  Moliawks,  and  afterward  dispatched  Jan 

*  Alb.  Roc,  xxii.,  55,  56,  265-269;  Acrelius,  425  ;  ante,  p.  302,  714,  718;  App.,  Note  R. 
t  Alb.  Rec,  iv.,  416  ;  xxi.,  135-139  ;  xxii.,  169,  234     Schenec.  Papers,  in  Albany  Clerk's 
Office  ;  O'Call.,  il ,  410-442  ;  ante,  p.  691. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  733 

Davits  and  Jacob  Loockermans  across  the  "  Winterberg"  chap.  xx 
or  Grreen  Mountains,  to  arrange  a  peace.     At  Narrington, 
an  English  settlement,  they  met  delegates  from  the  East-^i^g  jj^^^.'^j 
ern  tribes,  with  whom  a  treaty  was  concluded.     The  next^^^g"'' " 
month,  the  Mohawk  ambassadors^  who  came  to  "  Fort  Pa- 24  May. 
conthetuck"  with  presents  to  confirm  the  peace,  were  mur-  21  June. 
dered  by  some  Abenaquis,  who  are  said  to  have  been  in- 
stigated by  the  English.    War  now  broke  out  again.    The 
Mahicans  attacked  the  Mohawks,  destroyed  cattle  at  Grreen- 
bush,  burned  the  house  of  Abraham  Staats  at  Claverack,  n  juiy. 
and  ravaged  the  whole  country  on  the  east  side  of  the  North  thrSi" 
River.    Alarmed  for  their  own  safety,  the  officers  and  peo-  "^^"^^ 
pie  at  Fort  Orange  entreated  Stuyvesant  to  come  up  toi4.iuiy. 
them  at  once.* 

In  the  mean  time,  the  Hartford  authorities,  having  sent 
Allen,  their  secretary,  to  confer  with  the  delegates  of  the 
English  towns  at  Heemstede,  accepted  them  under  the  gov- 
ernment of  Connecticut ;  caused  Scott  to  be  imprisoned  ; 
and  declared  "  that  they  claim  Long  Island  for  one  of  those  22  May. 
adjoining  islands  expressed  in  the  charter,  except  a  pre-  cut  claims 
cedent  right  doth  appear,  approved  by  his  majesty."    They  and.^ 
also  authorized  Pell  to  buy  all  the  land  "between  "West west ches- 
Chester  and  Hudson's  Ptiver  (that  makes  Manhattoes  an 
island),  and  lay  it  to  AVest  Chester."     When  the  Dutch 
messengers  came  with  the  letters  of  the  States  Greneral, 
and  an  address  from  Stuyvesant,  the  English  either  refused 
to  receive  them  or  sent  them  to  Hartford.     There  they  Treatment 
"caused  not  the  smallest  effect ;"  for  the  Connecticut  men,  "ors  of  the 
finding  them  unanswerable,  pretended  that  they  had  been  erai'.*'* 
forged,  either  by  the  company  in  Holland  or  by  its  officers 
at  New  Amsterdam.    Soon  afterward,  Winthrop  visited  the  June. 
Long  Island  towns,  removed  the  officers  appointed  by  Scott,  poceed-^" 
and  installed  others.      Stuyvesant  immediately  went  to  l"o%'Tsi- 
meet  the  Connecticut  governor,  and  urged  the  Dutch  title  **" 
by  discovery,  purchase,  and  possession,  as  well  as  the  obli- 
gations of  the  Hartford  treaty.     But  all  was  unavailing. 

*  Alb.  Rec,  vii.,  394-404,  423^31 ;   IIol.  Doc,  xi.,  230-241  ;   Renss.  MSS. ;   Relation, 
13C3-1,  162,  163;  O'Call.,  ii,,  518,  519;  ante,  p.  704. 


734        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 

Chap.  XX.  Winthrop,  throwing  off  any  appearance  of  friendship,  claim 
ed  the  country  as  his  king's,  and  insisted  that  the  English 
*  title  was  unquestionahle,  "  according  to  the  proverb,"  wrote 
Stuyvesant,  "  Sic  volo,  sic  jubeo,  stat  pro  ratione  voluntas."* 
De  Decker,  who  had  been  for  some  months  in  Virginia 
endeavoring  to  obtain  the  release  of  a  Dutch  ship  with  a 
cargo  of  slaves  from  Guinea,  which  had  been  captured  by 
an  English  privateer  and  carried  into  the  Chesapeake,  now 
Virginia     scnt  intelligence  of  the  threatening  attitude  of  Virginia  and 
Taiid.  ^"^^   Maryland.     Clouds  seemed  to  gather  all  around  New  Neth- 
erland.     Yet  Stuyvesant  was  not  discouraged.     Agricul- 
ture had  improved ;  the  prospect  of  the  harvest  was  good  ; 
and  the  French  Huguenots  from  Rochelle,  who  had  just 
come  over  from  Amsterdam,  were  delighted  with  their  new 
10  June,     home  on  Staten  Island.     "It  would,  indeed,  be  highly  de- 
hopefui.     sirable,"  wrote  he  to  the  West  India  directors,  "  that  the 
yet  waste  lands,  which  might  feed  a  hundred  thousand  in- 
habitants, should  be  settled  and  cultivated  by  the  oppress- 
ed ;  on  the  one  side,  by  the  Roman  Catholics  in  France, 
Savoy,  Piedmont,  and  elsewhere,  and  on  the  other,  by  the 
Turks  in  Hungary  and  upon  the  confines  of  G-ermany." 
Population.  The  population  of  the  province  was  now  "  full  ten  thou- 
sand," while  New  Amsterdam  contained  fifteen  hundred, 
and  wore  an  air  of  great  prosperity.     Domine  Warnerus 
Hadson,  whom  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam  had  sent  to  the 
South  River,  died  on  his  voyage  out ;  and  the  Dutch  colo- 
nists there,  whose  children  had  not  been  baptized  since  the 
death  of  Welius,  and  who  held  the  Lutheran  clergyman 
Lokenius  in  little  esteem,  anxiously  desired  another  min- 
ister.    The  arrival  of  Domine  Samuel  Megapolensis,  how- 
)T  July,     ever,  was  joyfully  hailed  at  New  Amsterdam  ;  and  Selyns, 
Dom[nc°    whosc  placc  was  supplied  by  the  young  graduate,  received 
'^^"^'      permission  to  revisit  the  Fatherland. t 

English  jealousy  had,  meanwhile,  grown  with  the  in- 

*  Juvenal  wrote  this  line  "  Hoc  volo,  sic  jubeo,  sit  pro  ratione  voluntas." — Sat.  vi.,  223. 

t  Alb.  Rec,  xviii.,  256-289,  295  ;  xxii.,  290  ;  New  Amst.  Rec,  v.,  568 ;  Col.  Rec.  Conn., 
418-431 ;  Trumbull,  i.,  261  ;  Thompson,  i.,  118;  ii.,  321,  322;  O'Call.,  ii.,  511-514;  Bol- 
ton, ii.,  20,  169,  170;  Riker,  62;  Selyns  to  Classis,  9th  June,  Drisius,  5th  Aug.,  1664; 
ante,  p.  670,  674.  Domine  Selyns  returned  to  New  York  in  1682,  as  minister  of  the  Col 
legiate  Church,  and  died  here  in  1701.    See  ante,  p.  119,  note. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  735 

oreasing  commerce  of  Holland,  and  a  rupture  with  the  chap.  xx. 
Dutch  appeared  to  be  near  at  hand.     The  East  India  di- 
rectors  complained  of  their  formidable   Batavian  rivals,  ^^^i^^^ ' 
The  African  Company,  of  which  the  king's  brother,  James,  f^nV'"' 
Duke  of  York,  was  the  governor,  denounced  the  Dutch  West 
India  Company,  which  had  striven  to  secure  its  territory 
on  the  Gold  Coast  from  English  intruders.     James,  who 
had  been  libelled  in  Holland,  became  the  advocate  of  his 
African  Company  with  the  king  and  with  Parliament ;  and 
Downing,  the  British  ambassador  at  the  Hague,  having  a 
personal  interest,  with  menacing  language  pressed  exorbi- 
tant demands  for  damages  upon  the  States.    An  expedition,  February. 
under  Sir  Robert  Holmes,  was  secretly  dispatched  against  African 

iT\i  •  •         k  r  •  I-  1-T    expedition. 

the  Dutch  possessions  in  Airica;  and  aggressions,  which 
Clarendon  described  as  "without  any  shadow  of  justice," 
were  committed  in  the  midst  of  a  covenanted  peace. 

A  still  more  iniquitous  measure  was  soon  arranged.    The  complaints 
farmers  of  the  revenue  had  complained  that  traders  to  Yir-  ers  of  the 
ginia.  New  England,  Maryland,  and  Long  Island  were  con- 
stantly conveying  great  quantities  of  tobacco  to  the  neigh- 
boring Dutch  plantations,  the  customs  on  which  "would 
amount  to  ten  thousand  pounds  per  annum  or  upward ;" 
and  the  Plantation  Board  had  taken  measures  to  put  the  ^\  Feb. 
British  Acts  of  Navigation  and  Trade  "carefully  in  execu- 
tion."   The  brother  of  G-overnor  Berkeley,  too,  coveted  New 
Jersey.     To  accomplish  all  objects  at  one  blow,  England 
now  determined  boldly  to  rob  Holland  of  her  American 
province.     The  king  accordingly  sealed  a  patent  granting  J  3  Maresi. 
to  the  Duke  of  York  and  Albany  a  large  territory  in  Amer-f„7;oUie' 
ica,  comprehending  Long  Island  and  the  islands  in  its  neigh-  ymi^."' 
borhood — ^his  title  to  which  Lord  Stirling  had  released — 
and  all  the  lands  and  rivers  from  the  west  side  of  the  Con- 
necticut River  to  the  east  side  of  Delaware  Bay.     This 
sweeping  grant  included  the  whole  of  New  Netherland,  and 
a  part  of  the  territory  of  Connecticut,  which,  two  years  be- 
fore, Charles  had  confirmed  to  Winthrop  and  his  associates. 

The  Duke  of  York  lost  no  time  in  giving  effect  to  his 
patent.     As  Lord  High  Admiral,  he  directed  the  fleet. 


730  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XX.  Four  ships,  the  Guinea,  of  thirty-six  guns  ;  the  Eliais,  of 
thirty  ;  the  Martin,  of  sixteen ;  and  the  William  and  Nich- 
squadron   *^^^^'  °^  *^^'  wcrc  detached  for  service  against  New  Neth- 
aga^nst*^    erland,  and  ahout  four  hundred  and  fifty  regular  soldiers, 
crland!^'^  with  their  officers,  were  embarked.     The  command  of  the 
expedition  was  intrusted  to  Colonel  Richard  Nicolls,  a 
faithful  Royalist,  who  had  served  under  Turennc  with 
12  April.    James,  and  had  been  made  one  of  the  gentlemen  of  his 
pointed      bcd-chamber.     Nicolls  was  also  appointed  to  be  the  duke's 
ernor.       dcputy  govemor,  after  the  Dutch  possessions  should  have 
been  reduced.     With  Nicolls  were  associated  Sir  Robert 
25  April.     Carr,  Colonel  Greorge  Cartwright,  and  Samuel  Maverick,  as 
Royal!  com- royal  commissiouers  to  visit  the  several  colonies  in  New 
missioners.  j]jjgia]^(j      Thesc  Commissioners  were  furnished  with  de- 
tailed instructions ;  and  the  New  England  governments 
were  required  by  royal  letters  to  "join  and  assist  them  vig- 
orously" in  reducing  the  Dutch  to  subjection.     A  month 
after  the  departure  of  the  squadron,  the  Duke  of  York 
24  June,     couveycd  to  Lord  Berkeley  and  Sir  Greorge  Carteret  all  the 
sareaor     territory  between  the  Hudson  and  Delaware  Rivers,  from 
conveyedto  Cape  Mav  uorth  to  fortv-one  degrees  and  forty  minutes  of 

Berkeley  L  J  J  n  ^  .; 

and  Carte-  latitude,  and  thence  to  the  Hudson,  in  forty-one  degrees  of 
latitude,  "hereafter  to  be  called  by  the  name  or  names  of 
Nova  Caesarea  or  New  Jersey.* 

Intelligence  from  Boston  that  an  English   expedition 

?J",'J-       asfainst  New  Netherland  had  sailed  from  Portsmouth  was 

Willett  ~ 

st"vV      ^^^^^  communicated  to  Stuyvesant  by   Captain  Thomas 
sunt.         Willett ;  and  the  burgomasters  and  schepens  of  New  Am- 
sterdam were  summoned  to  assist  the  council  with  their 
advice.    The  capital  was  ordered  to  be  put  in  a  state  of  de- 
Prepara-    fcuse ;  guards  to  be  maintained ;  and  schippers  to  be  warn- 
New  Am-  ed.     As  there  was  very  little  powder  at  Fort  Amsterdam, 
a  supply  was  demanded  from  New  Amstel ;  and  a  loan  of 
five  or  six  thousand  guilders  was  asked  from  Rensselaers- 

*  Lend.  Doc,  i.,  130-lSO ;  iii.,  99  ;  xvi.,  253  ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  47-65,  105,  225  ;  Alb. 
Rec,  xviii.,  259  ;  Charter,  in  State  Library ;  Patents,  t.,  109-121 ;  Hazard,  it.,  634-640; 
Trumbull,  i.,  522-524  ;  Hutchinson,!.,  459;  Smith,  i.,  14-16;  O'Call.,  ii.,  517  ;  Whitehead, 
30-37  ;  Let.  d'Estrades,  ii.,  435-474  ;  Lister's  Clarendon,  ii.,  258,  328  ;  Lingard,  xii.,  163- 
168;  Davies,  iii.,20, 21 ;  Duer's  Life  of  Stirling,  37.  On  the  30th  of  .Tuly,  1674,  the  Duke  of 
York  granted  an  annuity  of  £300,  out  of  the  revenue  of  his  colony,  to  Henry,  Earl  of  Stirling. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  737 

wyck.     The  ships  about  to  sail  for  Curagoa  were  stopped ;  chap.  xx 
agents  were  sent  to  purchase  provisions  at  New  Haven ; 
and,  as  the  enemy  was  expected  to  approach  through  Long 
Island  Sound,  spies  were  sent  to  obtain  intelligence  at  West 
Chester  and  Milford.     But  at  the  moment  when  no  precau- 
tion should  have  been  relaxed,  a  dispatch  from  the  West  Dispatch 
India  directors,  who  appear  to  have  been  misled  by  advices  i.  (;ompa- 
from  London,  announced  that  no  danger  need  be  apprehend- 
ed from  the  English  expedition,  as  it  was  sent  out  by  the 
king  only  to  settle  the  affairs  of  his  colonies,  and  establish 
Episcopacy,  which  would  rather  benefit  the  company's  in- 
terests in  New  Netherland.     Willett  now  retracting  his 
previous  statements,  a  perilous  confidence  returned.     The 
Cara(;oa  ships  were  allowed  to  sail ;  and  Stuyvesant,  yield-  6  August. 
ing  to  the  solicitation  of  his  council,  went  up  the  river  to  goest^oFort 
look  after  affairs  at  Fort  Orange.* 

The  English  squadron  had  been  ordered  to  assemble  at  May. 
Grardiner's  Island.     But,  parting  company  in  a  fog,  thei5juiy. 
Gruinea,  with  Nicolls  and  Cartwright  on  board,  made  Cape 
Cod,  and  went  on  to  Boston,  while  the  other  ships  put  in 
at  Piscataway,     The  commissioners  immediately  demand-  2-  juiy. 
ed  the  assistance  of  Massachusetts  ;  but  the  people  of  the  Enjlfs^f 
Bay,  who  feared,  perhaps,  that  the  king's  success  in  reduc-  s^jJliers' t 
ing  the  Dutch  would  enable  him  the  better  to  put  down  ^°^^°"- 
his  enemies  in  New  England,  were  full  of  excuses.     Con- 
necticut, however,  showed  sufficient  alacrity  ;    and  Win-  29  .tuiv. 
throp  was  desired  to  meet  the  squadron  at  the  west  end  of  ®  ^"susf- 
Long  Island,  whither  it  would  sail  with  the  first  fair  wind. 

When  the  truth  of  Willett's  intelligence  became  confirm- 
ed, the  council  sent  an  express  to  recall  Stuyvesant  from 
Fort  Orange.     Hurrying  back  to  the  capital,  the  anxious  stuyvesant 
director  endeavored  to  redeem  the  time  which  had  been  New  Am- 
lost.     The  municipal  authorities  ordered  one  third  of  the  25  August. 
inhabitants,  without  exception,  to  labor  every  third  day  at 

*  Alb.  Rec,  xviii.,  286,  298  ;  xx.,  377 ;  xxii.,  271-276 ;  Hoi.  Doc,  xi.,  219-239 ;  xii.,  92- 
119;  New  Amst.  Rec,  v.,  522-521 ;  Smith,  i.,  16  ;  O'Cnll.,  ii.,  517,  518 ;  Thompson,  i.,  121, 
130 ;  Let.  d'Estrades,  ii.,  459 ;  ante,  p.  519.  Willctt,  wlio  had  been  one  of  Stuyvesant'8 
arbitrators  at  Hartford  in  1650,  afterward  became  the  first  English  mayor  of  New  York, 
and  was  the  ancestor  of  the  lute  Colonel  Marinus  Willett. 

A  A  A 


738  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XX.  the  fortificatioiis  ;  organized  a  permanent  guard  ;   forbade 
the  brewers  to  malt  any  grain ;  and  called  on  the  provin- 
Arrange-    ^^^^  government  for  artillery  and  ammunition.     Six  pieces, 
defcnse"'^   bcsidcs  the  fourteen  previously  allotted,  and  a  thousand 
26  August,  pounds  of  powder,  were  acjordingly  granted  to  the  city. 
The  colonists  around  Fort  Orange,  pleading  their  own  dan- 
29  August,  ger  from  the  savages,  could  afford  no  help ;  but  the  soldiers 
caiied'^iYom  at  Esopus  wcre  Ordered  to  come  down,  after  leaving  a  small 
sopus.     gari-ison  at  the  Ronduit. 
English  In  the  mean  time,  the  English  squadron  had  anchored 

fn^Nyack    just  bclow  the  Narrows,  in  Nyack   Bay,  between  New 
*^"         Utrecht  and  Coney  Island.     The  mouth  of  the  river  was 
shut  up ;  communication  between  Long  Island  and  Man- 
hattan, Bergen  and  Achter  Cul,  interrupted ;  several  yachts, 
on  their  way  to  the  South  River,  captured ;  and  the  block- 
^  August,  house  on  the  opposite  shore  of  Staten  Island  seized.     Stuy- 
sant's^mes-  vcsant  now  dispatclicd  Counselor  De  Decker,  Burgomaster 
**^^'         Van  der  Grrist,  and  the  two  Domines  Megapolensis,  with 
a  letter  to  the  English  commanders,  inquiring  why  they  had 
come,  and  why  they  continued  at  Nyack  without  giving  no- 
tice.    The  next  morning,  which  was  Saturday,  Nicolls  sent 
Colonel   Cartwright,  Captain  Needham,  Captain  Grroves, 
f  §  August  and  Mr.  Thomas  Delayall  up  to  Fort  Amsterdam,  with  a 
summoned  summous  for  the  surrender  of  "the  town  situate  on  the  isl- 
^o^surren-  ^^j  commouly  kuowu  by  the  name  of  Manhattoes,  with  all 
the  forts  thereunto  belonging."     This  summons  was  ac- 
companied by  a  proclamation  declaring  that  all  who  would 
Terms  of    submit  to  liis  majcsty's  government  should  be  protected 
Nicolls.      "in  his  majesty's  laws  and  justice,"  and  peaceably  enjoy 
their  property.     Stuyvesant  immediately  called  together 
the  council  and  the  burgomasters,  but  would  not  allow  the 
terms  offered  by  Nicolls  to  be  communicated  to  the  people, 
lest  they  might  insist  on  capitulating.     In  a  short  time, 
several  of  the  burghers  and  city  officers  assembled  at  the 
Stadt-Huys.    It  was  determined  to  prevent  the  enemy  from 
surprising  the  town ;  but,  as  opinion  was  generally  against 
protracted  resistance,  a  copy  of  the  English  communication 
IS. pi.      was  asked  from  the  director.     On  the  following  Monday, 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  739 

the  burgomasters  explained  to  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  chap.  xx. 
the  terms  offered  by  Nicolls.     But  this  would  not  suffice  ;  ~7~~. 
a  copy  of  the  paper  itself  must  be  exhibited.     Stuyvesant 
then  went  in  person  to  the  meeting.     "  Such  a  course,"  stuyvesant 
said  he,  "would  be  disapproved  of  in  the  Fatherland — itiowitn- 

1  1     T  1  1     M         A  11    1  •  rr  hold  them. 

would  discourage  the  people. '  All  his  eitorts,  however, 
were  vain  ;  and  the  director,  protesting  that  he  should  not 
be  held  answerable  for  "  the  calamitous  consequences," 
was  obliged  to  yield  to  the  popular  will.* 

Nicolls  now  addressed  a  letter  to  Winthrop,  who  with  2  Sept. 

^  '  Nicolls'  let 

other  commissioners  from  New  Enc^land  had  ioined  thetertowin. 

.     throp. 

squadron,  authorizing  him  to  assure  Stuyvesant  that,  if 
Manhattan  should  be  delivered  up  to  the  king,  "  any  people 
from  the  Netherlands  may  freely  come  and  plant  there,  or 
thereabouts ;  and  such  vessels  of  their  own  country  may 
freely  come  thither,  and  any  of  them  may  as  freely  return 
home  in  vessels  of  their  own  country."  Visiting  the  city 
under  a  flag  of  truce,  Winthrop  delivered  this  to  Stuyvesant  Handed  to 
outside  the  fort,  and  urged  him  to  surrender.  The  director  sant. 
declined ;  and,  returning  to  the  fort,  he  opened  Nicolls'  let- 
ter before  the  council  and  the  burgomasters,  who  desired 
that  it  should  be  communicated,  as  "  all  which  regarded 
the  public  welfare  ought  to  be  made  public."  Against 
this  Stuyvesant  earnestly  remonstrated ;  and  finding  that 
the  burgomasters  continued  firm,  in  a  fit  of  passion  he  "  tore  stuyvesant 
the  letter  in  pieces."  The  citizens,  suddenly  ceasing  their  ous'  letter 
work  at  the  palisades,  hurried  to  the  Stadt-Huys,  and  sent 
three  of  their  number  to  the  fort  to  demand  the  letter.  In 
vain  the  director  hastened  to  pacify  the  burghers  and  urge 
them  to  go  on  with  the  fortifications.  "  Complaints  and 
curses"  were  uttered  on  all  sides  against  the  company's 
misgovernment ;  resistance  was  declared  to  be  idle;  "the 
letter  I  the  letter!"  was  the  general  cry.  To  avoid  a  mu- 
tiny, Stuyvesant  yielded,  and  a  copy,  made  out  from  the 
collected  fragments,  was  handed  to  the  burgomasters.     In 

*  Lend.  Doc,  i.,  181-167 ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  65-67  ;  New  Amst.  Rec.,  v.,  552-554  ; 
.Mb.  Rec.,  xviii.,  302-304,  312-315;  xxii.,  307,  385  ;  IIol.  Doc.,  xi.,  242-244  ;  xii.,  98-103, 
121, 143-153  ;  xiji,,  24, 50 ;  King.ston  Rec. ;  Oyster  Bay  Rec. ;  Smith,  i,,  17-20,  388 ;  O'Call., 
ii.,  520-523  ;  Bancroft,  ii,,  314  ;  Thompson,  ii,.  196. 


740  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XX.  answer,  however,  to  Nicolls'  summons,  he  subii  itted  a  long 
justification  of  the  Dutch  title ;  yet,  while  protesting  against 
2  Sept.       ^^y  breach  of  the  peace  between  the  king  and  the  States 
th^sum-"  G-eneral,  "for  the  hinderance  and  prevention  of  all  differ- 
mons.       ences  and  the  spilling  of  innocent  blood,  not  only  in  these 
parts,  but  also  in  Europe,"  he  offered  to  treat.     "  Long 
Last  (lis-    Island  is  gone  and  lost;"  the  capital  "can  not  hold  out 
Amster-     loug,"  was  the  last  dispatch  to  the  "  Lords  Majors"  of  New 
Netherland,  which  its  director  sent  off  that  night  "in  si- 
lence through  Hell-gate." 

Observing  Stuyvesant's  reluctance  to  surrender,  Nicolls 
directed  Captain  Hyde,  who  commanded  the  squadron,  to 
reduce  the  fort.     Two  of  the  ships  accordingly  landed  their 
troops  just  below  Breuckelen,  where  volunteers  from  New 
England  and  the  Long  Island  villages  had  already  encamp- 
Engiish     ed.    The  other  two,  coming  up  with  full  sail,  passed  in  front 
chor  before  of  Fort  Amsterdam,  and  anchored  between  it  and  Nutten 
sterdam.     Island.     Standing  on  one  of  the  angles  of  the  fortress — an 
artilleryman  with  a  lighted  match  at  his  side — the  director 
watched  their  approach.     At  this  moment,  the  two  Domi- 
nes  Megapolensis,  imploring  him  not  to  begin  hostilities,  led 
Stuyvesant  from  the  rampart,  who  then,  with  a  hundred  of 
the  garrison,  went  into  the  city  to  resist  the  landing  of  the 
25  August.  English.     Hoping  on  against  hope,  the  director  now  sent 
stuyvesant  Couuselor  De  Decker,  Secretary  Van  Ruyven,  Burgomaster 
Steenwyck,  and  Schepen  Cousseau,  with  a  letter  to  Nicolls, 
stating  that  though  he  felt  bound  "  to  stand  the  storm,"  he 
desired,  if  possible,  to  arrange  an  accommodation.    But  the 
English  commander  merely  declared,  "  To-morrow  I  will 
speak  with  you  at  Manhattan."     "  Friends,"  was  the  an- 
swer, "will  be  welcome,  if  they  come  in  a  friendly  man- 
Repiy  of    ner."     "  I  shall  come  with  ships  and  soldiers,"  replied  Nic- 

Kicolis.  .         n  ■  1 

oils;  "raise  the  white  flag  of  peace  at  the  fort,  and  then 
something  may  be  considered."* 

"When  this  imperious  message  became  known,  men, 

*  Alb.  Rec,  xviii.,  302-304,  316-320  ;  .xxii.,  314-318  ;  Gen.  Entries,  i.,  12-26  ;  Hoi.  Doc, 
xii.,  25,  145-163 ;  xiii.,  54,  55,  94  ;  Ne«v  Amst.  Rec,  v  ,  567 ;  Drisius  to  Classis,  15th  of 
September,  1664  ;  Smith,  i.,  20-27  ;  Bancroft,  ii.,  314  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  523-527 ;  Thompson,  i  . 
128,  129. 


proposes 
an  aceom- 
modation. 


PETER  STUYVESANT,  DIRECTOR  GENERAL.  74 1 

women,  and  children  flocked  to  the  director,  beseeching  him  chap.  xx. 
to  submit.     His  only  answer  was,  "I  would  much  rather 
be  carried  out  dead."     The  next  day,  the  city  authorities,  5  g^p^ 
the  clergymen,  and  the  officers  of  the  burgher  guard,  as-  ^trZ"e'of 
sembling  at  the  Stadt-Huys,  at  the  suggestion  of  Domine  {oVtuyvT' 
Megapolensis  adopted  a  remonstrance  to  the  director,  ex- 
hibiting the  hopeless  situation  of  New  Amsterdam,  on  all 
sides  "  encompassed  and  hemmed  in  by  enemies,"  and  pro- 
testing against  any  further  opposition  to  the  will  of  Grod. 
Besides  the  schout,  burgomasters,  and  schepens,  the  remon- 
strance was  signed  by  Wilmerdonck  and  eighty-five  of  the 
principal  inhabitants,  among  whom  was  Stuyvesant's  own 
son  Balthazar.     At  last  the  director  was  obliged  to  yield. 
Althou2:h  there  were  now  fifteen  hundred  souls  in  New  Am-  condition 

of  New 

sterdam,  there  were  not  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  Amster- 
men  able  to  bear  arms,  besides  the  one  hundred  and  fifty 
regular  soldiers.  The  people  had  at  length  refused  to  be 
called  out,  and  the  regular  troops  were  already  heard  talk- 
ing of  "where  booty  is  to  be  found,  and  where  the  young 
women  live  who  wear  gold  chains."  The  city,  entirely  open 
along  both  rivers,  was  shut  on  the  northern  side  by  a  breast- 
work and  palisades,  which,  though  sufficient  to  keep  out  the 
savages,  afforded  no  defense  against  a  military  siege.  There 
were  scarcely  six  hundred  pounds  of  serviceable  powder  in 
store.  A  council  of  war  had  reported  Fort  Amsterdam  un- 
tenable ;  for  though  it  mounted  twenty- four  guns,  its  single 
wall  of  earth,  not  more  than  ten  feet  high  and  four  thick, 
was  almost  touched  by  the  private  dwellings  clustered 
around,  and  was  commanded,  within  a  pistol-shot,  by  hills 
on  the  north,  over  which  ran  the  *'  Heereweg"  or  Broadway. 
Upon  the  faith  of  Nicolls'  promise  to  deliver  back  the  city 
and  fort, "  in  case  the  difference  of  the  limits  of  this  province 
be  agreed  upon  betwixt  his  majesty  of  England  and  the 
High  and  Mighty  States  General,"  Stuyvesant  now  commis-  5  sept. 
sioned  Counselor  .John  de  Decker,  Captain  Nicholas  Varlett,  missioners 
Doctor  .Samuel  Megapolensis,  Burgomaster  Cornells  Steen- 
wyck,  old  Burgomaster  Oloff"  Stevensen  van  Cortland t,  and 
old  Schepen  Jacques  Cousseau,  to  agree  upon  articles  with 


742  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XX.  tlie  English  commander  or  his  representatives.     Nicolls,  on 

his  part,  appointed  Sir  Robert  Carr  and  Colonel  George 

English      Cartwright,  John  "Winthrop  and  Samuel  "Willys,  of  Connec- 
commis-     ticut,  and  Thomas  Clarke  and  John  Pynchon,  of  Massaehu- 

sioners.  '  •'  ' 

setts,  "  The  reason  why  those  of  Boston  and  Connecticut 
were  joined,"  afterward  explained  the  royal  commander, 
"  was  hecause  those  two  colonies  should  hold  themselves 
the  more  engaged  with  us,  if  the  Dutch  had  been  over-con- 
2- August,  fident  of  their  strength."  At  eight  o'clock  the  next  morn- 
capkuia-  i^g)  wliich  was  Saturday,  the  commissioners  on  both  sides 
to°at'*stuy-  met  at  Stuyvesant's  "bouwery,"  and  arranged  the  terms 
bouwery.  of  capitulatiou.  The  only  difference  which  arose  was  re- 
specting the  Dutch  soldiers,  whom  the  English  refused  to 
convey  back  to  Holland.  The  articles  of  capitulation  prom- 
ised the  Dutch  security  in  their  property,  customs  of  in- 
heritance, liberty  of  conscience,  and  church  discipline.  The 
municipal  officers  of  Manhattan  were  to  continue  for  the 
present  unchanged,  and  the  town  was  to  be  allowed  to 
choose  deputies,  with  "free  voices  in  all  public  affairs." 
Owners  of  property  in  Fort  Orange  might,  if  they  pleased, 
•'  slight  the  fortifications  there,"  and  enjoy  their  houses  "  as 
people  do  where  there  is  no  fort."  For  six  months  there 
was  to  be  free  intercourse  with  Holland.  Public  records 
were  to  be  respected.  The  articles,  consented  to  by  Nic- 
olls, were  to  be  ratified  by  Stu3rvesant  the  next  Monday 
morning  at  eight  o'clock,  and  within  two  hours  afterward, 
the  "fort  and  town  called  New  Amsterdam,  upon  the  Isle 
of  Manhatoes,"  were  to  be  delivered  up,  and  the  military 
officers  and  soldiers  were  to  "  march  out  with  their  arms, 
drums  beating,  and  colors  flying,  and  lighted  matches."* 
8  Sept.  On  the  following  Monday  morning  at  eight  o'clock,  Stuy- 

ofFortAm-vesant,  at  the  head  of  the  garrison,  marched  out  of  Fort 
Amsterdam  with  all  the  honors  of  war,  and  led  his  soldiers 
down  the  Beaver  Lane  to  the  water  side,  whence  they  were 
Occupation  embarked  for  Holland.  An  English  corporal's  guard  at  the 
by  thVEn-  sauie  time  took  possession  of  the  fort;  and  Nicolls  and  Carr, 
^  '^  with  their  two  companies,  about  a  hundred  and  seventy 

*  See  articles  at  length  in  Appendix,  note  S. 


RICHARD  NICOLLS,  GOVERNOR.  743 

itrong,  entered  tlie  city,  while  Cartwright  took  possession  chap.  xx 
of  the  gates  and  the  Stadt-Huys.  The  New  England  and 
Long  Island  volunteers,  however,  were  prudently  kept  at 
the  Breuckelen  ferry,  "as  the  citizens  dreaded  most  being 
plundered  by  them."  The  English  flag  was  hoisted  on 
Fort  Amsterdam,  the  name  of  which  was  immediately  Fort  Am- 
chanofed  to  "Fort  James."     NicoUs  was  now  proclamied "-aiied  Fon 

°  James. 

by  the  burgomasters  deputy  governor  for  the  Duke  of  York ; 
in  compliment  to  whom  he  directed  that  the  city  of  New 
Amsterdam  should  thenceforth  be  known  as  "  New  York."  city  of 

.         .       New  York 

To  Nicolls'  European  eye  the  Dutch  metropolis,  with  its 
earthen  fort  inclosing  a  wind-mill  and  high  flag-staff,  a 
pri.son  and  a  governor's  house,  and  a  double-roofed  church, 
above  which  loomed  a  square  tower,  its  gallows  and  whip- 
ping-post at  the  river's  side,  and  its  rows  of  houses  which 
hugged  the  citadel,  presented  but  a  mean  appearance. 
Yet,  before  lonar,  he  described  it  to  the  duke  as  "  the  bestNicoUs- 

.  .  ,  IT-     opinion  of 

of  all  his  majesty's  towns  in  America,"  and  assured  his  the  city, 
royal  highness  that,  with  proper  management,  "  within  five 
years  the  staple  of  America  will  be  drawn  hither,  of  which 
the  brethren  of  Boston  are  very  sensible."* 

The  Dutch  frontier  posts  were  thought  of  next.  Colonel 
Cartwright,  with  Captains  Thomas  Willett,  John  Manning, 
Thomas  Breedon,  and  Daniel  Brodhead,  were  sent  to  Fort  ^§  Sept. 
Orange,  as  soon  as  possible,  with  a  letter  from  Nicolls  re- of  Fort  or 
quiring  La  Montague  and  the  magistrates  and  inhabitants 
to  aid  in  prosecuting  his  majesty's  interest  against  all  who 
should  oppose  a  peaceable  surrender.  At  the  same  time. 
Van  Rensselaer  was  desired  to  bring  down  his  patent  and 
papers  to  the  new  governor,  and  likewise  to  observe  Cart- 
wright's  directions.  Counselor  De  Decker,  however,  trav- 
elling up  to  Fort  Orange  ahead  of  the  English  commission- 
ers, endeavored,  without  avail,  to  excite  the  inhabitants  to 
opposition;  and  his  conduct  being  judged  contrary  to  the 

*  New  Amst.  Rec,  v.,  567-570  ;  Alb.  Rec,  xviii.,  321-334  ;  IIol.  Doc,  x.,  129-148  ;  xi., 
164-274  ;  xii.,  57-64,  104-290  ;  xiii.,  51,  53  ;  Lnnd.  Doc,  ii.,  53,  64  ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii., 
103,  106  ;  Gen.  Entries,  i.,  Sa-.SS  ;  nusliwick  Rec.  ;  Smith,  i.,  27-32  ;  O'Call.,  ii.,  527-536; 
Bancroft,  ii.,  315  ;  Drisiusto  Classis,  15th  September,  1664  ;  Montanus,  in  Doc.  Hist.  N. 
Y.,  iv.,  116  ;  Heylin's  Cosmography,  p.  95S,  Kd.  1703,  by  Bohun. 


744  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XX.  spirit  of  the  capitulation  which  he  had  signed,  he  was  soon 
afterward  ordered  out  of  Nicolls'  crovernment.     The  earri- 
Fort  Or-     ^'^^  quictly  surrendered,  and  the  name  of  Fort  Orange  was 
^^^g^P^rt changed  to  that  of  "Fort  Albany,"  after  the  second  title 
ti'iept.     of  the  Duke  of  York.     A  treaty  was  immediately  signed 
wuh'the     between  Cartwright  and  the  sachems  of  the  Iroquois,  who 
sivages.     -y^gj-e  promised  the  same  advantages  "as  heretofore  they 
had  from  the  Dutch ;"  and  the  alliance  which  was  thus 
renewed  continued  unbroken  until  the  beginning  of  the 
American  Revolution.* 
^^3  Sept.         It  only  remained  to  reduce  the  South  River;  whither  Sir 
to^'he^""*    Robert  Carr  was  sent  with  the  G-uinea,  the  William  and 
^out     IV-  jvfigjjQjg^g^  ^jj(j  uq\i  j-j^Q  soldiers  which  are  not  in  the  fort." 
To  the  Dutch  he  was  instructed  to  promise  all  their  privi- 
leges, "only  that  they  change   their  masters."     To  the 
Swedes  he  was  to  "remonstrate  their  happy  return  under 
a  monarchical  government."     To  Lord  Baltimore's  officers 
in  Maryland  he  was  to  say,  that  their  pretended  rights  be- 
ing "a  doubtful  case,"  possession  would  be  kept  until  his 
30  Sept.     majesty  "is  informed  and  satisfied  otherwise."     A  tedious 
Reducuor  voyage  brought  the  expedition  before  New  Amstel.     The 
Amstel.      burghers  and  planters,  "after  almost  three  days'  parley," 
agreed  to  Carr's  demands,  and  Ffob  Oothout,  with  five 
others,  signed  articles  of  capitulation  which  promised  large 
privileges.     But  the  governor  and  soldiery  refusing  the  En- 
glish propositions,  the  fort  was  stormed  and  plundered, 
three  of  the  Dutch  being  killed  and  ten  wounded.     In  vio- 
lation of  his  promises,  Carr  now  exhibited  the  most  dis- 
graceful rapacity ;  appropriated  farms  to  himself,  his  broth- 
er, and  Captains  Hyde  and  Morley ;  stripped  bare  the  in- 
habitants, and   sent  the   Dutch   soldiers   to  be  "sold   as 
The  colony  slaves  in  Virginia."     To  complete  the  work,  a  boat  was 
kill.''  "'^"dispatched  to   the   city's   colony  at  the   Horekill,  which 

*  General  Entries,  i.,  35-13  ;  Lond.  Doc,  i.,  188  ;  ii ,  84  ;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  67, 149  • 
Renss.  MSS  Smiiu,  i.,  33  ;  aiile,  p.  81.  Captain  Daniel  Brodhead,  one  of  the  witnesses 
to  this  treaty,  was  a  native  of  Yorkshire,  in  England,  and  accompanied  Nicolls'  expedi 
tion  to  America.  Before  he  left  England,  he  was  married  to  Ann  Tye,  by  whom  he  ban 
three  sons,  Daniel,  Charles,  and  Richard.  On  the  14lh  of  September,  1665,  Captain  Brod- 
head was  appointed  by  Governor  Nicolls  to  command  the  soldiers  at  Esopus,  where  he 
remained  until  his  death.— Patents,  i..  159,  16T,  172.  New  Amsterdam  Rec,  vii.,354,35(i. 


RICH.\RD  NICOLLS,  GOVERNOR.  745 

was  seized  and  plundered  of  all  its  effects,  and  the  nia-  chap.  xx. 
rauding  party  even  took  "what  belonged  to  the  Quaking ~7~~ 
Society  of  Plockhoy,  to  a  very  naile." 

The  reduction  of  New  Netherland  was  now  accom- 
plished. All  that  could  be  further  done  was  to  change  its 
name ;  and,  to  glorify  one  of  the  most  bigoted  princes  in 
English  history,  the  royal  province  was  ordered  to  be  called 
"  Neav  York."  Ignorant  of  James'  grant  of  New  Jersey  to  New  York 
Berkeley  and  Carteret,  Nicolls  gave  to  the  region  west  of 
the  Hudson  the  name  of  "Albania,"  and  to  Long  Island  Albania 

11     1  •   1      „  and  York- 

that  of  "Yorkshire,"  so  as  "to  comprehend  all  the  titles" siure 
of  the  Duke  of  York.  The  flag  of  England  was  at  length 
triumphantly  displayed,  where,  for  half  a  century,  that  of 
Holland  had  rightfully  waved  ;  and,  from  Virginia  to  Can- 
ada, the  King  of  Great  Britain  was  acknowledged  as  sov- 
ereign. Viewed  in  all  its  aspects,  the  event  which  gave 
to  the  whole  of  that  country  a  unity  in  allegiance,  and  to 
which  a  misgoverned  people  complacently  submitted,  was 
as  inevitable  as  it  was  momentous.  But,  whatever  may 
have  been  its  ultimate  consequences,  this  treacherous  and 
violent  seizure  of  the  territory  and  possessions  of  an  unsus- 
pecting ally  was  no  less  a  breach  of  private  justice  than 
of  public  faith.  It  may,  indeed,  be  affirmed  that,  among 
all  the  acts  of  selfish  perfidy  which  royal  ingratitude  con- 
ceived and  executed,  there  have  been  few  more  character- 
istic, and  none  more  base.* 

So  passed  away  the  Dutch  dominion  in  North  America. 
Step  by  step,  we  have  traced  the  circumstances  of  the  dis- 
covery and  occupation  of  the  Batavian  province  ;  the  in- 
troduction of  the  religion,  jurisprudence,  and  customs  of 
the  Fatherland  ;  the  establishment  of  its  system  of  town- 
ships and  municipal  governments ;  the  transfer  of  local 
names  in  the  Old  World,  which  the  colonists  of  the  New 
always  remembered  with  affection ;  the  intermingling  of 
various  creeds  and  races  ;  the  growth  of  foreign  commerce ; 

*  General  Entries,  i.,  58,  59  ;  Hoi.  Doc,  xi.,  230,  231  ;  Lend.  Doc,  i  ,  196-206 ,  :  23 
61,05;  iv.,  178-180;  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  70-74,  83,  92,  105,  115,  345,  346  ;  O'Call.,  ii., 
537,  538,  593,  594  ;  B.  F.  Butler,  in  ii.,N.  Y.  II.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  27  ;  ante,  p.  701,  736. 


746        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XX.  aud  the  development  of  principles  of  civil  liberty  under  try- 
ing  and  adverse  circumstances.  We  have  noticed  the  ori- 
gin of  the  feudal  relation  of  patroons  and  colonists  or  ten- 
ants, and  the  predominance  of  the  better  class  of  independ- 
ent freeholders.  We  have  seen  the  aboriginal  red  man 
made  a  friend  and  an  enemy ;  and  we  have  observed  the 
progress  of  foreign  encroachment  ending  in  the  supremacy 
of  foreign  power. 

It  has  been  remarked  that  the  system  of  political  ad- 
ministration, which  at  first  oppressed  New  Netherland,  dif- 
fered widely  from  that  which  the  Dutch  colonists  enjoyed 
in  the  country  of  their  birth.  The  province  had  been  un- 
wisely intrusted  to  the  government  of  a  close  commercial 
corporation,  than  which  no  government  can  be  less  favor- 
able to  popular  liberty.  In  its  scheme  of  political  admin- 
istration, the  West  India  Company  exhibited  too  often  a 
mercantile  and  selfish  spirit ;  and,  in  encouraging  com- 
merce in  negro  slaves,  it  established  an  institution  which 
subsisted  many  generations  after  its  authority  had  ceased. 
Its  provincial  agents,  burdened  at  length  with  the  added 
care  of  Curaqoa,  generally  displayed  more  devotion  to  the 
interests  of  the  directors  in  Holland  than  to  those  of  the 
community  over  which  they  were  placed.  Nevertheless, 
the  popular  voice,  coming  far  across  the  sea,  was  heard  and 
respected  in  the  palace  at  the  Hague ;  and  the  grievances 
of  the  earnest  remonstrants  were,  fi'om  time  to  time,  abated 
by  the  interference  of  the  States  General.  Against  all  the 
withering  influences  under  which  they  laid  the  broad  foun- 
dations of  a  mighty  state,  the  colonists  of  New  Netherland 
steadily  achieved  their  own  purposes,  and,  by  degrees,  won 
for  themselves  the  franchises  of  their  brethren  who  remain- 
ed at  home.  In  the  end,  happier  principles  of  government 
prevailed ;  and  the  unnatural  spirit  of  bigotry  and  persecu- 
tion, which  for  a  time  blemished  the  administration  of  the 
province,  yielded  to  the  maxims  of  toleration  and  magna- 
nimity which  distinguished  the  people  of  the  Netherlands. 
Enjoying  an  admirable  geographical  position,  New  York 
possesses  annals  not  surpassed  by  those  of  any  other  state 


CHARACTER  AND  INFLUENCE  OF  ITS  FOUNDERS.  747 

in  the  American  Union  in  topics  of  varied  character,  ro-  chap.  xx. 
mantic  incident,  and  instructive  lesson.  Nor  does  her  ear- 
ly  history  relate  alone  to  those  confines  which  now  limit 
her  territory.  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Pennsylvania,  Con- 
necticut, Rhode  Island,  and  Massachusetts,  either  wholly 
or  in  part,  were  comprehended  within  her  original  bound- 
aries, and  they  all  partake,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  in 
the  interest  of  her  peculiar  story. 

The  pioneers  of  New  York  left  their  impress  deep  upon 
the  state.  Far-reaching  commerce,  which  had  made  Old 
Amsterdam  the  Tyre  of  the  seventeenth  century,  early  pro- 
voked the  envy  of  the  colonial  neighbors  of  New  Amster- 
dam, and,  in  the  end,  made  her  the  emporium  of  the  West- 
ern World.  Longer  lines  of  barges  than  those  which  once 
crowded  the  Batavian  canals  are  now  drawn,  from  the 
great  lakes  to  the  ocean,  through  those  magnificent  chan- 
nels which  the  experience  of  Holland  suggested,  and  the 
enterprise  of  her  children  helped  to  construct.  Buildings, 
as  solid  and  as  quaint  as  those  which  grace  the  "Heeren- 
Gracht,"  stood  as  monuments  of  the  olden  time,  until  ne- 
cessity, the  desire  of  gain,  or  a  distaste  for  what  is  venera- 
ble, doomed  them  to  destruction.  Cherished  holidays  yet 
recall  the  memory  of  the  genial  anniversaries  of  the  Fa- 
therland ;  and  year  by  year  the  people  are  invited  to  ren- 
der thanks  to  their  Grod,  as  their  forefathers  were  invited, 
long  before  Manhattan  was  known,  and  while  New  En- 
gland was  yet  a  desert.  Those  forefathers  humbly  wor- 
shiped the  King  of  kings,  while  they  fearlessly  rejected 
the  kings  of  men.  The  children  of  such  ancestors  were 
well  fitted  to  act  an  important  part  in  the  great  work  of 
opening  the  continent  of  America  to  the  civilization  of  Eu- 
rope. They  added  no  ignoble  ingredient  to  the  Union's 
blended  masses. 

The  emigrants  who  first  explored  the  coasts  and  reclaim- 
ed the  soil  of  New  Netherland,  and  bore  the  flag  of  Hol- 
land to  the  wigwams  of  the  Iroquois,  were  generally  bluft', 
plain-spoken,  earnest,  yet  unpresumptuous  men,  who  spon- 
taneously left  their  native  land  to  better  their  condition, 


748  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

thap.  XX.  and  bind  another  province  to  the  United  Netherlands.  They 
brought  over  with  them  the  liberal  ideas,  and  honest  max- 
ims, and  homely  virtues  of  their  country.  They  introduced 
their  church  and  their  schools,  their  Domines  and  their 
schoolmasters.  They  carried  along  with  them  their  huge 
clasped  Bibles,  and  left  them  heir-looms  in  their  families. 
They  gave  the  names  which  they  had  loved  in  their  Low- 
land homes  to  the  new  abodes  which  they  chose  among 
the  red  men  of  the  forest.  They  came  with  no  loud-sound- 
ing pretensions  to  grandeur  in  purpose,  eminence  in  holi- 
ness, or  superiority  in  character.  They  were  more  accus- 
tomed to  do  than  to  boast ;  nor  have  their  descendants 
been  ambitious  to  invite  and  appropriate  excessive  praise 
for  the  services  their  ancestors  rendered  in  extending  the 
limits  of  Christendom,  and  in  stamping  upon  America  its 
distinguishing  features  of  freedom  in  religion  and  liberal- 
ity in  political  faith.  Born  in  a  land  where  the  first  les- 
sons of  childhood  were  lessons  of  self-reliance  and  unceas- 
ing toil,  they  brought  into  the  wilderness  their  hereditary 
habits  of  industry  and  thrift,  that  they  might  win  and  en- 
joy the  rewards  of  active  labor.  Benevolent  and  social, 
they  desired  to  see  all  around  them  happy ;  the  enfran- 
chised African  might,  and  did  obtain  a  freehold ;  while  the 
negro  who  remained  under  an  institution  of  patriarchal 
simplicity,  scarcely  knowing  he  was  in  bondage,  danced 
merrily  as  the  best,  in  "kermis,"  at  Christmas  and  Pinck- 
ster.  Husbandmen  and  traders  they  chiefly  were.  Yet 
men  of  science  and  acquirement  were  not  wanting  among 
the  fathers  of  New  York.  Van  der  Donck,  Megapolensis, 
and  De  Vries  published  valuable  materials  for  our  early 
history ;  while  the  correspondence  of  Stuyvesant,  Beeck- 
man,  and  Van  Rensselaer  sufficiently  attests  their  scholar- 
ship and  capacity.  The  clergymen  of  the  province  were 
all  men  of  thorough  education ;  Van  Dincklagen,  Van 
Schelluyne,  and  De  Sille  were  learned  in  the  law ;  La 
Montague,  'Staats,  Kierstede,  Van  Imbroeck,  Du  Parck, 
Curtius,  and  Megapolensis  were  eminent  as  physicians  and 
sursreons.     In  the  annals  of  no  other  state  are  there  nanifes 


CHARACTER  AND  INFLUENCE  OF  ITS  FOUNDERS.  749 

more  patriotic  and  honorable  than  those  of  Kuyter,  Melyn,  chap,  xx 
and  Van  Curler. 

Although  Hollanders  formed  the  chief  element  in  the 
population  of  New  Netherland,  a  happy  intermixture  of 
other  races  contributed  to  insure  the  prosperity  of  the  state. 
Venerating  the  liberal  example  of  their  ancestral  land,  the 
first  occupants  of  the  province  looked  upon  commerce  as 
the  solvent  of  national  antipathies ;  and,  without  requir- 
ing uniformity  in  doctrine,  or  a  homogeneous  lineage,  they 
made  the  hearth-stone  the  test  of  citizenship,  and  demand- 
ed residence  and  loyalty  as  the  only  obligations  of  their 
multifarious  associates.  Thus  Walloons,  Vi^aldenses,  Hu- 
guenots, Swedes,  Roman  Catholics,  German  Lutherans, 
Anabaptists,  and  English  (Quakers  all  planted  themselves 
beside  the  natives  of  Holland.  The  Dutch  province  always 
had  both  popular  freedom  and  public  spirit  enough  to  at- 
tract within  its  borders  voluntary  immigrants  from  the 
neighboring  British  colonies.  If  the  Fatherland  gave  an 
asylum  to  self-exiled  Puritans  of  England,  New  Nether- 
land as  liberally  sheltered  refugees  from  the  intolerant  gov- 
ernments on  her  eastern  frontier.  And  in  the  cordial  wel- 
come which  her  earliest  burghers  gave  to  all  who  sought 
permanent  homes  among  them,  may  be  traced  the  origin 
of  that  large  and  comprehensive  spirit  which  has  made  the 
island  of  Manhattan  the  attractive  metropolis  of  the  Co- 
lumbian World. 

Much  of  what  has  been  written  of  American  history  has 
been  written  by  those  who,  from  habit  or  prejudice,  have 
been  inclined  to  magnify  the  influence  and  extol  the  merit 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  at  the  expense  of  every  other  ele- 
ment which  has  assisted  to  form  the  national  greatness. 
In  no  particular  has  this  been  more  remarkable  than  in 
the  unjust  view  which  has  so  often  been  taken  of  the  found- 
ers of  New  York.  Holland  has  long  been  a  theme  for  the 
ridicule  of  British  writers ;  and,  even  in  this  country,  the 
character  and  manners  of  the  Dutch  have  been  made  the 
subjects  of  an  unworthy  depreciation,  caused  perhaps,  in 
some  instances,  by  too  ready  an  imitation  of  those  provin- 


750  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Chap.  XX.  cial  chroniclers  who  could  see  little  good  in  their  "noxious 
neighbors"  of  New  Netherland. 

Yet,  without  undervaluing  others,  it  may  confidently  be 
claimed  that  to  no  nation  in  the  world  is  the  Republic  of 
the  West  more  indebted  than  to  the  United  Provinces,  for 
the  idea  of  the  confederation  of  sovereign  states ;  for  noble 
principles  of  constitutional  freedom ;  for  magnanimous  sen- 
timents of  religious  toleration ;  for  characteristic  sympathy 
with  the  subjects  of  oppression ;  for  liberal  doctrines  in 
trade  and  commerce ;  for  illustrious  patterns  of  private  in- 
tegrity and  public  virtue ;  and  for  generous  and  timely  aid 
in  the  establishment  of  independence.  Nowhere  among 
the  people  of  the  United  States  can  men  be  found  excel- 
ling in  honesty,  industry,  courtesy,  or  accomplishment  the 
posterity  of  the  early  Dutch  settlers  in  New  Netherland. 
And,  when  the  providence  of  God  decreed  that  the  rights 
of  humanity  were  again  to  be  maintained  through  long 
years  of  endurance  and  of  war,  the  descendants  of  Hol- 
landers nobly  emulated  the  example  of  their  forefathers  ; 
nor  was  their  steadfast  patriotism  outdone  by  that  of  any 
of  the  heroes  in  the  strife  which  made  the  blood-stained 
soil  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey  the  Netherlands  of 
America. 


APPENDIX. 


Note  A,  Chapter  I.,  page  31-35. 
The  foUowins  account  of  the  first  arrival  of  Europeans  in  New  Yorlv  is  taken  from  a  manuscript 
communicated  by  the  Reverend  John  Heckewelder  to  tlie  Reverend  Doctor  Miller,  in  ISOI,  and  by 
him  deposited  in  the  library  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society.  Mr.  Heckewelder  was  a  Moravian 
missionary  among  the  Pennsylvania  Indians  ;  and  he  states  that  his  account  "  is  verbatim  as  it  was 
related  to  me  by  aged  and  respected  Delawares,  Monseys,  and  Mahicanni  (otherwise  called  Mohe- 
gans,  Mahicanders)  near  forty  years  ago,"  or  about  1700.  "A  long  time  ago,  when  there  was  no 
such  thing  known  to  the  Indians  as  people  with  a  tvhite  skin  (their  expression),  some  Indians  who 
had  been  out  a  fishing,  and  where  the  sea  widens,  espied  at  a  great  distance  something  remarkably 
large  swimming  or  floating  on  the  water,  and  such  as  they  had  never  seen  before.  They  immediately, 
returning  to  the  shore,  apprised  their  countrymen  of  what  they  had  see/i,  and  pressed  them  to  go  out 
.vith  them  and  discover  what  it  might  be.  These  together  hurried  out,  and  saw,  to  their  great  sur- 
prise, the  phenomenon,  but  could  not  agree  what  it  might  be  ;  some  concluding  it  either  to  be  an 
uncommon  large  fish  or  other  animal,  while  others  were  of  opinion  it  must  be  some  very  large 
house.  It  was  at  length  agreed  among  those  who  were  spectators  that,  as  this  phenomenon  moved 
toward  the  land,  whether  or  not  it  was  an  animal,  or  any  thing  that  had  life  in  it,  it  would  be  well 
to  inform  all  the  Indians  on  the  inhabited  islands  of  what  they  had  seen,  and  put  them  on  their 
guard.  Accordingly,  they  sent  runners  and  watermen  off  to  carry  the  news  to  their  scattered  chiefs, 
that  these  might  send  off  in  every  direction  for  the  warriors  to  come  in.  These  arriving  in  numbers, 
and  themselves  viewing  the  strange  appearance,  and  that  it  was  actually  moving  toward  them  (the 
entrance  of  the  river  or  bay),  concluded  it  to  be  a  large  canoe  or  house,  in  which  the  great  Manitto 
(Great  or  Supreme  Being)  himself  was,  and  that  he  probably  was  coming  to  visit  them.  By  this 
time  the  chiefs  of  the  different  tribes  were  assembled  on  York  Island,  and  were  counseling  or  deliber- 
ating on  the  manner  they  should  receive  their  Manitto  on  his  arrival.  Every  step  had  been  taken 
to  be  well  provided  with  a  plenty  of  meat  for  a  sacrifice ;  the  women  were  accosted  to  prepare  the 
best  of  victuals  ;  idols  or  images  were  examined  and  put  in  order  ;  and  a  grand  dance  was  supposed 
not  only  to  be  an  agreeable  entertainment  for  the  Manitto,  but  it  might,  with  the  addition  of  a  sacri- 
fice, contribute  toward  appeasing  him,  in  case  he  was  angry  with  them.  The  conjurors  were  also 
set  to  work  to  determine  what  the  meaning  of  this  phenomenon  was,  and  what  the  result  would  be. 
Both  to  these,  and  to  the  chiefs  and  wise  men  of  the  nation,  men,  women,  and  children  were  look- 
ing up  for  advice  and  protection.  Between  hope  and  fear,  and  in  confusion,  a  dance  commenced. 
While  in  this  situation,  fresh  runners  arrive,  declaring  it  to  be  a  house  of  various  colors,  and 
crowded  with  living  creatures.  It  now  appears  to  be  certain  that  it  is  the  great  Manitto,  bringing 
Ihem  some  kind  of  game  such  as  they  had  not  before.  But  other  runners  soon  after  arrivinc,  de- 
clare it  a  large  house  of  various  colors,  full  of  people,  yet  of  quite  a  different  color  than  they  (the 
Indians)  are  of;  that  they  were  also  dressed  in  a  different  manner  from  them  ;  and  that  one,  in  par- 
ticular, appeared  altogether  red,  which  must  be  the  Manitto  liimsolf.  They  are  soon  hailed  from 
the  vessel,  though  in  a  language  they  do  not  understand,  yet  they  shout  (or  yell)  in  their  way. 
Many  are  for  running  off  to  the  woods,  but  are  pressed  by  others  to  stay,  in  order  not  to  give  offense 
to  their  visitor,  who  could  find  them  out,  and  might  destroy  them.  The  house  (or  large  canoe  as 
some  will  have  it)  stops,  and  a  smaller  canoe  comes  ashore  with  the  red  man  and  some  jthers  in  it 
Some  stay  by  this  canoe  to  guard  it.  The  chiefs  and  wise  men  (or  counselors)  had  composed  a 
large  circle  into  which  the  red-clothed  man  with  two  others  approach.  He  salutes  them  with  friend- 
ly countenance,  and  they  return  the  salute  after  their  manner.  They  are  lost  in  admiration  both  as 
to  the  color  of  the  skin  of  these  whites,  as  also  to  their  manner  of  dress  ;  yet  most  as  to  the  habit 
of  him  who  wore  the  red  clothes,  which  shone  with  something  [lace  7]  they  could  not  account  for. 
He  must  be  the  great  Manitto  (Supreme  Being),  they  think ;  but  why  should  he  have  a  white  skin  ? 
A  large,  elegant  hock  hack  (a  gourd  or  decanter)  is  brought  forward  by  one  of  the  supposed  Manit- 
lo's  servants,  and  from  this  a  substance  is  poured  out  into  a  small  cup  or  glass,  and  handed  to  tht 


752  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Manitto.  The  (expected)  Manitto  drinks,  has  the  glass  filled  again,  and  hands  it  to  the  chief  next  to 
him  to  drink.  The  chief  receives  the  glass,  but  only  smells  at  it,  and  passes  it  on  to  the  ne.xt  chief, 
>vho  does  the  same.  The  glass  thus  passes  through  the  circle  without  the  contents  being  tasted  by 
any  one  ;  and  is  on  the  point  of  being  returned  again  to  the  red-clothed  man,  when  one  of  their  num 
ber,  a  spirited  man  and  great  warrior,  jumps  up,  harangues  the  assembly  on  the  impropriety  of  re- 
turning the  glass  with  the  contents  in  it ;  that  the  same  was  handed  them  by  the  Manitto  in  order 
that  they  should  drink  it,  as  he  himself  had  done  before  them  ;  that  this  would  please  him  ;  but  to 
return  what  he  had  given  to  them  might  provoke  him,  and  be  the  cause  of  their  being  destroyed  by 
him.  And  that  since  he  believed  it  for  the  good  of  the  nation  that  the  contents  offered  them  should 
be  drank,  and  as  no  one  was  willing  to  drink  it,  he  would,  let  the  consequence  be  what  it  would  ; 
and  that  it  was  better  for  one  man  to  die  than  for  a  whole  nation  to  be  destroyed.  He  then  took  the 
glass,  and,  bidding  the  assembly  a  farewell,  drank  it  off.  Every  eye  was  fi.xed  on  their  resolute  ccm- 
panion,  to  see  what  an  effect  this  would  have  upon  him ;  and  he  soon  beginning  to  stagger  about,  and 
at  last  dropping  to  the  ground,  they  bemoan  him.  He  falls  into  a  sleep,  and  they  view  him  as  expir- 
ing. He  awakes  again,  jumps  up,  and  declares  that  he  never  before  felt  himself  so  happy  as  after  he 
had  drank  the  cup.  He  wishes  for  more.  His  wish  is  granted ;  and  the  whole  assembly  soon  join 
him,  and  become  intoxicated.  After  this  general  intoxication  had  ceased  (during  which  time  the 
whites  had  confined  themselves  to  their  vessel),  the  man  with  the  red  clothes  returned  again  to  them, 
and  distributed  presents  among  them,  to  wit,  beads,  axes,  hoes,  stockings,  &c.  They  say  that  they 
had  become  familiar  to  each  other,  and  were  made  to  understand  by  signs  that  they  now  would  return 
home,  but  would  visit  them  next  year  again,  when  they  would  bring  them  more  presents,  and  stay 
with  them  awhile  ;  but  that,  as  they  could  not  live  without  eating,  they  should  then  want  a  little  land 
of  them,  to  sow  some  seeds,  in  order  to  raise  herbs  to  put  in  their  broth." — Heckewelder,  in  ii.,  N.  Y. 
H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  71-73;  and  in  Moulton,  252-254.  Thus  Indian  tradition  confirms  and  amplifies  the 
authentic  accounts  of  the  revel  on  board  the  Half  Moon  as  she  was  exploring  the  Hudson  River.  The 
tradition,  however,  fabulously  perverting  history,  fixes  the  scene  of  the  event  at  Manhattan  Island  ; 
and  Mr.  Heckewelder  adds,  that  the  Delawares  derive  the  name  of  the  island  from  the  "  general  intox- 
isation"'  which,  according  to  their  tradition,  occurred  there.  But  the  Albany  records  (xviii.,34fe)  au- 
thoritatively declare  that  it  was  so  called  "  after  the  ancient  name  of  the  tribe  of  savages  among  whom 
the  Dutch  first  settled  themselves."  Besides,  it  appears  very  clearly  from  Juet's  journal  of  Hudson's 
voyage,  that  the  scene  of  the  revelry  was  in  the  cabin  of  the  Half  Moon,  vihile  she  was  at  anchor  near 
Albany  ;  and  it  does  not  appear  that  Hudson  landed  on  Manhattan  Island  at  all.  See  also  Schoolcraft, 
in  N.  y.  H.  S.  Proc,  1S44,  App.,  06 ;  N.  Y.  Lit.  World,  No.  322,  p.  271 ;  N.  A.  Rev.,  ix.,  1C3-1CJ.' 

Note  B,  Chapter  I.,  page  36. 

'•  The  country  of  which  we  propose  to  speak  was  first  discovered,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1609,  by 
the  ship  Half  Moon,  of  which  Henry  Hudson  was  master  and  supercargo,  at  the  expense  of  the  char- 
tered East  India  Company,  though  in  search  of  a  different  object  [a  northwest  passage  to  China].  It 
was  subsequently  called  New  Netherland  by  our  people,  and  very  justly,  as  it  was  first  discovered 
and  possessed  by  Netherlanders,  and  at  their  cost ;  so  that  even  at  the  present  day,  those  natives  of 
the  country  who  are  so  old  as  to  recollect  when  the  Dutch  ships  first  came  here,  declare  that  when 
they  saw  tnem  they  did  not  know  what  to  make  of  them,  and  could  not  comprehend  whether  they 
came  down  from  heaven  or  were  of  the  devil.  Some  of  them,  when  the  first  one  arrived,  even  imag- 
ined it  to  be  a  fish,  or  some  monster  of  the  sea,  and  accordingly  a  strange  report  of  it  spread  over  the 
whole  land.  We  have  also  heard  the  Indians  frequently  say  that  they  knew  nothing  of  any  other 
part  of  the  world,  or  any  other  people  than  their  own,  before  the  arrival  of  the  Netherlanders.  For 
these  reasons,  therefore,  and  on  account  of  the  similarity  of  climate,  situation,  and  fertility,  this  place 
is  rightly  called  New  Netherland." — Holland  Documents,  volume  iv.,  page  71  ;  Van  der  Donck's  "  Ver- 
toogh  van  Nieuw  Nederlandt,"  translated  by  Mr.  Murphy,  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  261,  262 ;  ante, 
p.  512. 

"  That  this  country  was  first  discovered  by  the  Netherlanders  is  evident  and  clear  from  the  fact 
that  the  Indians  or  natives  of  the  land,  many  of  whom  are  still  living,  and  with  whom  I  have  con- 
versed, declare  freely  that  they  are  old  enough  to  remember  distinctly  that  before  the  arrival  of  our 
Netherland's  ship  the  Half  Moon,  in  the  year  1609,  they,  the  natives,  did  not  know  that  there  were 
any  other  people  in  the  world  than  those  who  were  like  their  neighbors  round  about  them,  much  less 
any  people  who  differed  from  them  so  much  in  race  and  fashion  as  we  did.  Their  men  were  bare  on 
the  breast  and  about  the  mouth,  and  their  women,  like  ours,  very  hairy  ;  they  were  unclothed,  and  al- 
most naked,  especially  in  summer,  and  we  were  all  the  time  clad  and  covered.  When  some  of  them 
first  saw  our  ship  approaching  afar  off,  they  did  not  know  what  to  think  about  her,  but  stood  in  dee 


APPENDIX.  753 

and  solemn  amazement,  wonilering  whether  it  was  a  spook  or  apparition,  and  whether  it  came  from 
heaven  or  from  hell.  Others  of  them  supposed  that  it  might  bt  a  strange  fish  or  sea  monster.  They 
supposed  these  on  board  to  be  rather  devils  than  human  beings.  Thus  they  differed  among  each 
other  in  opinion.  A  strange  report  soon  spread  through  their  country  about  our  visit,  and  created 
great  talk  and  comment  among  all  the  Indians.  This  we  have  heard  several  Indians  testify  ;  which 
we  hold  to  be  a  certain  proof  that  the  Dutch  were  the  first  discoverers  and  settlers  of  New  Nether- 
land.  For  there  are  Indians  in  the  country  who  remember  over  one  hundred  years  ;  and  so,  if  there 
had  been  any  other  people  there  before  us,  they  would  have  known  something  of  them ;  and  if  thay 
had  not  seen  them  themselves,  they  would  at  least  have  heard  of  them  from  their  forefathers." — Van 
der  Donck's  Description  of  New  Netherland,  page  3,  the  first  edition  of  which  was  published  at  Am- 
sterdam in  1G55 ;  ante,  p.  501,  note.     An  imperfect  translation  is  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  137. 


Note  C,  Chapter  II.,  page  44. 

Heckewelder,  in  continuing  his  traditionary  account,  as  given  in  note  A,  says:  "The  vessel  at 
rived  the  season  following  [1610],  and  they  were  much  rejoiced  at  seeing  each  other.  But  the  whites 
laughed  at  them  (the  natives),  seeing  they  knew  not  the  uss  of  the  axes,  hoes,  &c.,  they  had  given 
them,  they  having  had  these  hanging  to  their  breasts  as  ornaments,  and  the  stockings  they  had  made 
use  of  as  tobacco  pouches.  The  whites  now  put  handles  or  helves  in  the  former,  and  cut  trees  down 
before  their  eyes,  and  dug  the  ground,  and  showed  them  the  use  of  the  stockings.  Here,  they  say,  a 
general  laughter  ensued  among  the  Indians,  that  they  had  remained  for  so  long  a  time  ignorant  of  the 
use  of  so  valuable  implements,  and  had  borne  with  the  weight  of  such  heavy  metal  hanging  to  their 
necks  for  such  a  length  of  time.  They  took  every  white  man  they  saw  for  a  Manitto,  yet  inferior  and 
attendant  to  the  supreme  Manitto,  to  wit,  to  the  one  which  wore  the  red  and  laced  clothes." 

"Familiarity  daily  increasing  between  them  and  the  whites,  the  latter  now  proposed  to  stay  with 
them,  asking  them  only  for  so  much  land  as  the  hide  of  a  bullock  would  cover  or  encompass,  which 
hide  was  brought  forward  and  spread  on  the  ground  before  them.  That  they  readily  granted  this 
request ;  whereupon  the  whites  took  a  knife,  and,  beginning  at  one  place  on  this  hide,  cut  it  up  into 
a  rope  not  thicker  than  the  finger  of  a  little  child,  so  that  by  the  time  this  hide  was  cut  up,  there  was 
a  great  heap.  That  this  rope  was  drawn  out  to  a  great  distance,  and  then  brought  round  again,  so 
that  both  ends  might  meet.  That  they  carefully  avoided  its  breaking,  and  that  upon  the  whole  it 
encompassed  a  large  piece  of  ground.  That  they  (the  Indians)  were  surprised  at  the  superior  wit 
of  the  whites,  but  did  not  wish  to  contend  with  them  about  a  little  land,  as  they  had  enough.  That 
they  and  the  whites  lived  for  a  long  time  contentedly  together ;  although  these  asked,  from  time  to 
time,  more  land  of  them  ;  and,  proceeding  higher  up  the  Mahicanittuk  [the  place  of  the  Mahicans,  or 
the  Hudson  River],  they  believed  they  would  soon  want  all  their  country."— Heckewelder,  in  ii.,  N. 
Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  73,  74  ;  Moulton,  254,  255.  Mr.  Heckewelder  adds,  with  reference  to  this  part  of 
the  tradition,  that  the  Dutch  turned  their  classical  knowledge  of  Queen  Dido  to  a  profitable  account ; 
and  the  legend  of  the  Delawares  has  furnished  material  for  much  mirthful  remark.  It  appears,  how- 
ever, from  the  Holland  Documents,  i.,  155,  that,  in  the  summer  of  1626,  Director  Peter  Minuit  pur- 
chased the  whole  of  Manhattan  Island  from  its  aboriginal  owners  for  sixty  guilders,  or  about  twen- 
ty-four dollars  of  our  present  currency. — See  mite,  page  1C4. 


Note  D,  Chapter  II.,  page  51  ;  CnAPTER  VIII.,  page  227. 
Almost  every  writer  on  American  history  that  I  have  met  with  appears  to  have  taken  pains  to  per 
petuate  the  stereotype  error  that  "Lord  Delawarr  touched  at  this  bay  in  his  passage  to  Virginia  in 
1610."  The  earliest  authority  who  seems  to  affirm  this  theory  is  Sir  John  Harvey,  the  governor  of 
Virginia,  who  told  De  Vries,  in  16.33,  that  Lord  Delawarr,  "  several  years  before,"  had  been  driven 
in  there  by  foul  weather,  and  had  found  it  innavigable  by  reason  of  its  being  "  full  of  banks." — Ante, 
page  227.  But  Ilarvcy  does  not  mention  the  particular  year  ;  and  very  probably  he  confounded  Del- 
awarr with  Hud.son,  whose  mate's  journal,  printed  by  Purchas  in  1025,  states  it  to  be  "full  of 
shoals."  On  the  other  hand,  Lord  Delawarr  himself,  in  his  lettci  of  the  7th  of  July,  1610,  giving  an 
account  of  his  voyage  to  Virginia,  not  only  makes  no  mention  of  that  bay,  or  of  his  approaching  it. 
but  expressly  speaks  of  his  first  reaching  the  American  coast  on  "the  6th  of  June,  at  what  time  we 
made  land  to  the  southward  nf  oiir  harbor,  the  Chcsiopiock  Bay." — Mus.  Brit.  Har.  MSS.,  7009  p.  58  ; 
also  recently  published  in  the  Introduction  to  Strachey's  Virginia  Britannia,  p.  xxiv.  The  first  Eu- 
ropean who  is  really  known  to  have  entered  the  bay,  after  Hudsim,  was  Captain  Samuel  Argall,  who, 
after  losing  Sir  George  Somers  in  a  fog,  on  the  26th  of  July,  1610,  while  on  his  way  to  Bermuda  ran 

B  B    B 


754  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

toward  Cape  Cod,  whence  he  sailed  southerly,  until,  on  the  evening  of  the  26th  of  August,  he  found 
himself  twelve  leagues  from  the  Jersey  coast.  "  The  seven-and-twentieth  by  day,  in  the  morning," 
says  Argall  in  his  journal,  "  I  was  faire  aboard  the  shore,  and  by  nine  of  the  clocke  I  came  to  an  an- 
chor in  nine  fathoms,  in  a  very  great  baij,  where  I  found  great  store  of  people,  which  were  very  kind, 
and  promised  me  that  the  next  day  in  the  morning  they  would  bring  me  great  store  of  come.  But, 
about  nine  of  the  clocke  that  night,  the  wind  shifted  from  southwest  to  east  northeast.  So  I  weighed 
presently,  and  shaped  my  course  to  Cape  Charles.  This  bay  lyeth  in  westerly  thirty  leagues.  And 
the  southern  cape  of  it  lyeth  S.S.E.  and  N.N.W.,  and  in  thirtie-eight  degrees  twentie  minutes  of 
northerly  latitude.  The  eight-and-twentieth  day,  about  four  of  the  clocke  in  the  afternoon,  I  fell 
among  a  great  many  of  shoals  about  twelve  leagues  to  the  southward  of  Cape  La  Warr.  *  *  *  The 
one-and-thirtieth,  about  seven  of  the  clocke  at  night,  I  came  to  an  anchor  under  Cape  Charles."— 
Argall's  Journal,  in  Purchas,  iv.,  p.  1702.  Strachey,  in  his  "  Virginia  Britannia,"  p.  43,  states  that 
Argall,  "  in  the  latitude  of  thirty-nine,  discovered  another  goodly  bay,  into  which  fell  many  tayles  of 
faire  and  large  rivers,  and  which  might  make  promise  of  some  westerly  passage  ;  the  Cape  whereof, 
in  thirty-eight  and  a  half,  he  called  Cape  La  Warr>"  This  is  nearly  the  latitude  of  Cape  Hinlopen. 
As  Argall  remained  at  anchor  during  the  single  day  he  was  at  the  Cape,  he  probably  derived  his  in- 
formation about  the  large  rivers  which  emptied  into  the  bay  from  the  Indians  who  visited  him.  If 
Lord  Delawarr  had  been  there  two  months  before,  Argall  would  no  doubt  have  so  stated  it. 

The  name  of  Lord  Delawarr,  however,  seems  to  have  been  given  to  the  bay  soon  afterward  by  the 
Virginians.  Argall,  in  his  letter  to  Nicholas  Ilawes,  of  June,  1613,  in  Purchas,  iv.,  1764,  speaks  of 
hoping  to  find  "  a  cut  out  of  the  bottom  of  our  bay  [the  Chesapeake]  into  the  Delawarre  Bay."  Lord 
Delawarr  then  certainly  did  not  himself  enter  the  bay  "  on  his  passage  to  Virginia,  in  1010  ;"  and  it 
would  seem  that  he  never  did,  either  on  his  return  to  England  in  1611,  or  on  his  second  voyage  in 
1018.  In  "Royal  and  Noble  Authors,"  ii.,  180,  quoted  by  Bancroft,  i.,  152,  Lord  Delawarr  is  said  to 
have  died  at  WherwcU,  in  Hampshire,  June  7th,  1618.  On  the  other  hand,  he  is  stated  to  have  sailed 
a  second  time  from  England  in  April,  1618,  in  a  ship  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  tons,  for  Virginia.  At 
Saint  Michael's  he  was  "  honorably  feasted."  "  Departing  from  thence,  they  were  long  troubled  with 
contrary  winds,  in  which  time  many  fell  sick,  Ihirtie  died,  one  of  ichich  was  that  honorable  lord  of  noble 
memory.  The  rest  refreshed  themselves  on  that  coast  of  New  England  with  fish,  fowl,  wood,  and 
water  ;  and,  after  sixteen  weeks  spent  at  sea,  arrived  in  Virginia." — Purchas,  iv.,  1774  ;  Smith,  ii.,  34. 

Note  E,  Chapter  11.,  page  54 :  Chapter  V.,  page  140 ;  Chapter  XIV.,  page  485. 

Plantagenet's  New  Albion,  Heylin's  Cosmography,  and  Stith's  History  of  Virginia,  are  the  author- 
ities for  this  story  of  Argall's  visit  to  Manhattan.  Plantagenet,  after  stating  Argall's  expedition 
against  the  French  at  Nova  Scotia,  adds  that,  on  their  return,  they  "  landed  at  Manhatas  Isle,  in 
Hudson's  River,  where  they  found  four  houses  built,  and  a  pretended  Dutch  governor  under  the  West 
India  Company  of  Amsterdam,  share  or  part,  who  kept  trading  boats,  and  trucking  with  the  Indians  ; 
but  the  said  knights  told  him  their  commission  was  to  expel  him  and  all  alien  intruders  on  his  maj- 
esty's dominions  and  territories— this  being  part  of  Virginia,  and  this  river  an  English  discovery  of 
Hudson,  an  Englishman.  The  Dutchman  contented  them  for  their  charge  and  voyage,  and,  by  his 
letter  sent  to  Virginia  and  recorded,  submitted  himself,  company,  and  plantation,  to  his  majesty  and 
to  the  governor  and  government  of  Virginia."— In  ii.,  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Collect.,  i.,  334,  Mr.  Folsom  seems 
satisfied  of  the  truth  of  the  story  ;  while,  in  ii.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  ii.,  326,  Mr.  Murphy  asserts  that  it 
is  "a  pure  fiction,  unsustained  by  any  good  authority — though  some  writers  have  heaped  up  cita- 
tions on  the  subject — and  is  as  fully  susceptible  of  disproof  as  any  statement  of  that  character  at  that 
early  period  can  be." 

Singularly  enough,  the  only  authorities  which  afiirm  the  fact  of  Argall's  visit  to  Manhattan  are 
printed  English  works.  The  earliest  of  these— from  which  the  extract  given  above  is  taken— is  the 
'•  New  Albion"  of  "Beauchamp  Plantagenet,  Esqr.,"  published  in  164S.  This  imposing  pseudonym 
was  assumed — probably  by  Sir  Edmund  Plowden,  who,  as  grantee  of  the  Irish  patent  for  '•  New  Al- 
bion" in  1634,  liad  an  obvious  interest  adverse  to  the  Dutch  title  to  New  Netherland  ;  ante,  p.  381. 
Almost  the  whole  of  Plantagenet's  work,  in  fact,  is  now  generally  held  to  be  a  mass  of  absurd  and 
inconsistent  errors.  Heylin,  in  his  "Cosmography,"'  w'hich  was  published  in  1652,  seems  only  to 
have  adopted  and  embellished  Plantagenet's  fanciful  account.  Stith's  History  of  Virginia  was  orig- 
inally published  at  Williamsburg,  in  1747.  This  author  is  said  by  Mr.  Jefferson  to  have  had  access 
to  the  early  records  of  Virginia,  which  were  burned  at  Williamsburg.  Stith  also  derived  assistance 
l>om  the  MSS.  of  Sir  John  Randolph,  and  from  the  papers  of  the  London  Company,  which  were  put 
into  his  hands  by  Colonel  William  Byrd,  the  president  of  the  council.  These  papers,  however,  as 
Stith  mentions  in  his  preface,  commence  with  1619.     If,  instead  of  copying  Heylin,  as  he  does  alinos.' 


APPENDIX.  755 

^■•ord  for  word,  Stitri  had  published  the  submission  of  the  Dutch  at  Manhattan,  said  to  have  beer 
"  sent  to  Virginia  and  recorded,"  he  would  have  settled  the  question. 

It  is  e.xtraordinary  that  no  English  or  Dutch  State  Paper  corroborates  the  story.  Smith,  who 
speaks  of  Argall's  foray  gainst  the  French  in  Acadia,  does  not  allude  to  his  entering  our  harbor. 
Dermer,  wno  came  directly  from  Virginia  to  Manhattan  in  1620  (ante,  p.  93),  does  not  allude  to  any 
previous  visit  of  Argall,  who,  moreover,  was  not  knighted  until  1622.  In  the  application  made  tc 
King  James  I.,  in  1621,  the  Dutch  are  stated  to  have  entered  there  "the  year  past,"  that  is,  in  1G2(I 
{antCy  p.  140).  As  Argall  was  one  of  the  parties  to  this  application,  had  he  found  the  Dutch  seated  at 
Manhattan  in  1613,  and  had  he  enforced  their  submission,  he  would  no  doubt  have  stated  those  fact.s 
in  it.  Captain  .lolin  Mason,  in  his  letter  to  Sir  John  Coke,  of  the  12th  of  April,  1032  (a7ite,  p.  215;. 
states  that  ArguU  was  "preparing  to  go  and  sit  down  in  his  lot  of  land  upon  the  said  Manahattii 
River  at  the  same  time  when  the  Dutch  intruded,  which  caused  a  demur  in  their  proceeding,'"  and 
induced  the  Privy  Council's  instructions  to  Carleton  in  1621  ;  but  Mason  seems  to  avoid  stating  that 
Argall  was  ever  actually  at  Manhattan.-  N.  Y.  Col.  MSS.,  iii.,  17.  Bradford,  in  his  correspondence 
in  1627,  though  he  alludes  to  Argall's  surprise  of  the  French  settlements  in  1613,  says  nothing  about 
his  alleged  visit  to  Manhattan  ('intc,  p.  170).  Neither  does  Harvey  refer  to  the  subject,  in  his  con- 
versations in  1633  with  De  Vries  at  Jamestown,  where  the  submission  of  the  Dutch  is  said  to  have 
been  "  recorded"  (ante,  p.  227).  The  silence  of  all  these  authorities  upon  this  point  is  very  significant, 
and,  to  me,  conclusive  against  the  truth  of  the  story. 

In  fact,  Dermer  appears  to  have  been  the  first  Englishman  that  ever  visited  Manhattan  {ante,  p. 
94) ;  and  it  would  seem  that  Plantagenet  manufactured  his  statement  of  Argall's  visit  out  of  Dermer's 
authentic  accounts.  The  original  authority,  which  other  writers  have  followed,  is  thus  very  suspi- 
cious; and  the  absence  of  official  documentary  evidence  increases  distrust  to  such  a  degree,  that  I 
can  not  help  rejecting  the  whole  story  of  Argall's  proceedings  at  Manhattan  as  fabulous. 

Note  F,  Chapter  II.,  page  55. 

Heylin's  Cosmography,  book  iv.,  part  ii.,  is  the  authority  upon  which  Moulton,  344,  and  O'Calla- 
ghan,  i.,  77,  make  this  statement.  Ileylin,  however,  seems  merely  to  have  taken  and  embellished  his 
account  from  the  fabulous  "  Beauchamp  Plantagenet,"  whose  worth  as  an  authority  has  been  con- 
sidered in  note  E.  Bancroft,  ii.,  272,  is  very  cautious  in  his  text,  but  is  less  guarded  in  his  note,  that 
"  the  records  prove  there  was  no  fort  at  Albany  till  1615."  Father  Isaac  Jogucs,  who  was  at  Man- 
hattan in  1643  (ante,  p.  374),  says,  in  his  letter  of  the  3d  of  August,  1646,  that  "  the  fort  was  begun 
in  the  year  1615." — Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  23.  It  would  seem,  however,  that  there  was  no  fort  or  re- 
doubt on  Manhattan  Island  until  after  Dermer's  visit  in  1620,  or,  perhaps,  until  after  Director  Min- 
uit's  arrival  in  1626.  If  there  had  been,  Dermer  would  no  doubt  have  stated  the  fact,  which  he  does 
not.  Neither  De  Laei  nor  Wassenaar,  who  speak  of  a  fort  up  the  river,  say  any  thing  about  a  fort 
or  redoubt  on  Manhattan  until  1626. — Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iii.,  27,  35,  42.  There  is  no  fort  marked  there 
upon  the  "  Figurative  Map"  of  1614,  which  gives  the  dimensions  of  Fort  Nassau  on  Castle  Island  ; 
nor  upon  the  paper  map  of  1616. — See  notes  G  and  I.  Stuyvesant,  in  his  letter  to  the  government  of 
Massachusetts,  of  the  20th  of  April,  1660  (Alb.  Rec,  xxiv.,  167;  ante,  p.  673),  while  speaking  of  tlie 
building  of  the  fort  (Nassau)  on  Castle  Island  in  1614  (erroneously  stated  to  have  been  in  1615),  says 
nothing  of  any  other  fortification  until  after  the  West  India  Company  took  possession  of  New  Neth 
erland  in  1623.  In  his  letter  to  Colonel  NicoUs,  of  the  2d  of  September,  1664  (Smith's  New  York,  i  . 
22;  ante,  p.  740),  he  speaks  only  of  "a  little  fort,"  which  the  Dutch  built  "  up  the  North  River,  near 
Fort  Orange." 

On  the  other  hand,  in  a  memorial  of  the  West  India  Company  to  the  States  General,  on  the  25th  ol 
October,  1034  (Hoi.  Doc,  ii.,  13S),  it  is  afllrmert  that,  "before  the  year  1614,  one  or  two  small  forts 
were  built"  on  the  North  or  Mauritius  River.  In  another  official  report  of  the  company,  on  the  15th 
of  December,  1644  (Hoi.  Doc,  ii.,  36(-),  it  is  stated  that,  before  the  llih  of  October,  1614,  "two  small 
forts  were  thrown  up  there,  on  the  ISoutk  and  North  Rivers,  against  the  roaming  Indians."  Both  of 
these  statements  are  careless,  vague,  and  contradictory.  The  first  does  not  mention  that  either  of 
the  "  one  or  two"  forts  on  the  North  River  was  at  Manhattan  ;  the  second  refers  the  position  of  one 
of  them  to  the  South  River.  That  river,  however,  was  not  explored  by  the  Dutch  until  1616  ;  and 
there,  does  not  anpear  to  have  been  any  fort  there  until  1623. 

Note  G,  Chapter  II.,  pages  5'J,  CO;  Chapter  III.,  page  73. 
A  fac-simile  of  this  parchment  map,  which  I  found  in  the  archives  at  the  Hague  in  1841,  is  in  the 
Socretary  of  State's  office  at  Albany.     It  is  the  most  ancient  map  extant  of  the  State  of  New  York 


756        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 

and  the  neighboring  territory  to  the  north  and  east,  and  is  probably  the  one  to  which  De  Laet  (iii., 
cap.  viii.)  refers  as  the  "chart  of  this  quarter,  made  some  years  since."  The  sea-coasts  between 
Sandy  Hoolv  and  Penobscot  are  exhibited  with  great  care  and  detail  ;  and  the  portion  north  and  east 
of  Cape  Cod  will  compare  very  favorably,  in  point  of  accuracy,  with  Smith's  Map  of  New  England, 
first  published  in  1616.  Plymouth  harbor  is  described  by  Block  as  "  Crane  Bay,"  and  Boston  har- 
bor as  "  Fox  Haven."  Salem  Bay,  north  of  Marblehead,  is  laid  down  as  "  Count  Ilendrick's  Bay." 
Westward  of  the  "  Vlacke  Hoeck"  or  Cape  Malebarre,  the  coast  is  delineated  as  explored  by  Block, 
and  afterward  described  by  De  Laet.  Nantucket  is  called  "  Vlieland,"  and  Martha's  Vineyard  "  Tex- 
el."  between  which  and  the  main-land  lies  the  "  Zuyder  Zee."  South  of  the  Texel  is  "Ilendrick 
Cliristiaensen's  Island,"  now  called  "  No  Man's  Land."  The  western  entrance  to  Narragansett  Bay 
i.s  marked  as  "  Sloup  Bay,"  and  Point  Judith  as  the  "  Wapanoos  Point."  To  the  southward  are  "  Ad 
riaen  Block's  Island"  and  the  "  Visscher's  Hook,"  or  Montauk  Point,  the  eastern  extremity  of  Long 
Island.  The  coasts  and  rivers  of  Connecticut  are  delineated  with  comparative  accuracy.  Manhat- 
tai.  s  represented  as  an  island  without  any  fort ;  but  at  the  upper  part  of  the  "River  of  the  Prince 
Mi.:.rice"  Fort  Nassau  is  described  and  marked  as  upon  an  island.  According  to  the  reports  of  the 
Maquaas  or  Mohawks,  the  French  are  represented  as  coming  with  shallops  to  the  upper  part  of  their 
country  "  to  trade  with  them."  With  regard  to  the  parts  south  of"  Sand  Point"  or  Sandy  Hook,  and 
the  "  Round  Hills"  or  Highlands  of  Nevesinck,  the  map  is  very  imperfect.  The  Delaware  is  repre 
scnted  as  a  small  river  running  due  west  into  the  land,  at  latitude  39°  30';  and  neither  Cape  May  nor 
Cape  Hinlopen  are  named.  That  river  was,  in  fact,  first  explored  in  1616,  by  Cornells  Hendricksen. 
who  seems  to  have  presented  to  the  States  General,  the  same  year,  another  map,  which  is  considered 
in  note  I.  At  latitude  37°,  "  Cape  Charles"  and  "  Cape  Henry"  are  laid  down  on  the  parchment  map 
as  defining  "  the  Inlet  of  Chesapeake  ;"  and  "  New  Netherland"  is  represented  as  extending  from  Vir 
ginia  to  the  Penobscot,  east  of  which  lies  "  a  part  of  New  France." 

The  original  parchment  map,  which  is  executed  in  a  very  beautiful  style  of  art,  was  found  in  the 
archives  at  the  Hague,  annexed  to  a  memorial  to  the  States  General  by  the  "  Directors  of  New  Neth- 
erland," on  the  18th  of  August,  1616.  I  think,  however,  that  it  was  actually  prepared  two  years  be- 
fore, from  the  data  furnished  by  Block  immediately  after  his  return  to  Holland,  and  that  it  was  exhib- 
ited to  their  High  Mightinesses /or  the  first  time  on  the  11th  of  October,  1614.  The  charter  granted 
on  that  day  to  the  directors  of  New  Netherland  expressly  refers  to  a  "  Figurative  map  prepared  (ge- 
transfigeert)  by  them,"  which  described  the  sea-coasts  between  the  fortieth  and  the  forty-fifth  degrees 
of  latitude.  This  the  parchment  map  clearly  does.  It,  moreover,  defines  New  Netherland  as  lying 
between  New  France  and  Virginia,  according  to  the  description  in  the  charter.  The  map  was  prob- 
ably presented  a  second  time  on  the  18th  of  August,  1616,  when  the  directors  of  New  Netherland  ex- 
hibited their  memorial  for  a  further  charter,  to  which  it  was  found  attached  ;  see  note  I. 


Note  H,  Chapter  III.,  page  76;  Chapter  XX.,  page  710. 
According  to  Holland  Document,  xi.,  86,  the  States  General,  on  the  7th  of  February,  1665,  declared 
that,  "for  more  than  fifty  years,"  the  Dutch  had  "had  possession  of  Forts  Orange  and  Esopus." 
From  this  it  would  seem  that  there  was  a  Dutch  fort  at  Esopus  as  early  as  1614.  Moulton,  p.  347,  re- 
marks that,  about  1617,  some  Hollanders  are  said  to  have  "settled  among  the  Esopus  Indians."  De 
Vrics,  however,  who  sailed  up  the  river  in  1640,  was  at  Esopus  twice,  but  he  does  not  speak  of  any 
Dutch  settlers,  or  of  any  Dutch  fort  having  been  there,  which  he  would  scarcely  have  omitted  to  state 
it'  the  fact  had  been  so  {ante,  p.  302,  306).  No  fort  or  settlement  is  represented  there  in  Visscher's 
map  of  1655,  or  Van  der  Donck's  of  1656.  In  fact,  no  Europeans  seem  to  have  been  settled  at  "At- 
karkarton,"or  Esopus,  until  1652 ;  and  it  was  not  until  1658  that  a  village  was  palisaded  and  a  bridge 
thrown  over  the  Esopus  Creek,  at  what  is  now  Kingston  {ante,  p.  536,  649).  The  village  was  incor- 
porated and  named  "  Wiltwyck"  or  Wildwyck  in  1661 ;  and  soon  afterward  a  "  Ronduit"  or  Redoub 
was  built  upon  the  bank  of  another  creek  a  few  miles  otT,  near  its  confluence  with  the  river  {ante,  p 
690,  710;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv.,  41,  45,  60,  74,  87).  This  creek,  which  is  now  known  as  the  "Ron 
dout,"  was  originally  called  the  "Esopus  Kill."  Upon  Visscher's  and  Van  der  Donck's  maps  it  i» 
represented  as  the  "  Great  Esopus  River,"  communicating  with  the  upper  waters  of  the  Delaware, 
and  emptying  into  the  North  River  by  two  mouths,  the  southernmost  at  Rondout,  and  the  northern- 
most at  Saugerties.  This  error  would  scarcely  have  occurred  had  that  part  of  the  country  been  then 
occupied  by  Dutch  inhabitants.  What  is  now  called  the  "  Esopus  Creek"  was  formeriy  known  as  the 
"  Sager's  Kill"  {ante,  p.  714  ;  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  iv,,48, 77,  81).  It  runs  southeasterly  from  near  Pine 
Hill,  on  the  border  of  Delaware  county,  toward  Marbletown  in  Ulster  county,  where  it  bends  to  the 
north,  and,  flowing  past  Kingston  (at  which  point  it  approaches  the  Rondout  within  about  three  miles: 
•hrough  a  picturesque  valley,  empties  into  the  river  at  Saugerties.     One  of  the  b-anches  of  the  Rop 


APPENDIX.  757 

dout  (which,  above  -where  it  receives  the  VVallkill,  is  sometimes  called  the  Rosendale)  rises  near  the 
border  of  Sullivan  county,  whence  it  runs  northeasterly,  through  Ulster  county,  to  the  Noith  River. 
The  Bashes'  Kill,  one  of  the  tributaries  of  the  Nevesinck  River,  rises  near  the  same  point,  and  flows 
southwesterly  toward  Port  Jervis.  The  ancient  Indian  trail  from  the  Minnisincks  followed  the 
course  of  these  two  streams  ;  and,  in  selecting  the  route  of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Canal,  the 
white  man's  science  but  availed  itself  of  the  red  man's  sagacity. 


Note  I,  Chapter  III.,  pages  73,  78,  and  80. 
Besides  the  map  on  parchment,  mentioned  in  note  G,  I  found  in  the  archives  at  the  Hague  a  map 
on  paper,  a  fac  simile  of  which  is  also  deposited  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State.  For  various 
reasons,  some  of  which  are  given  in  N.  Y.  II.  S.  Proceedings  for  1645,  182-192,  I  think  that  this  pa- 
per map  was  first  presented  to  the  States  General  when  Captain  Hendricksen  appeared  before  them, 
on  the  18th  and  19th  of  August,  1616,  to  solicit  a  new  grant  of  trading  privileges  for  his  employers, 
the  "  directors  of  New  Netherland."  The  map  is  about  three  feet  long  and  one  foot  wide.  It  com- 
prehends the  sea-coast  from  the  southern  point  of  the  Delaware  Bay  (neither  of  the  capes  of  which 
are  named),  at  latitude  thirty-eight  degrees,  to  the  coast  of  Long  Island,  in  latitude  40°  35'.  "Ever 
Haven,"  or  Egg  Harbor,  is  distinctly  marked,  and  "  Sand  Hoeck"  is  laid  down  as  in  40°  30' ;  its  act- 
ual latitude  being  now  ascertained  to  be  40°  28'.  Within  Sandy  Hook  the  shores  of  New  Jersey  are 
represented  as  inhabited  by  the  "  Aquamachukes."  North  of  these,  about  Newark  Bay,  are  the  "  San- 
gicans,"  east  of  which,  about  Bergen  Point  and  Jersey  City,  are  the  "  Mechkentiwoom."  Above  the 
"  Manhattes"  (where  there  is  no  indication  of  a  fort)  are  the  "  Wikagyl"  tribe,  opposite  to  which,  on 
the  west  side,  are  the  "  Tanpans."  The  country  inland,  to  the  northwest,  is  represented  as  "  een  ef- 
fen  velt,"  or  a  level  field.  Then  comes  a  "  rack"  or  reach  in  the  river,  marked  "  Haverstro,"  or  Oat 
Straw,  north  of  which  is  the  "  Seyl- maker's  Rack."  The  bend  at  Caldwell's  is  marked  as  the 
"  Cock's  Rack,"  and  that  at  West  Point  as  the  "  Hoogh  Rack."  Next  above  is  the  "  Vosse  Rack," 
which  extends  to  "  Klinkersberg,"  or  Butter  Hill,  the  northernmost  of  the  Highlands,  on  the  west 
side  of  the  river,  opposite  Pollepel's  Island.  Then  follows  the  "Visscher's  Rack,"  and  on  the  east 
side  of  the  river,  about  Fishkill,  is  marked  the  tribe  of  "Pachami."  Above  what  is  now  Hyde  Park, 
an  island  is  laid  down  in  the  middle  of  the  river,  answering  to  the  present "  Esopus  Island."  On  the 
west  side  of  the  river,  about  the  present  counties  of  Ulster  and  Orange,  is  the  tribe  of  "  Waronawan- 
ka,"  and  on  the  opposite  shore  of  Dutchess,  which  is  marked  "  Esopus,"  that  of  the  "  Woranecks." 
Beyond  Upper  Red  Hook  is  the  "  Backer  Rack,"  and  near  Catskill  "  Jan  Plesier's  Rack."  The  flats 
and  shallows  in  the  river  are  distinctly  marked.  About  Hudson  is  the  "  Klaver  Rack"  or  Clover 
Reach,  north  of  which  is  the  "  Ooster  Hook."  Then  follow  the  "  Hinne  Hook,"  the  "  Ilerten  Rack," 
and  "  Kinder  Hook,"  or  Children's  Hook.  The  river  above  appears  full  of  small  islands  as  far  as  the 
■'  Stcur  Hook,"  or  Sturgeon  Hook,  about  Van  Wies"  Point.  North  of  this  is  an  island,  marked  "  Nas- 
sou,"  meaning  Fort  Nassau,  on  Castle  Island.  The  names  of  these  reaches  and  points  on  the  river 
seem  to  have  been  given  after  the  building  of  Fort  Nassau  in  1614,  as  none  of  them  are  marked  Ufion 
the  parchment  map.  On  the  east  side  of  the  river  are  the  "  Mahicans  ;"  inland  on  the  west  side,  and 
on  the  banks  of  the  Mohawk  River,  are  the  wigwams  of  the  "  Maquaas."  South  of  the  Maquaas  are 
the  "  Canoomakers,"  represented  as  inhabiting  the  shores  of  a  "  Versch  Water"  or  lake,  from  which 
a  river  appears  to  flow  southerly,  until  it  empties  into  the  Delaware  Bay,  near  its  southern  cape.  Along 
the  banks  of  this  river  are  represented  the  several  tribes  of  Senecas,  Gachoos,  Capitannasses,  Jotte- 
cas,  and  Minquas.  Upon  the  map  is  a  memorandum  to  the  following  effect:  "Of  what  Kleynties 
and  his  comrades  have  communicated  to  me  respecting  the  locality  of  the  rivers  and  the  places  of  the 
tribes  which  they  found  in  their  expedition  from  the  Maquaas  into  the  interior,  and  along  the  New 
River  downward  to  the  Ogehage  (to  wit,  the  enemies  of  the  aforesaid  Northern  tribes),  I  can  not  at 
present  find  any  thing  at  hand,  except  two  rough  drafts  of  maps  relating  thereto,  accurately  drawn 
in  parts.  And  in  deliberating  how  I  can  best  reconcile  this  one  with  the  rough  drafts  of  the  inform- 
ations, I  find  that  the  places  of  the  tribes  of  Senecas,  Gachoos,  Capitinasses,  and  Jottecas  should  be 
marked  down  considerably  further  west  into  the  country."  The  Delaware  River  appears  to  have 
heen  explored  as  far  north  as  the  Schuylkill,  which  is  represented  as  flowing  in  from  the  west.  On 
the  .lersey  shore,  above  the  mouth  of  the  river,  is  the  "  Sauwanew"  tribe  ;  above,  and  on  both  sides 
of  the  river,  are  the  "  Stankekans  ;"  and  inland,  north  of  the  Schuylkill,  are  the  "  Minquas." 

U|)on  a  comparison  of  this  map  with  De  Laet's  description  of  the  reaches  of  the  North  River,  m 
chapter  ix  ,  there  appears  to  be  a  remarkable  harmony  between  them.  De  Laet's  is  a  liltle  more  de- 
tailed respecting  the  upper  part  of  the  river  ;  but  I  think  that — besides  the  parchment  map— he  nijsl 
nave  had  this  or  one  taken  from  it  before  him  when  he  wrote,  as  he  follows  its  error  in  representing 
Esopus  on  the  east  side,  among  the  Waoranacks.    The  portion  inland  from  Fort  Nassau  is  of  coarse 


758        HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

represented  very  inaccurately.  Who  was  the  author  of  the  memorandum  quoted  above  (which  is 
written  in  the  court  hand  of  the  lime),  and  who  "Kleynties  and  his  comrades"  were,  there  are  no 
present  means  of  ascertaining.  Probably,  however,  the  latter  were  the  three  traders  of  the  company, 
who  are  stated,  in  Hoi.  Doc,  i.,  61 ,  to  have  left  their  employment  among  the  Mohawks  and  Mahicans 
at  Fort  Nassau,  and  set  out  thence  on  an  "expedition  into  the  interior,  and  along  the  New  River. 
downward  to  the  Ogehage,"  or  the  Minquas,  by  whom  they  were  taken  prisoners.  These  three  per 
sons,  Ilendricksen  states  in  his  report,  he  ransomed  from  the  Minquas,  "giving  for  them  kettles, 
beads,  and  merchandise." 

It  seems  to  me  that  this  paper  map  was  meant  to  illustrate  Hendricksen's  exploration  of  the  South 
( r  "  New  River,"  from  its  mouth  up  to  the  Minquas'  countrj',  where  he  ransomed  the  three  captive 
servants  of  the  company,  of  vi^hom  he  speaks.  When  found  in  the  archives  at  the  Hague,  the  map  had 
upon  it  no  mark  by  which  its  date  could  be  ascertained.  A  part  of  the  upper  corner  was  torn  off. 
Appended  to  the  memorial,  which  Hendricksen  presented  on  the  18th  of  August,  1616,  was  found  the 
parchment  map,  which,  as  explained  in  note  G,  was  probably  first  presented  by  Block  and  his  employ- 
ers on  the  nth  of  October,  1614.  That  map  exhibited  the  extent  of  the  Dutch  discoveries  up  to  that 
time,  and  represented  New  Netherland  as  extending  from  the  fortieth  to  the  forty-fifth  degree  of  latitude. 
After  having  served  its  purpose  in  explaining  the  original  bounds  of  New  Netherland,  and  in  aiding 
tlie  passage  of  the  grant  of  the  11th  of  October,  it  was  probably  taken  back  to  Amsterdam  by  the  as 
sociated  merchants  who  had  caused  it  to  be  prepared.  When  Hendricksen  arrived,  in  the  summer 
of  1616,  with  intelligence  of  his  new  discoveries  on  the  South  River,  his  employers  probably  annexed 
this  parchment  map  to  their  memorial  of  the  16th  of  August,  so  as  to  exhibit  the  extent  of  New  Neth- 
erland at  that  time.  It  thus  became  a  record  of  the  States  General.  The  company,  however,  wished 
to  obtain  another  grant  for  the  "  lands,  bay,  and  three  rivers,"  which  Hendricksen  had  just  explored, 
■'  situated  at  the  latitude  of  from  thirty-eight  to  forty  degrees  ;"  and  the  paper  map  seems  to  e.xhibil 
these  additional  discoveries. 


Note  K,  Chapter  V.,  pages  150,  152,  and  153. 

Much  embarrassment  has  been  caused  by  confounding  the  Timmer  Kill,  or  Timber  Creek,  with  the 
Cooper's  Creek,  in  the  translation  of  De  Vries,  in  i.,  N.  Y.  H.  S.  Coll.,  i.,  253.  I  am  indebted  to  Mr. 
Edward  Armstrong,  the  secretary  of  the  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society,  for  the  communication  of 
some  recent  investigations  made  on  the  spot,  the  result  of  which  appears  to  leave  little  room  to  doubt 
that  Fort  Nassau  was  built  upon  the  point  of  land  at  the  junction  of  the  Big  and  Little  Timber  Creeks, 
in  Gloucester  county,  New  Jersey.  As  Mr.  Armstrong  vrtll  probably  favor  the  public  with  a  paper  on 
lie  subject,  I  abstain  from  any  further  remark. 

The  statement  of  Wassenaar,  on  page  152  of  the  text,  respecting  Fort  Wilhelmus,  "upon  the  Prince's 
Island,  formerly  called  the  Murderer's  Island,"  is  certainly  very  obscure.  Not  having  been  able  to 
find  any  other  mention  of  Prince's  Island,  or  Murderer's  Island,  in  the  North  River,  I  thought  it 
might,  perhaps,  be  what  is  now  called  Esopus  Island,  about  three  miles  above  Hyde  Park  landing.  In 
iii3  autumn  of  1851  I  accordingly  visited  that  island  with  my  friends,  Messrs.  J.  J.  Astor,  Carey,  and 
Armstrong,  to  see  if  we  could  find  any  indications  of  a  fort,  said  to  have  been  "garrisoned  by  six- 
teen men  for  the  defense  of  the  river  below."  We  spent  some  very  pleasant  hours  among  its  soli- 
tary rojks,  but  found  no  satisfactory  evidence  that  a  fort  h»1  ever  ijeen  there,  although  we  all  agreed 
that  it  would  be  an  admirable  position  for  a  work  to  cominan  1  both  channels  of  the  river.  It  h;n 
since  occurred  to  me,  that  what  is  now  called  Pollepel's  Island,  just  atove  the  Highlands,  might  hav? 
been  the  spot.  I  do  not  know  that  it  was  ever  called  "  the  Murderer's  Island  ;"  but  as  tht.  "  Mur- 
derer's Creek"  empties  into  the  river  at  Cornwall,  in  Orange  County,  nearly  opposite,  it  may  b3  that 
that  name  was  also  applied  to  Pollepel's  Island. 

Note  L,  Chapter  VIII.,  page  263. 
In  this  and  in  preceding  chapters,  I  have  traced  thus  minutely  the  circumstances  of  the  early  set- 
tioment  of  Connecticut  by  the  English,  because  it  is  due  to  historical  truth  that  the  question  of  orig- 
inal Dutch  title  should  be  fairly  stated.  It  has  so  happened  that  most  of  the  histories  which  refer  to 
this  subject  have  been  written  by  New  England  people,  who  seem  to  have  been  too  much  influenced 
by  their  Eastern  prejudices.  Perhaps  one  of  the  most  remarkable  examples  occurs  in  the  Reverend 
Doctor  Trumbull's  History  of  Connecticut,  in  which  that  venerable  author  asserts  that  "the  Dutch 
were  always  mere  intruders."  A  candid  reviewer,  in  the  year  1818,  has  so  ably  considered  this  point, 
that  I  make  no  apology  for  quoting  a  few  sentences.  "The  conflicting  claims  of  the  two  colonies 
,vcre  the  occasion  of  a  bitter  controversy  between  them  for  the  space  of  thirty  years,  and  until  New 


APPENDIX.  759 


Netherland  was  reduced  to  subjection  to  the  British  crown.  Each  party  asserted  its  rights  with  ob- 
stinacy ;  and  both  suffered  severely  from  the  quarrel.  It  is  not  easy  to  discover  on  what  ground  the 
Dutch  were  regarded  by  the  first  settlers  of  Connecticut,  or  by  their  historian  [Trumbull]  at  this  day, 
as  'mere  intruders.'  They  had  made  the  first  discovery  of  Hudson's  River,  and  had  established  them- 
selves upon  its  banks.  They  had  obtained  a  patent  from  their  government,  who  had  as  good  a  right 
10  grant  lands  discovered  by  their  subjects  as  any  other  state.  This  patent  included  the  lands  on 
Connecticut  Kiver,  and  this  river  was  discovered  by  them  before  it  was  known  by  the  English  to  ex- 
'st,  and  before  the  grant  of  the  New  England  patent.  After  trading  with  the  Indians  for  several 
years,  they  purchased  of  them  a  tract  of  land,  and  built  upon  it  a  fort  and  trading-house  before  the 
country  had  been  taken  possession  of  by  the  English  ;  and  the  people  from  the  Plymouth  and  Massa- 
chusetts colonies,  when  they  attempted  to  drive  them  from  it,  came  without  a  shadow  of  title  from 
the  Plymouth  Company,  und'jr  whom  they  professed  to  claim." — North  American  Review,  vol.  viii., 
page  85. 


Note  M,  Chapter  IX.,  page  275. 

That  the  predecessors  of  Kiefl  had  official  minutes  of  their  proceedings  is  evident  from  the  allu- 
sions in  Albany  Records,  ii.,  50,  and  iii.,  291,  to  "the  records  kept  in  Director  Van  Twiller's  time." 
With  the  e.xception,  however,  of  one  volume  of  land  patents,  the  earliest  entry  in  which  is  dated 
12th  July,  1630,  these  records  have  disappeared.  The  colonial  and  provincial  records  from  the  time 
of  Kieft,  in  1638,  were  originally  kept  at  New  Amsterdam,  or  New  York,  whence  they  were  removed 
to  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State  at  Albany.  Most  of  those  which  relate  to  the  Dutch  period^ 
down  to  1664 — were  translated  in  1818,  and  compose  a  series  of  twenty-four  volumes,  quoted  as  the 
"Albany  Records."  A  great  number  of  Dutch  and  English  records,  however,  extending  from  1630  to 
the  Revolution,  remained,  until  a  year  or  two  ago,  without  having  been  catalogued  or  assorted  for 
consultation,  and  almost  inaccessible,  in  one  of  the  store-rooms  of  the  State  Hall.  These  are  now 
arranged  and  bound,  and  they  form  more  than  one  hundred  large  volumes. 

On  the  2d  of  May,  1839,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  the  Legislature 
passed  an  act  for  the  appointment  of  an  Agent  to  procure,  in  England,  Holland,  and  France,  the  orig- 
inals or  copies  "of  all  such  documents  and  papers  in  the  archives  and  offices  of  those  governments, 
relating  to,  or  in  any  way  affecting  the  colonial  or  other  history  of  this  state,  as  he  may  deem  im- 
portant to  illustrate  that  history."  Having  resided  some  time  in  Holland,  I  was  unexpectedly  hon- 
ored with  a  commission  as  Agent  under  that  act.  To  avoid,  as  far  as  possible,  the  inconvenience  of 
obtaining  duplicates,  1  then  spent  several  weeks  at  Albany  in  as  thorough  are-examination  as  there 
■was  opportunity  to  make,  of  the  principal  Dutch  and  English  records  in  the  Secretary's  office.  Three 
years  were  subsequently  occupied  at  the  Hague,  Amsterdam,  London,  and  Paris,  in  searchin"  their 
voluminous  records  ;  and  early  in  1645,  eighty  manuscript  volumes,  containing  nearly  five  thousand 
separate  documents,  and  comprising  the  official  correspondence  of  our  colonial  governors  and  offi- 
cers, were  added  to  the  archives  of  the  state  at  Albany.  Of  these  volumes  there  are  three  series. 
Sixteen,  obtained  in  Holland,  which  relate  to  events  between  1003  and  1G78,  are  called  "Holland 
Documents  ;"  forty-seven,  procured  in  England,  beginning  with  1614  and  ending  with  1782,  are  called 
"London  Documents;"  and  seventeen,  copied  at  Paris,  referring  to  occurrences  between  1631  and 
1763,  are  called  "  Paris  Documents."  Catalogues  of  all  these  documents  were  appended  to  the  Final 
Report  of  the  Agent,  and  printed  as  Senate  Document,  Number  47,  on  the  2Cth  of  February,  1845. 
Among  the  Documents  of  the  Agency  are  many  of  acknowledged  importance,  which  were  never  be- 
fore known  to  the  historian.  As  the  law,  however,  required  the  Agent  to  procure  all  papers  in  his 
judgment  "  relating  to,  or  in  any  way  affecting  the  colonial  or  other  history  of  this  state,"  several 
were  obtained,  which,  at  first  sight,  some  might  pronounce  to  be  superfluous.  The  chief  object  of 
the  agency— to  render  the  archives  of  the  state  as  complete  and  comprehensive  as  possible — was  al- 
ways kept  in  view  ;  what  was  deemed  to  be  a  sound  and  wise  discretion  was  exercised  ;  and  in 
many  cases  where  doubts  arose  whether  similar  papers  might  not  already  exist  at  Albany,  cither 
in  whole  or  in  part,  it  was  thought  best  to  secure  copies,  even  at  the  risk  of  apparent  redundancy. 
Under  an  act  passed  on  the  30th  of  March,  1849,  all  the  documents  procured  in  Europe  are  now  in 
progress  of  publication,  and  will  form  ten  quarto  volumes,  entitled  "  Nev/  York  Colonial  Manu 
scripts."  Several  of  these  documents  have  also  been  included  in  the  miscellany  called  "  Document- 
ary History  of  New  York,"  four  volumes  of  which  have  been  compiled  and  issued  under  the  direction 
of  the  Secretary  of  State.  It  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that,  in  these  volumes,  proper  references  have 
not  been  made  to  the  hook  and  page,  or  to  the  particular  place  where  the  original  of  each  document 
may  be  found,  and  that  a  chronological  order,  so  desirable  in  the  arrangement  of  materials  for  his 
lory,  has  not  been  observed. 


760  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


Note  N,  Chapter  IX.,  page  300. 
The  transcripts  of  Farrett's  release  to  Howe  on  the  12th  of  June,  and  of  Lord  Stirling's  confirma- 
tion  on  the  20th  of  August,  in  London  Documents,  i.,  60-65,  and  in  N.  Y.  Colonial  MSS.,  iii.,  21,  22, 
are  both  dated  in  1639.  It  is  difficult  to  account  for  these  palpable  anachronisms.  The  consideration 
stated  in  Farrett's  release  to  Howe  and  his  associates,  "  their  being  drove  off  by  the  Dutch,"  could 
only  refer  to  the  events  at  Schout's  Bay,  which  the  Albany  Records  fix,  beyond  dispute,  as  having 
happened  in  1640.  Winthrop,  ii.,  page  4,  also  refers  to  the  occurrence,  under  date  of  fourth  month 
[.Tune],  1640.  It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that  neither  Farrett's  nor  Lord  Stirling's  instru- 
ments, as  they  appear  in  the  "London  Documents,"  were  transcribed  from  originals,  but  from  cop- 
ies among  the  Board  of  Trade  Papers  in  the  State  Paper  Office  in  London.  The  originals  (if,  indeed, 
they  exist)  were  not  exhibited. 

Thompson,  in  his  History  of  Long  Island,  ii.,  53,  has  misapprehended  the  purport  of  Farrett's  pro- 
test of  the  28th  of  September,  1641,  which  is  quoted  at  length  from  Savage's  note  to  Winthrop,  ii.. 
page  5.  That  protest  was  not  made  to  express  Farrett's  "  disapprobation"  of  Howe's  proceedings  at 
Schout's  Bay,  which  he  had  himself  formally  authorized,  but  to  save  Lord  Stirling's  rights  against 
Tomlins,  Jinowles,  and  other  English  "  intruders"  upon  Long  Island,  who  had  gone  there  without 
nis  permission.  In  vol.  ii.,  page  52,  Thompson  states  that  Tomlins  and  Knowles  were  "principal 
men  in  the  expedition"  with  Howe.  These  persons,  however,  seem  to  have  had  nothing  to  do  at 
any  time  with  Howe  or  his  associates  ;  their  names  do  not  even  appear  in  the  list  of  persons  who 
afterward  settled  themselves  at  Southampton,  as  given  in  vol.  i.,  p.  327.  328. 

William  Alexander,  earl  of  Stirling,  was  born  in  Scotland  about  the  year  1580,  and  soon  became 
distinguished  as  a  poet  and  dramatist.  He  was  a  favorite  with  James  I.,  who  knighted  him  in  1614, 
and  in  1621  granted  him  the  territory  of  Nova  Scotia.  In  1625,  Sir  William  published  a  pamphlet, 
entitled  "An  Encouragement  to  Colonies,"  of  which  an  improved  edition  was  issued  in  1630,  under 
the  title  of  "  The  Map  and  Delineation  of  New  England,"  &c.  He  was  appointed  by  Charles  I.,  in 
1626,  to  be  Secretary  of  State  for  Scotland;  and  was  created  Earl  of  Stirling  in  1633.  Lord  Stirling 
is  generally  stated  to  have  died  on  the  12th  of  February,  1640  ;  but,  as  the  Old  Style  was  then  used  in 
Great  Britain,  this  means  1641  according  to  the  present  system  of  reckoning  the  year. 


Note  O,  Chapter  XII ,  page  418. 
The  following  extract  gives  a  curious  picture  of  ecclesiastical  affairs  at  Manhattan  about  the 
close  of  Kieft's  administration.  "  What  religion  could  men  e.xpect  to  find  in  a  person  [Kiefl]  who, 
from  the  3d  of  January,  1644,  to  the  11th  of  May,  164T,  would  never  hear  God's  word,  nor  partake 
of  the  Christian  sacraments,  doing  all  he  could  to  estrange  from  the  Church  all  those  who  depend- 
ed upon  him.  His  ungodly  example  was  followed,  in  like  manner,  by  his  fiscal,  Cornells  van  der 
Hoyckens ;  his  counselor,  Jan  de  la  Montaigne,  who  was  formerly  an  elder ;  the  ensign,  Gysbert  de 
Leeuw  ;  his  secretary,  Cornells  van  Tienhoven  ;  Oloff  Stevensen,  deacon,  and  Gysbrecht  van  Dyck ; 
besides  various  inferior  officers  and  servants  of  the  company,  to  the  soldiers  inclusive,  who  all  not 
only  no  longer  frequented  the  administration  of  the  communion,  nor  even  the  congregation  to  hear 
God's  word.  During  the  sermon  he  allowed  the  officers  and  soldiers  to  practice  all  kinds  of  noisv 
amusements  near  and  about  the  church,  such  as  nine-pins,  bowls,  dancing,  singing,  leaping,  and  all 
other  profane  e.xercises  ;  yea,  even  to  such  an  extent  that  the  communicants,  who  came  into  the  fort 
to  celebrate  the  Lord's  Supper,  were  scofTed  at  by  these  blackguards.  *  *  *  During  the  preparatory 
service  (proef-pedicatie),  the  Director  Kieft  several  times  allowed  the  drum  to  be  beat.  The  clergy- 
man, Bogardus,  having  therefore  requested  that  the  drum  might  be  beaten  somewhat  further  off,  so 
as  not  to  disturb  the  hearers,  was  answered  that  the  drummer  must  keep  on  there,  as  the  director 
bad  given  him  orders.  The  cannon  was  discharged  several  times  during  the  service,  as  if  he  had 
urdered  it  out  a-Maying;  so  that,  for  the  purpose  of  interrupting  the  audience,  a  wretched  villainy 
happened  against  God's  church.  In  the  new  church,  which  was  built  in  the  year  1642,  by  collections 
from  the  congregation,  and  the  roof  made  tight  in  the  year  1643,  there  might  have  been  preaching 
from  that  time  until  the  year  1647,  when  the  Director  Stuyvesant  came." — Breeden  Raedt,  p.  £2. 
The  probable  authorship  ol  this  work  is  suggested  in  an  article  in  the  International  Magazine  for 
December,  1S51,  page  5'J7,  and  in  a  note,  ante,  page  509. 

Note  P,  Chapter  XIII.,  page  446. 
The  Dutch  Declaration  of  Independence,  on  the  26th  of  July,  1561 — the  grandest  State  Paper  of  that 
age— abundantly  establishes  the  title  of  Holland  to  be  called  "the  mother  of  free  states."    The  orig- 


APPENDIX.  7(5  X 

inal  is  given  at  length  in  the  Groot  Placaatbook,  i.,  25  ;  and  in  Van  Metercn,  x.,  209  ;  Bor.,  ii.,  277  ; 
and  other  Dutch  histories.  Considering  its  great  importance  in  developing  the  progress  of  popular 
liberty,  I  venture  to  translate  an  extract.  See  also  Lord  Somers'  Tracts,  i.,  p.  323,  Sir  Walter  Scotfa 
edition  ;  Mr.  Everett's  Dorchester  Address,  1855,  p.  7G,  note,  and  his  Letter  to  the  Saint  Nichcla:; 
Society  of  Nevir  York,  2d  December,  1853. 

"The  States  General  of  the  United  Provinces  of  the  Netherlands  to  all  who  shall  see  or  read 
these  presents.  Greeting:  Whereas,  it  is  notorious  to  every  one  that  the  prince  of  a  country  is  es- 
tablished by  God  as  a  sovereign  chief  of  his  subjects,  to  defend  and  preserve  them  from  all  injuries, 
oppressions,  and  violences,  as  a  shepherd  is  ordained  for  the  defense  and  protection  of  his  flock  ;  and 
that  subjects  are  not  created  by  God  for  the  sake  of  the  prince,  to  be  obedient  to  him  in  all  that  he 
commands,  whether  it  be  pious  or  impious,  just  or  unjust,  and  to  serve  him  as  his  slaves,  but  that 
the  prince  is  made  for  the  subjects — without  whom  he  can  not  be  prince — in  order  to  govern  them 
according  to  right  and  reason,  and  maintain  and  love  them  as  a  father  his  children,  or  a  shepherd  his 
flock,  who  risks  his  person  and  life  to  defend  and  protect  them:  And  when  he  does  not  do  this,  bu' 
instead  of  defending  his  subjects,  seeks  to  oppress  them  and  deprive  them  of  their  privileges  and  ;in 
cient  customs,  and  command  them  and  use  them  as  slaves,  he  ought  not  to  be  deemed  a  prince,  but, 
a  tyrant ;  and,  as  such,  his  subjects,  according  to  right  and  reason,  can  no  longer  recognize  him  a.s 
their  prince,  especially  when  this  is  done  with  deliberation  and  by  the  authority  of  the  states  of  the 
country,  but  they  can  abandon  him,  and,  without  any  impropriety,  choose  another  in  his  place  as 
chief  and  lord  to  defend  them."  [The  Declaration  then  recites  the  conditions  upon  which  the  Dutch 
had  remained  in  allegiance,  and  the  grievances  they  had  suffered  from  the  Spanish  government.] 
"  We,  therefore,  make  it  known  that,  from  the  foregoing  considerations,  and  pressed  by  extreme 
necessity,  as  we  have  said,  we  have,  with  one  accord,  deliberation,  and  consent.  Declared,  and  do 
Declare  the  King  of  Spain  deposed,  ipso  jure,  from  his  sovereignty,  right,  and  heritage  in  these  coun- 
tries, and  that  we  have  no  longer  any  intention  of  recognizing  him  in  any  thing  touching  the  prince, 
or  his  sovereignty,  jurisdiction,  or  domains  in  these  Low  Countries,  and  that  we  shall  no  longer  use 
his  name  as  sovereign,  nor  shall  we  permit  any  one  thus  to  make  use  of  it."  *  *  *  "  For  we  have 
found  this  to  be  expedient  for  the  good  of  the  country.  And  to  do  this,  and  all  that  may  result,  we 
give  to  all  those  whom  it  may  concern  full  power,  authority,  and  special  command.  In  witness 
whereof  we  have  hereto  set  our  seal.    Given  at  the  Hague,  in  our  Assembly,  the  20th  day  of  July,  1581  " 


Note  Q,  Chapter  XIV.,  page  467,  488;  Chapter  XVI.,  page  549. 
TUe  records  of  the  city  of  New  Amsterdam,  which  were  kept  in  the  Dutch  language,  have  recently 
been  translated,  by  order  of  the  corporation  of  the  city  of  New  York.  They  form  five  manuscript 
volumes,  which  are  referred  to  as  "  New  Amsterdam  Records,"  and  consist  chiefly  of  minutes  of  the 
tegislative  and  judicial  proceedings  of  the  burgomasters  and  schepens.  Extracts  from  them  have 
been  published  by  Mr.  David  T.  Valentine,  the  present  excellent  Clerk  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  in 
the  several  annual  volumes  which  he  has  prepared,  under  the  title  of  "  Manual  of  the  Corporation  of 
the  City  of  New  York."  These  interesting  records  have  been  a  great  aid  in  the  preparation  of  this 
volume.  It  is  obvious,  however,  that  in  a  general  history  of  the  state,  many  points  of  local  interest 
must  of  necessity  be  rather  glanced  at  than  exhibited  at  length.  A  well-written  history  of  the  city 
is  much  desired  ;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  some  competent  hand  will  undertake  the  grateful  duty 
of  giving  it  to  the  public. 


Note  R,  Chapter  XX.,  page  732. 
Willem  Beeckman  was  born  at  Ilasselt  in  Overyssel,  in  1023,  and  is  said  to  have  come  to  New 
Netherland  in  the  same  ship  with  Stuyvesant  in  1047.  lie  had  six  children  by  his  wife  Catharine 
de  Bough,  one  of  whom  married  Nicholas  William  Stuyvesant,  a  son  of  the  director.  His  descend- 
ants have,  at  various  times,  held  responsible  public  trusts  in  this  state,  of  which  they  now  form  one 
of  the  most  respectable  families.  Beeckman  remained  at  Esopus  as  sheriff  until  1072  When  ine 
province  was  recovered  by  the  Dutch  in  1573,  he  returned  to  the  city  of  New  York,  c?r  "New  or- 
ange," of  which  he  was  chosen  a  schepen  and  burgomaster.  In  1079  he  was  made  alderman,  in 
which  post  he  remained  until  the  division  of  the  city  into  six  wards,  in  1683 ;  after  which  he  was 
elected  several  times,  until  1690,  when  he  retired.  He  died  in  1707,  in  the  eighty-fifth  year  of  his  age. 
"William"  and  "  Beekman"  Streets,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  still  preserve  the  name  of  one  of  its 
earliest  and  most  faithful  magistrates  {ante,  p.  548).  His  original  commission  as  vice-director  on  the 
South  River  {ante,  p.  652)  is  now  in  the  possession  of  his  descendant,  James  W.  Beekman  ;  and  his 
dispatches  to  Stuyvesant,  large  numbers  of  whicli  are  in  the  Secretary  of  State's  Olhce,  exhibit  him 
18  a  man  of  probity  and  liberal  views,  and  a  true  friend  of  religion  and  education 


762  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


Note  S,  Chapter  XX.,  taqe  742. 

"  These  articles  following  were  consented  to  by  the  persons  hereunder  subscribed,  at  the  govern 
»r's  bouwery,  August  the  27th,  Old  Style  [September  6th],  1604. 

"  I.  We  consent  that  the  States  General,  or  the  West  India  Company,  shall  freely  injoy  all  farms 
and  houses  (except  such  as  are  in  the  forts),  and  that  within  six  months  they  shall  have  free  liberty 
to  transport  all  such  arms  and  ammunition  as  now  does  belong  to  them,  or  else  they  shall  be  paid 
for  them. 

"  II.  All  publique  houses  shall  continue  for  the  uses  which  they  are  for. 

"  III.  All  people  shall  still  continue  free  denizens,  and  shall  injoy  their  lands,  houses,  goods,  where- 
soever they  are  within  this  country,  and  dispose  of  them  as  they  please. 

"IV.  If  any  inhabitant  have  a  mind  to  remove  himself,  he  shall  have  a  year  and  six  weeks  from 
this  day  to  remove  himself,  wife,  children,  servants,  goods,  and  to  dispose  of  his  lands  here. 

"  V.  If  any  officer  of  state,  or  publique  minister  of  state,  have  a  mind  to  go  for  England,  they  shall 
be  transported  fraught  free,  in  his  majesty's  frigotts,  when  these  frigotts  shall  return  thither. 

"  VI.  It  is  consented  to  that  any  people  may  freely  come  from  the  Netherlands,  and  plant  in  this 
colony,  and  that  Dutch  vessels  may  freely  come  hither,  and  any  of  the  Dutch  may  freely  return  home, 
or  send  any  sort  of  merchandise  home,  in  vessels  of  their  own  country. 

"  VII.  All  ships  from  the  Netherlands,  or  any  other  place,  and  goods  therein,  shall  be  received  here, 
and  sent  hence,  after  the  manner  which  formerly  they  were  before  our  coming  hitlier,  for  six  months 
next  ensuing. 

"  VIII.  The  Dutch  here  shall  injoy  the  liberty  of  their  consciences  in  divine  worship  and  church 
discipline. 

"  IX.  No  Dutchman  here,  or  Dutch  ship  here,  shall,  upon  any  occasion,  be  pressed  to  serve  in  war 
against  any  nation  whatsoever. 

"  X.  That  the  townsmen  of  the  Manhattans  shall  not  have  any  soldiers  quartered  upon  them  with- 
out being  satisfied  and  paid  for  them  by  their  officers,  and  that,  at  this  present,  if  the  fort  be  not  capa- 
ble of  lodging  all  the  soldiers,  then  the  burgomasters,  by  their  officers,  shall  appoint  some  houses  ca- 
pable to  receive  them. 

"  XI.  The  Dutch  here  shall  injoy  their  own  customs  concerning  their  inheritances. 

"  XII.  All  publique  writings  and  records,  which  concern  the  inheritances  of  any  people,  or  the  reg- 
lement  of  the  church  or  poor,  or  orphans,  shall  be  carefully  kept  by  those  in  whose  hands  now  they 
are,  and  such  writings  as  particularly  concern  the  States  General  may  at  any  time  be  sent  to  them. 

"  XIll.  No  judgment  that  has  passed  any  judicature  here  shall  be  called  in  question  ;  but  if  any 
conceive  that  he  hath  not  had  justice  done  him,  if  he  apply  himself  to  the  States  General,  the  other 
party  shall  be  bound  to  answer  for  the  supposed  injury. 

"  XIV.  If  any  Dutch  living  here  shall  at  any  time  desire  to  travaile  or  traffique  into  England,  or 
any  place  or  plantation,  in  obedience  to  his  majesty  of  England,  or  with  the  Indians,  he  shall  have 
(upon  his  request  to  the  governor)  a  certificate  that  he  is  a  free  denizen  of  this  place,  and  liberty  to  do  so. 

"  XV.  If  it  do  appeare  that  there  is  a  publique  engagement  of  debt  by  the  town  of  the  Manhatoes, 
and  a  way  agreed  on  for  the  satisfying  of  that  engagement,  it  is  agreed  that  the  same  way  proposed 
snail  go  on,  and  that  the  engagement  shall  be  satisfied. 

•'  XVI.  All  inferior  civil  officers  and  magistrates  shall  continue  as  now  they  are  (if  they  please) 
till  the  customary  time  of  new  elections,  and  then  new  ones  to  be  chosen  by  themselves,  provided 
that  such  new  chosen  magistrates  shall  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  his  majesty  of  England  before 
tliey  enter  upon  their  office. 

"  XVII.  All  differences  of  contracts  and  bargains  made  before  this  day,  by  any  in  this  country,  shall 
be  determined  according  to  the  manner  of  the  Dutch. 

"  XVllI.  If  it  do  appeare  that  the  West  India  Company  of  Amsterdam  do  really  owe  any  sums  of 
money  to  any  persons  here,  it  is  agreed  that  recognition,  and  other  duties  payable  by  ships  going  for 
tlie  Netherlands,  be  continued  for  six  months  longer. 

"  XIX.  The  officers  military,  and  soldiers,  shall  march  out  with  their  arms,  drums  beating,  and 
coulours  flying,  and  lighted  matches;  and  if  any  of  them  will  plant,  they  shall  have  fifty  acres  of  land 
set  out  for  them  ;  if  any  of  them  will  serve  as  servants,  they  shall  continue  with  all  safety,  and  be- 
come free  denizens  afterwards. 

"  XX.  If  at  any  time  hereafter  the  King  of  Great  Britain  and  the  States  of  the  Netherland  do  agreo 
that  this  place  and  country  be  redelivered  into  the  hands  of  the  said  states,  whensoever  his  majestie 
will  send  his  commands  to  redeliver  it,  it  shall  immediately  be  done. 

"XXI.  That  the  town  of  Manhattans  shall  choose  deputyes,  and  those  deputyes  shall  have  free 
"oyces  in  all  publique  aflfairs  as  much  as  any  other  deputyes. 


APPENDIX.  763 

"  XXII.  Those  who  have  any  property  in  any  houses  in  the  fort  of  Aurania  shall  (if  they  p!case« 
slight  the  fortifications  there,  and  then  injoy  all  their  houses  as  all  people  do  where  there  is  no  fort. 

"  XXIII.  If  there  be  any  soldiers  that  will  go  into  Holland,  and  if  the  Company  of  West  India  iij 
Amsterdam,  or  any  private  persons  here,  will  transport  them  into  Holland,  then  they  shall  have  a  safe 
passport  from  Colonel  Richard  NicoUs,  deputy  governor  under  his  royal  highness,  and  the  other  com- 
missioners, to  defend  the  ships  that  shall  tranaiport  such  soldiers,  and  all  the  goods  in  them,  from  any 
Burprizal  or  acts  of  hostility  to  be  done  by  any  of  his  majestie's  ships  or  subjects. 

"XXIV.  That  the  copies  of  the  king's  grant  to  his  royal  highness,  and  the  copy  of  his  royal  high- 
ness's  commission  to  Colonel  Richard  NicoUs,  testified  by  two  commissioners  more  and  Mr.  Win- 
throp,  to  be  true  copies,  shall  be  delivered  to  the  Honourable  Mr.  Stuyvosant,  the  present  governor, 
on  Monday  next,  by  eight  of  the  clock  in  the  morning,  at  the  Old  Miln,  and  these  articles  consented 
to  and  signed  by  Colonel  Richard  Nicolls,  deputy  governor  to  his  royal  highness,  and  that  within 
two  hours  after,  the  fort  and  town  called  New  Amsterdam,  upon  the  isle  of  Manhatoes,  shall  be  de- 
livered into  the  hands  of  the  said  Colonel  Richard  Nicolls,  by  the  service  of  such  as  shall  be  by  him 
thereunto  deputed  by  his  hand  and  seal. 

"John  de  Decker,  Robert  Carr, 

Nicholas  Varlett,  George  Cartwrioht, 

Samuel  Megapolensis,  John  Winthkop, 

CORNELIS  StEENWYCK,        SaMUEL  WlLLYS, 

Jacques  Cousseau,  John  Pynchon, 

Oloff  S.  van  Cortlandt,      Thomas  Clarke. 

"  I  do  consent  to  these  articles, 

"  Richard  Nicolls  " 

"  The  Director  General  and  Council  of  New  Netherland  to  all  who  shall  hear  or  see  this,  Greeting : 
Be  it  known  that  we  hereby  ratify  and  confirm  the  conditions  agreed  on  and  concluded,  on  the  sixth 
of  this  month,  between  our  commissioners,  the  Honorable  John  de  Decker,  member  of  our  council ;  Cap- 
tain Nicholas  Varlett,  Commissary  of  Wares  and  Merchandises ;  the  Reverend  Samuel  Megapolensis ; 
he  Honorable  Cornelia  Steenwyck,  Burgomaster  ;  Oloff  Stevensen  van  Cortlandt,  old  Burgomaster ; 
and  Jacques  Cousseau,  old  Schepen  of  this  city,  with  the  commissioners  of  the  Honorable  Governor 
Richard  Nicolls,  commander  of  his  Britannic  majesty's  frigates  and  land  forces  who  besieged  this  for- 
tress and  city,  namely.  Sir  Robert  Carr,  George  Gartwright,  John  Winthrop,  Samuel  Willy?,  John 
Pynchon,  and  Thomas  Clarke,  and  we  promise  to  execute  the  same.  Done  in  Fort  Amsterdam,  iu 
New  Netherland,  on  Sth  September,  1GC4. 

"P.  Stuyvesant. 
"  N.  DE  SiLLE,  Jacob  Backer, 

Martin  Kkygieb,  Timotheus  Gabey, 

Paulus  Leendbktseu  tan  dee  Gsist,        Isaac  Geevenraet, 

PlETEE  TONNEMAN,  NiCOLAS   DE   MeYER. 

"  I  certifie  the  same.  Cornelis  van  Ruyven,  Secretary." 

See  references  to  originals,  pnges  CO-CO,  in  Brodhead's  Commemorative  Oration  on  the  Conquest 
of  New  Netherland,  published  by  the  New  York  Historical  Society  in  1SC4. 


Additional  Note,  pages  501,  G5G,  CSO,  093,  723,734. 

In  the  year  18C5,  the  "  Bradford  Club,"  in  the  city  of  New  York,  issued  a  handsome  volume  enti- 
tled "Anthology  of  New  Netherland,"  etc.,  by  Henry  C.  Murphy,  of  Brooklyn.  This  volume  is  made 
up  of  sketches  of,  and  extracts  from  the  poems  of  Jacob  Steendam,  Henricus  Selyns,  and  Nicasius  de 
Sille,  whom  Mr.  Murphy  designates  "the  poets  of  New  Netherland." 

In  this  laborious  work,  Mr.  Murphy  has  done  great  service  to  the  early  hi.=tory  of  our  country  by 
demonstrating  that  there  were  in  New  Netherland  and  New  York,  between  1G52  and  1701,  three  pc:'- 
Eons— namely,  Steendam,  Selyns,  and  De  Sille — wlio.'-e  poetical  writings  were  at  least  equal  to  those 
of  any  New  Engliah  or  other  British  American  colonial  poets  of  that  period. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  very  limited  edition  of  Mr.  Murphy's  "Anthology"  deprives  many, 
who  would  be  glad  to  have  it,  of  the  possession  of  this  curious  work  ;  but  its  rare  excellence  only  in- 
creases its  value. 


I  N  DEX. 


Aibenaquis,  attai-ked  by  the  Moliawks,  704,  732, 
733. 

Academy  contemplated  at  New  Amsterdam,  516, 
538  ;  asked  for  by  the  people,  640,  641 ;  estab- 
lished at  New  Amsterdam ;  Curtius  rector  of, 
656  ;  Luyck  rector  of,  694  ;  its  high  reputation, 
694 ;  children  sent  to  it  from  Fort  Orange,  South 
River,  and  Virginia,  694. 

Achter  Cut,  or  Achter  Kol,  313  ;  see  Ilackinsack. 

Admiralty,  the  Dutch,  450. 

Adquidnecke,  332  ;  see  Rhode  Island. 

Adriaensen,  Mary  n,  at  Renssclaerswyck,  244, 343 ; 
one  of  the  Twelve  Men,  317  ;  counsels  Kiefl  to 
attack  the  savages,  350  ;  attacks  savages  at 
Corlaer's  Hook,  351,  352;  quarrels  with  Kieft, 
and  is  sent  to  Holland,  357  ;  returns  and  settles 
at  Weehaken,  357. 

Africa,  colonists  allowed  to  trade  to,  540,  656. 

Agents,  sent  by  the  New  England  Commissioners 
to  Manhattan,  551 ;  their  conduct  there,  552, 
554  ;  on  Long  Island,  555. 

Vgency,  New  York  Historical,  759. 

Agheroense,  Indian  interpreter  at  Fort  Orange, 
408. 

Agriculture,  beginning  of,  by  colonists  in  New 
Netherland,  150,  151. 

Ahasimus,  or  Horsimus,  purchase  of,  202 ;  land 
near  sold  to  Planck,  279. 

Ailleboust,  Governor  of  Canada,  imprisons  Iro- 
quois, 645  ;  allows  the  Dutch  commercial  priv- 
ileges, 640. 

Albania,  New  Jersey  so  named,  745. 

Albany,  second  title  of  Duke  of  York,  735  ;  Fort 
Orange  named,  744 ;  the  Half  Moon  near  site 
of,  31  ;  Treaty  at,  81,  744. 

Albany  Records,  759. 

Albert  "  the  Trumpeter,"  sent  to  West  Che.ster, 
599. 

Alckmaer,  siege  of,  442. 

Alford,  William,  his  deposition  about  Stuyve- 
sant's  declarations,  555. 

Allegiance,  oath  of,  required,  291  ;  of  colonists  at 
Renssclaerswyck,  531. 

Allerton,  Isaac,  at  New  Plymouth,  180  ;  comes  to 
Manhattan,  365  ;  chosen  one  of  the  Eight  Men, 
365;  sent  to  a.sk  assistance  from  New  Haven, 
370  ;  his  house  in  New  Amsterdam,  517  ;  in- 
forms Stuyvesant  of  Cromwell's  exiicdition, 
583,  complains  of  Jacquet,  633. 


Alrichs,  Jacob,  Director  of  New  Amstel,  631  ; 
wrecked  near  Fire  Island,  632;  at  New  Amstel, 
632 ;  Elder  of  church  at,  033 ;  rescues  ship- 
wrecked Englishmen,  651 ;  death  of  wife  of,  661  ; 
insists  upon  conditions,  662 ;  complains  of  Stuy- 
vesant, 663  ;  interview  with  Utie,  664,  605  ; 
death  of,  670. 

Allona,  Fort  Christina  so  named,  631  ;  Hudde 
commandant  at,  633  ;  Stuyvesant  at,  651  ; 
Beeckman  at,  663 ;  Maryland  Commissioners 
at,  697  ;  condition  of,  699  ;  surrendered  to  the 
City  of  Amsterdam,  .716  ;  Charles  Calvert  at, 
717  ;  transferred  to  Hinoyossa,  717 ;  surrender 
of,  744. 

Amboy,  or  Ompoge,  purchase  of,  537. 

America,  name  of,  3,  note. 

Amersfoort,  or  Flatlands,  first  purchases  at,  265  ; 
represented  in  the  Nine  Men,  474 ;  Flatbusli 
near,  536  ;  its  incorporation  proposed,  569  ; 
sends  delegates  to  Convention,  571  ;  delegates 
forbidden  to  appear  again,  575  ;  loyalty  of,  579  ; 
municipal  government  of,  580  ;  church  service 
at,  581,  615  ;  Hegeman  schout  of,  693  ;  repre- 
sented in  Convention,  722;  loyalty  of,  727 ;  rep- 
resented in  General  Assembly,  729  ;  letter  of 
States  General  to,  730. 

Amidas,  Philip,  in  North  Carolina,  5 

Amsterdam,  City  of,  20  ;  Hudson  sails  from,  25  , 
Trading  Company  formed  at,  60  ;  inhabitants 
of,  103;  Chamber  of  West  India  Company  at, 
135  ;  cosmopolitan,  147 ;  classis  of,  273  ;  burgh- 
ership  in,  192,  453  ;  Stadt  Huys  of,  457  ;  bank 
of,  463  ;  orphan-house  of,  513  ;  sides  with  West 
India  Company,  539  ;  New  Amsterdam  to  re- 
semble, 540,  541  ;  colony  of  on  South  River, 
629-633  ;  children  from  orphan-house  of,  653  , 
alters  conditions,  661  ;  desires  to  retransfer 
New  Amstel,  670,  6S2 ;  appoints  Hinoyossa  di- 
rector, 682  ;  modifies  its  conditions,  697  ;  en- 
courages a  Mennonist  colony  at  the  Horekill. 
698,  699  ;  obtains  cession  of  the  whole  of  tlu; 
South  River,  714,  715  ;  government  esjablislis-d 
there,  717  ;  its  colonists  reduced  by  the  En- 
glish, 744. 

Amsterdam,  Chamber  of  West  India  Company, 
New  Netherland  assigned  to  its  care,  148 ;  se;? 
West  India  Company. 

Amsterdam  Fort,  begun  on  Manhattan,  105,  160 
Bee  Fort  Amsterdam. 


766 


rNDEX. 


Amsterdam  Trading  Company  formed,  60  ;  char- 
ter to  from  the  States  General,  62,  63  ;  applies 
for  further  charter,  80  ,  dissolved,  S9. 

Anchor  Bay,  57. 

Andiataroct^,  Indian  name  of  Lake  George  or 
Saint  Sacrement,  422  ;  see  Saint  Sacrament. 

Annie's  Iloeck,  .334  ;  settlement  at,  destroyed,  366. 

Anthony,  AUard,  schepen  of  New  Amsterdam, 
548 ;  signs  letter  to  New  England  agents,  553  ; 
sent  as  agent  to  Holland,  559  ;  a  burgomaster 
of  New  Amsterdam,  597  ;  sent  as  commissioner 
to  English  villages,  597. 

Apokeepsing,  aboriginal  name  of  Pokeepsie,  75. 

.^poquinimy  Creek,  treaty  at,  697 ;  chosen  by 
Hinoyossa  as  the  site  for  capital,  717. 

Appeal,  right  of,  denied  by  Kieft,41 1, 417 ;  by  Stuy- 
vesant,  472  ;  granted  by  States  General,  503. 

Archipelago,  56,  296. 

Archives  of  Holland,  England,  and  France,  docu- 
ments obtained  from,  759. 

Aressick,  purchase  of,  202. 

Argall,  Captain  Samuel,  17,  51  ;  in  Acadia,  52,  53  ; 
his  alleged  visit  to  Manhattan,  54,  754,  755 ;  his 
complaint  against  the  Dutch,  140;  his  designs 
on  the  South  River,  249. 

.\rgenson.  Governor  of  Canada,  executes  Mo- 
hawks, 650. 

Armenperal,  on  the  Sprain  River,  329. 

.Armenveruis  purchased  by  Corssen,  232  ;  pur- 
chase confirmed,  485. 

.Arniinians,  or  Remonstrants,  104-111. 

Arminius,  104-106. 

.Artists,  eminent,  in  Holland,  460. 

Ashford,  on  Long  Island,  671.  703,  726;  see  Se- 
tauket. 

Aspect  of  Holland,  456,  457. 

Assembly,  General  Provincial,  meets  at  New  Am- 
sterdam, 728;  its  proceedings,  729-731. 

Assyrconi  and  Charistooni,  the  Dutch  so  called 
by  the  Mohawks,  376. 

Atkarkarton,  name  of  Esopus,  536i  616. 

Atonement,  Indian,  for  blood,  316,  348. 

Atotarho,  chief  of  the  Iroquois  confederation,  fi4. 

Atrocities  against  Indian  prisoners,  389. 

Baas,  meaning  cf  the  Dutch  phrase,  261,  note. 

Bachtatno,  god  of  Esopus  savages,  731. 

Backer,  .loost  Teunissen  de,  his  case,  490,  511. 

Backer,  Schepen  Jacob,  a  commissioner  at  Heem- 
stede,  728  ;  a  delegate  from  New  Amsterdam  to 
General  Assembly,  728. 

Backcrus,  Domine  Johannes,  succeeds  Bogardus, 
468;  writes  to  fugitives  at  New  Haven,  482; 
asks  his  dismission,  494  ;  forbidden  to  read  pa- 
pers from  pulpit,  504 ;  sails  for  Holland,  5(/7. 
508,  512. 

Bikers,  regulations  for,  517. 

Baltimore,  Cecilius  Lord,  his  grant  of  Maryland, 
252 ;  sends  colonists  to,  253  ■,  his  authority  ab- 
rogated  559 ;  designs  of,  on  the  South  River, 


fifp3  ;  his  title  discussed,  666-6C9  ;  his  demands 
from  the  West  India  Company,  685 ;  obtains  a 
confirmation  of  his  patent,  697  ;  appeals  tn 
Charles  II.,  701 ;  his  son  Charles  visits  New 
Amstel  and  .Altona,  717;  Xicolls' opinion  of  his 
right  to  South  River,  744. 

Baltimore,  George  Lord,  visits  Virginia,  251. 

Baly,  Mr.,  at  Oost-dorp,  627. 

Bank  of  Am.sterdam,  463. 

Baptism,  number  of  children  for,  508;  d.fliculty  re- 
specting form  of,  in  Liturgy,  642.  643,  656,  681. 

Baptists  persecuted  at  Flushing,  626. 

Barlow,  Arthur,  in  North  Carolina,  5. 

Barende-gat,  or  Barnegat,  De  Vrics  at,  228. 

Barent,  Govert,  armorer  at  Fort  Amsterdam,  490. 

Barentsen,  Peter,  superintendent  of  Indian  trade, 
152;  treats  with  Sequin  chief.  168;  returns  to 
Holland,  169. 

Barneveldt,  John  van  Olden,  advocate  of  Holland 
24,  39,  61,  105;  takes  part  with  the  Remon 
strants,  107;  his  death.  111. 

Bassctt,  Robert,  at  Oost-dorp,  627. 

Battery,  the,  commanding  situation  of,  165,  166 
treaty  at  the,  409. 

Baxter,  George,  appointed  English  secretary,  337 , 
goes  with  expedition  to  Staten  Island,  386 ;  to 
West  Chester,  387  ;  one  of  the  patentees  of 
Gravesend,  411;  sent  with  letter  to  Eaton,  428 ; 
continued  as  English  secretary  by  Stuyvesant, 
466  ;  influences  English  at  Gravesend  to  side 
with  Stuyvesant,  509,  518  ;  one  of  Stuyvesant's 
arbitrators  at  Hartford,  519,  521  ;  arrests  Van 
Dincklagen.  526;  opposes  Stuyvesant,  568;  a 
delegate  at  New  Amsterdam,  569, 571 ;  draws  up 
Remonstrance  of  Convention,  571-573  ;  signs 
letter  to  Amsterdam,  566  ;  removed  from  magis- 
tracy at  Gravesend,  596 ;  hoists  British  flag  at, 
597 ;  is  arrested  and  imprisoned  at  Ne%v  Am- 
sterdam, 598  ;  escapes,  620  ;  his  fraudulent  con- 
duct at  Gravesend,  620;  goes  to  New  England, 
620  ;  in  London,  725. 

Ba.xter,  Thomas,  contracts  for  palisades  for  New 
Amsterdam,  550;  turns  pirate,  and  is  arrested 
in  New  England,  565. 

Bayard,  Anna,  procures  Hodgson's  release,  637. 

Bayard,  Judith,  Stuyvesant  married  to,  432. 

Bayard,  Nicholas,  clerk,  sent  to  Rustdorp,  689 
marries  Judith  Varlett,  703. 

Beaver  Lane,  near  Fort  Amsterdam,  389 ;  garri 
son  marches  down,  742. 

Beeck,  Paulus  van  dcr,  a  delegate  from  Breucke 
len  to  the  Convention  at  New  Amsterdam,  571 

Beeckman,  Cornells,  a  delegate  to  General  Assem 
bly,  729. 

Beeckman,  WiUem,  schepen  of  New  Amstcrdun, 
548  ;  signs  letter  to  New  England  agents,  553; 
a  delegate  from  Breuc'^elen  to  the  Convention, 
571 ;  a  schepen  of  New  Amsterdam,  613 ;  ap- 
pointed Vice-director  on  South  River,  052  ;  pur- 
chases the  Horekills,  663  ;  his  interview  with 


INDEX. 


767 


Ulie,  664,  6rj5  ;  unpleasant  relations  with  Ilino- 
yossa,  682  ;  receives  Maryland  commissioners, 
697 ;  his  disagreements  with  llinoyossa,  699  ; 
entertains  Cliarles  Calvert,  717;  asks  for  em- 
ployment on  the  North  River,  718  :  is  appointed 
commissary  at  Esopus,  732  ;  notice  of,  761. 
Beer,  excise  on,  enforced  by  Kieft,  394,  395. 
Beeren  Island,  Ue  Vries  at,  302  ;  Fort  built  at,  400. 
Benevolence  of  the  Dutch,  462. 
Bennett,  Richard,   Governor  of  Virginia,  Dutch 

agents  sent  to,  559. 
Bentyn,  Jacques,   counsellor,  223  ;   one  of  the 

Twelve  Men,  317. 
Bergen,  purchased  by  Stuyvesant,  642  ;  charter 
of,  691  ;  church  at,  692  ;  represented  in  Conven- 
tion, 722 ;  represented  in  General  Assembly,  729. 
Berkeley,  Lord,  grant  of  New  Jersey  to,  736,  745. 
Berkeley,  Sir  William,  Governor  of  Virginia,  559, 
683 ;   agrees  to  a  treaty,  and  sends  Moody  to 
New  Amsterdam,  683  ;  his  correspondence  with 
Stuyvesant,  684  :  sent  as  agent  to  England,  701  ; 
his  ill  success  there,  702 ;  his  brother  covets 
and  obtains  New  Jersey,  735*736. 
Bermuda,  Gates  and  Somers  at,  50:  Indian  pris- 
oners sent  to  governor  of,  396. 
Beversrede,  Fort,  483  ;  see  Fort  Beversrede. 
Beverswyck,  or  Beverwyck,  or  the  Fuyck,  244  ; 
progress  of,  266 ;  church  planned  at,  343  ;  popu- 
lation and  church  at,  374  ;  traders  at,  376,  377 ; 
dispute  about  its  jurisdiction,  491^94  ;  com- 
pany's orders  respecting  it,  521  ;  first  school- 
master at,  522 ,  bosch-loopers  at,  523 ;  colonists 
at,  take  oath,  531  ;  further  troubles  at,  533,  534  ; 
declared  to  be  independent  of  Rensselaerswyck, 
and  annexed  to  Fort  Orange,  535 ;   its  affairs 
considered  in  Holland,  562,  563  ;  Father  Poncet 
relieved  at,  564  ;  taxes  at,  590,  591  ;  excise  of, 
farmed,  610;   Father  Le  Moyne  at,  611;   Mo- 
hawks at,  611,  612;  excise  enforced  at,  623; 
tapsters  fined,  624  ;  new  church  built  at,  624, 
625 ;   question  of  excise  settled  at,  649  ;  dele- 
pates  from,  at  Caughnawaga,  659,  660 ;  bosch- 
loopers  at,  679;  growth  of  church  at,  681  ;  oc- 
casional dearth  at,  691;  small-pox  at, 710;  plank 
fence  at,  711  ;  represented  in  General  Assembly, 
729  ;  fur  trade  at,  732  ;  surrender  of,  to  the  En- 
glish, 744  ;  see  Fort  Orange. 
Bigotry  and  intolerance  in  New  Neiherland,  561, 
562,  617,  626,  634-639,  643,  656,  681,  705,  re- 
buked  by  the  Company,  and  ended,  707. 
Hikkcr,  Gerrit,  his  pusillanimity  at  Fort  Casimir, 
593  ;  is  reported  to  Holland,  594  ;  orders  of  West 
India  Company  respecting,  601. 
Bill  of  exchange,  Kieft's,  dishonored  by  West  In- 
dia Company,  385,  393  ;  Stuyvesanl's,  security 
required  for,  720. 
BiUou,  Pierre,  a  delegate  to  General  Assembly,  729. 
Bilt,  Sfmon  van  der,  killed  at  Paulus'  Hook,  509. 
Binnenhof,  the,  61,  111,  449. 
Planck,  Juriaen,  schipper,  380,  424. 


Blauvell,  Captain,  of  privateer  La  Garce,  393. 
Blessing  of  the  Bay,  Winthrop's  bark,  at  Manhat- 
tan, 239. 
DIeecker,  Jan  Jansen,  of  Meppel,  625,  note. 
Bleeuw,  Francois  le,  sent  as  agent  to  Holland, 
576  ;  his  mission  disapproved  of  there,  587,  590 
Block,  Adriaen,  sails  to  Manhattan,  46;  his  ship 
burned,  48;  builds  yacht  Restless,  55  ;  explores 
Long  Island  Sound,  &c.,  56-58;  discovers  the 
Connecticut  River,  57  ;  at  Block  Island,  57  ;  at 
Rhode  Island  and  Massachusetts,  58;  returns 
to  Holland,  59  ;  in  the  Arctic  Ocean,  65. 
Blom,  Domino  Hermanus,  657 ;  settled  at  Esopus, 
CSO ;  his  success  there,  710 ;  courageous  con- 
duct of,  711. 
Blommaert,  Samuel,  a  member  of  the  Amsterdam 
Chamber,  148  ;  befriends  De  Rasieres,  164,  167  ; 
buys  on  the  South  River  with  Godyn,  200  ;  a 
proprietor  in  Rensselaerswyck,  204. 
Boats  on  North  River  attacked  by  Indians,  304. 
Bogaerdt,  Harman  Mynderts  van  de,  commissary 
at  Fort  Orange,  419  ;  succeeded  by  Van  Brugge, 
491. 
Bogaerdt,  Joost  de,  on  the  South  River,  320. 
Bogardus,  Domino  Everardus,  second  clergyman 
in  New  Netherland,  223,  243  ;  reprimands  Van 
Twillor,  245  ;    marries   Annetje  Jansen,  206  , 
complained  of  in  Holland,  273  ;   retained  by 
Kieft,  278 ;  his  daughter  married,  330 ;  warns 
Kieft  against  his  rashness,  350  ;  denounces  the 
director,  417  ;  quarrels  with  Kieft,  418,  760  ;  is 
succeeded  by  Domine  Backerus,  468 ;  sails  for 
Europe  and  is  drowned,  472,  473. 
Books,  publication  of,  in  Holland,  459. 
Boomtje  s  Hook,  or  Bombay  Hook,  lands  near, 
purchased,  529;  conveyed  to  city  of  Amsterdam, 
630  ;  called  Canaresse,  632  ;  lands  near,  order 
ed  to  be  purchased,  652 ;  purchase  made,  CC3 
transferred  to  city  of  Amsterdam,  710,  717. 
Bosch-loopers,  or  runners  in  the  woods,  at  Rens- 
selaerswyck, 377,  523  ;    irregularities  of,  679  ; 
see  Beverwyck  and  Fort  Orange. 
Boston  Harbor,  or  Fox  Haven,  visited  by  Block, 
58  :  English  settlement  at  Shawmut,  or  Boston, 
208;  Connecticut  sachem  at,  210;  Stuyvesant 
at,  718;  see  Massachusetts. 
Boswell,  Sir  William,  Engli.sh  minister  at  the 
Hague,  his  advice  to  the  Connecticut  people,  324. 
Boswyck,  or  Bushwick,  incorporated,  093  ;  popu- 
lation of,  693  ;  represented  in  Convention,  722' 
represented  in  General  Assembly,  729  ;   letter 
of  States  General  to,  730. 
Boundary  line,  settled  at  Hartford,  519,  520  ;  ob- 
jected to  in  Holland,  539  ;  negotiations  respect- 
ing, 544,  545,  601  ;  confirmed  by  the  States  Gen- 
eral, 621  ;  denied  by  Massachusetts,  054,  672  ; 
further  negotiations  respecting,  665 ;  repudiated 
by  Connecticut,  720,  730  ;  action  of  Slates  Gen 
cral  resnccting,  730. 
Bout,  Jan  Evertsen,  at  Pavoi  ia,  351  ;  one  of  th» 


768 


INDEX. 


Eight  Men  in  place  of  Dam,  365  ;  oae  of  the 
Nine  Men,  47fi  ;  signs  memorial  to  the  States 
General,  505  ;  appointed  a  delegate  to  Holland, 
507;  at  the  Hague,  511,  512;  returns  to  New 
NetherlanJ,  Sit". 

Bouwcry,  Stnyvesant's,at  Manhattan,  504  ;  Dom- 
ine  Selyns  iit,  681  ;  capitulation  agreed  to  at, 
742,  762. 

fiowne,  John,  a  farmer  at  Flushing,  favors  the 
Quakers,  705  ;  is  arrested  and  banished,  706  ; 
returns  under  favor,  707. 

Bradford,  Governor  William,  of  New  Plymouth, 
171 ;  his  correspondence  with  the  Dutch  at  Man- 
hattan, 173-181 ;  entertains  De  Rasieres,  178 ; 
contrasted  with  Governor  Harvey  of  Virginia, 
227  ;  visits  Boston,  238 ;  in  old  age,  499. 

Brandy  first  given  to  savages,  31  ;  sale  of,  regu- 
lated, ^77  ;  use  of,  general,  307  ;  distillery  for, 
on  Staten  Island,  313  ;  Indian  chiefs  opposed  to 
sale  of,  348  ;  sale  of,  prohibited,  466, 488  ;  regu 
lations  about,  disobeyed,  657,  659. 

Brazil  conquered  by  West  India  Company,  185  ; 
trade  to,  406,  629. 

Bre:id,  weight  of,  regulated,  517. 

Brec'.enbent,  William,  a  delegate  to  General  As- 
sembly, 729. 

Breeilen  Raedt,  48,  413,  509,  760. 

Breedon,  Captain  Thomas,  Governor  of  Nova 
Scotia,  at  Fort  Orange,  704;  accompanies  Cart- 
wright  to  Fort  Orange,  743;  at  treaty  with  the 
Iroquois,  744. 

Bressani,  Father  Joseph,  ransomed  from  the  Mo- 
hawks, 402  ;  relieved  by  the  Dutch  and  sent 
back  to  Europe,  402. 

Breuckelen,  Walloons  settle  near,  154  ;  Thomas 
Belcher  settles  at,  292 ;  Indians  near,  attacked, 
353,  354  ;  obtains  a  municipal  government,  421 ; 
is  represented  in  the  Nine  Men,  474;  is  rep- 
resented in  Convention  at  New  Amsterdam, 
571  ;  delegates  forbidden  to  appear  again,  575  ; 
ferry  to,  action  about,  of  municipal  government 
of  New  Amsterdam,  575  ;  loyalty  of,  579  ;  muni- 
cipal government  of,  580  ;  church  service  at, 
581,  615;  measures  against  sectarianism  at, 
639;  Tonneman,  schout  of,  transferred  to  New- 
Amsterdam,  674 ;  Domine  Selyns  settled  at, 
680;  population  of,  680;  liegeman,  schout  of, 
693;  represented  in  Convention,  722;  Scott's 
violence  at,  726 ;  represented  in  General  Assem- 
bly, 729  ;  letter  of  States  General  to,  730  ;  New 
England  volunteers  at,  743. 

Brewers  refuse  to  pay  arbitrary  excise,  395. 

Brewster,  Elder  William,  115;   emigrates,  127. 

Brick  making,  184,  694. 

Broilhead,  Captain  Daniel,  accompanies  Cart- 
wright  to  Fort  Orange,  743  ;  at  treaty  with  the 
Iroquois,  744,  note. 

Broe.n,  Thomas,  injured  by  the  Swedes.  485  ;  op- 
posed by  Print/.,  511. 

Broer,  Cornells,  306  ;  see  Van  Slyck 


Bronck,  Jonas,  buys  Rtmqve,  x  Watt  CleKof 

^  268,  296 ;  treaty  with  the  Wickquaesgeeks  st 
his  house,  330. 

Bronx  River,  268  ;  treaty  at,  330. 

Brooklyn,  name  of,  154,  note  ;  see  Breuckelen 

Brouwer,  Jan  Janssen,  counsellor,  164,  201. 

Brugge,  Carl  van,  succeeds  Van  de  Bogaerdt  an 
commissary  at  Fort  Orange,  491  ;  his  difficulties 
with  Slechtenhorst,  492—194 ;  is  succeeded  by 
Labbatie,  523  ;  appointed  provincial  secretary, 
532 ;  superseded  by  appointment  of  Van  Ruy- 
ven,  561 ;  sent  to  arrange  affairs  at  Oost-dorp, 
626,  627. 

Buren,  Cornelis  Maassen  van,  244. 

Burgher  governments,  rise  of,  in  Holland,  192, 
326 ;  desired  by  commonalty  in  New  Nether- 
land,  327,  328  ;  form  of,  in  Holland,  453,  454  ; 
demanded  for  New  Netherland,  505 ;  proposed 
in  Holland,  514 :   conceded,  540 ;  established, 

'  548,  549. 

Burgher  guard  of  New  Amsterdam,  517. 

Burgher  right,  great  and  small,  at  New  Amsler 
dam,  627-629  ;  modified,  639,  694. 

Burgomasters  in  Holland,  453. 

Burgomasters  and  schepens  of  New  Amsterdam, 
548 ;  prepare  the  city  for  defense,  549,  550 ;  dis- 
agreement with  Stnyvesant,  560 ;  obtain  con- 
cessions, 568  ;  send  delegates  to  Convention, 
569 ;  demand  a  Landtdag,  570 ;  agree  to  a  re- 
monstrance, 571-573  ;  letters  of,  to  West  India 
Company,  demanding  reforms,  575,  576  ;  new 
members  of  Board,  578 ;  patriotic  conduct  of„ 
584  ;  Letter  of  West  India  Company  to,  587 , 
Reply  of,  588  ;  fresh  difficulties  with  Stuyvt- 
sant,  589,  590 ;  receive  city  seal  and  coat  of 
arms,  596 ;  new  members,  597 ;  appoint  Schel 
luyne  high  constable,  597 ;  Letter  of  West  India 
Company  to,  602 ;  demand  right  to  name  their 
successors,  613  ;  ask  for  a  burgher  schout,  623 ; 
demand  burgher  privileges,  628;  obtain  right  of 
nomination,  639,  640 ;  ask  for  a  Latin  school- 
master from  Holland,  641  ;  arrangements  of,  for 
the  Latin  school,  656 ;  cause  map  of  New  Am- 
sterdam to  be  sent  to  Holland,  674 ;  ask  for  a 
mint,  694  ;  recommend  fortification  of  the  city, 
727;  raise  a  loan  and  receive  excise,  727;  re- 
quest a  Landtdag,  728;  preparations  of,  for  de- 
fense, 736,  738  ;  require  communication  of  Nio 
oUs'  terms,  739 ;  oppose  resistance,  741 ;  pro* 
claim  Nicolls  governor  of  New  York,  743. 

Bushwick  incorporated,  693;  see  Boswyck. 

Buzzard's  Bay,  Gosnold  at,  7 ;  Block  at,  46 ; 
DutLh  traders  at  Manomet, in,  145, 171  ;  trading- 
house  at,  177,  180. 

Byvelt,  Peter,  counselor,  164. 

Cabot's  voyage.  2. 

Cahohatatea,  or  North  River,  72.  > 

Calvert,  Ch?r!es,  visits  New  Anistel  and  AJtov 
717. 


INDEX. 


769 


Calvert,  Leonard,  in  Marylarui,  252  ;  see  Balti- 
timore. 

Calvert,  Philip,  secretary  of  Maryland,  663;  in- 
terview of  Dutch  agents  with,  666 ;  made  gov- 
ernor in  place  of  Kendall,  697  ;  makes  a  treaty 
with  the  Indians  and  an  agreement  with  the 
Dutch,  697. 

Calvinism  prevails  in  Holland,  100-119;  of  the 
established  clergy  in  New  Netherland,  374,  614. 

Campanius,  the  Reverend  John,  accompanies 
Printz  to  the  South  River,  379 ;  visits  Hudde, 
424  ;  returns  to  Sweden  and  translates  Luther's 
Catechism,  484. 

Canada,  2,  3, 16-18, 402,  646,  705  ;  see  French  and 
Jesuits. 

Canadian  government,  its  gratitude  for  the  kind- 
ness of  the  Dutch,  402. 

Canals  in  Holland,  457,  747. 

Cape  Bevechier,  Cape  Cod  so  named  by  Block,  58. 

Cape  Charles  named,  12  ;  Argall  at,  754. 

Cape  Cod  discovered  by  Gosnold,  7  ;  Hudson  at, 
26 ;  called  New  Holland,  26 ;  Block  at,  58 ; 
named  Cape  Bevechier,  58;  Pilgrims  at,  130; 
boundary  of  New  Netherland,  144,  479,  497. 

Cape  Cornelius,  79. 

Cape  Henry  named,  12  ;  Lord  Delawarr  at,  50, 753. 

Cape  Hinlopen,  79. 

Cape  Inloopen,  meaning  of  name  of,  79. 

Cape  Malebarre,  17 ;  boundary  of  New  Netherland, 
35,  note  ;  or  Vlacke  Hoeck,  Block  at,  58,  756  ;  the 
Mayflower  at,130 ;  Duioh  name  for  Cape  Cod,  497. 

Cape  May,  65,  97. 

Capellen,  Baron  Hendrick  van  de,  sends  colonisti 
to  Staten  Island,  524  ;  lands  purchased  for,  525  ; 
his  purchase  at  Nevesinck  declared  void,  536  ; 
opposes  Van  Werckhoven's  purchases,  537 ;  his 
eolonie  laid  waste,  607 ;  sends  out  fresh  colo- 
nists, 641 ;  death  of,  and  purchase  of  his  estate 
on  Staten  Island,  692. 

Capito,  Matlhys,  provisional  schout  of  Wiltwyck, 
714. 

Capitulation  of  Swedes  on  South  River,  605 ;  of 
New  Netherland,  742  ;  articles  of,  762. 

Capsey  Hoeck,  hand-board  for  vessels  at,  467, 490, 
500. 

Carleton,  Sir  Dudley,  English  ambassador  at  the 
Hague,  108  ;  his  memorial  respecting  New 
Netherland,  140,  142 ;  applied  to  by  Walloons 
in  Holland,  147. 

Carr,  Sir  Robert,  a  royal  commissioner,  736 ;  at 
Nyack  Bay,  738 ;  a  commissioner  on  the  English 
side,  742  ;  enters  New  Am.sterdam,  743  ;  re- 
duces the  Dutch  on  the  South  River,  744  ;  his 
rapacious  conduct,  744. 

Carteret,  Sir  George,  grant  of  New  Jersey  to,  736, 
745. 

Cartier  in  Canada,  3. 

Cartwright,  Colonel  George,  a  royal  commission- 
er, 736  ;  at  Boston,  737  ;  sent  by  NicoUs  to  Fort 
Amsterdam,  738 ;  a  commissioner  on  the  En- 

C  c  c 


glish  side,  742;  enters  New  Amsterdam,  743; 
reduces  Fort  Orange  and  makes  treaty  with  the 
Iroquois,  743,  744. 

Casimir,  Fort,  529  ;  see  Fort  Casimir. 

Castateeuw,  on  Long  Island,  265. 

Castle  Island,  Fort  Nassau  built  on,  55  ;  fort  de- 
stroyed, 81. 

Catechism,  the  Heidelberg,  103,  105,  106,  110.  463. 

Catholics,  Rotiiaii,  in  Holland,  102,  458,  459  ;  in 
Maryland,  253;  in  New  Netherland,  345,  374, 
402,  645,  749. 

Calskill,  Hudson  at,  29,  32  ;  see  Katskill. 

Cattle,  first,  sent  to  New  Netherland,  158 ;  landed 
at  Nutten  Island,  159;  at  Manhattan,  167,  184. 

Caughnawaga,  Father  Jogues  at,  423 ;  Mohawk 
castle  at,  659  ;  conference  at,  659,  660. 

Cayugas,  83  ;  desire  religious  instruction,  644. 
j  Chalmers,  George,  his  Political  Annals,  42,  62. 

Chambers,  Thomas,  settles  at  Esopus,  536  ;  aban- 
dons it,  607  ;  returns  to  it,  647  ;  his  imprudent 
conduct,  657  ;  his  courageous  behavior,  711 ;  a 
delegate  to  the  General  Provincial  Assembly, 
!      729. 

Champlain,  Samuel,  in  Canada,  16,  17  ;  founds 
Quebec,  18  ;  discovers  Lake  Champlain,  18,  35  ; 
at  Onondaga,  68-71  ;  his  death,  344. 

Characteristics  of  the  Dutch,  461-464,  747-750. 

Charles  I.,  his  accession,  161 ;  his  reply  about 
New  Netherland,  214  ;  grants  charter  fur  Mary- 
land, 252  ;  establishes  plantation  board,  257  ; 
sets  up  his  standard,  341  ;  death  of,  498. 

Charles  II.  in  Holland,  498 ;  restoration  of,  6S4  ; 
establishes  council  for  foreign  plantations,  6S6  ; 
effect  of  restoration,  687  ;  confirms  Lord  Balti- 
more's patent,  697  ;  sends  Downing  to  Holland, 
700 ;  appealed  to  by  Lord  Baltimore  and  Lord 
Stirling,  701  ;  forms  alliance  with  the  Dutch 
701  ;  grants  a  charter  to  Connecticut,  702  ;  pat- 
ent from,  to  the  Duke  of  York,  735 ;  his  author- 
ity established,  745. 

Charlestown,  settlement  at,  189. 

Chaumonot,  Father  .loseph,  at  Onondaga,  (.12  ;  h  s 
knowledge  of  the  Iroquois  language,  644. 

Children,  Indian,  to  bo  instructed,  675. 

Christiaensen,  Hendrick,  voyage  to  the  West  In- 
dies and  Manhattan,  45  ;  brings  out  domestic  an- 
imals, 47;  builds  Fort  Nassau,  55;  his  death,  C3 

Christie,  James,  arrested  at  Gravesend,  719. 

Christina,  Fort,  284  ;  see  Fort  Christina. 

Church,  established,  of  Holland,  100-111  ;  of  En 
gland,  112-119. 

Church,  at  Manhattan,  165,  183;  at  New  Plym 
outh,  179  ;  at  Manhattan,  243  ;  out  of  repair 
276;  now  one  built,  335-337;  at  Beverwyck 
343,  374,  375;  at  Manhattan,  unfinished,  410 
418,  760  ;  repaired  by  Stuyvesant,  467;  services 
regulated,  488  ;  Nine  Men's  pew  in,  518  ;  main 
tenance  of,  508;  churches  in  New  Netherland 
615,  010  ;  new,  at  Beverwyck,  624,  625  ;  organ 
i/.cd  at  New  Amstel,  033  ;  at  Esopus,  647,  657 


770 


INDEX. 


6S0  ;  at  Breuckelen,  6S0  ;  at  Bergen,  692  ;  serv- 
ice at  Staten  Island,  692  ;  service  suspended  on 
South  River,  700  ;  at  Esopus,  710  ;  at  Jamaica, 
724  ;  at  Breuckelen  and  on  South  River,  734. 
City  Hall,  at  Nevi^  Amsterdam,  asked  for  by  bur- 
gomasters and  schepens,  575  ;  granted,  56S  ;  or- 
dered to  be  repaired,  597. 
Civil  war,  beginning  of,  in  England,  341. 
Clarke,  Thomas,  a  commissioner  on  the  English 

side,  742,  703. 
Classes  and  synods  in  Holland,  104-118. 
Classis  of  Amsterdam,  273  ;  appealed  to,  278 ;  ap- 
proves Domine  Megapolensis'  call,  342 ;  endeav- 
ors to  send  out  clergymen,  418  ;  jurisdiction  of, 
468,  494,  507,  508  ;  warns  church  of  New  Am- 
sterdam, 516 ;  declines  to  recommend  Domine 
Grasmeer,  537 ;  illiberality  of,  582 ;  its  authority 
over  New  Netherland,  614 ;  action  of,  respect- 
ing conventicles,  634,  635  ;  report  of  clergy  to, 
643  ;  West  India  Company  in  opposition  to, 
C56,  681  ;  instructions  respecting  the  formulary 
of  baptism,  680  ;  sends  clergymen  to  the  South 
River,  734. 
Claverack   purchased  by  Van  Rensselaer,  510; 
purchase  declared  void,  536 ;   attacked  by  the 
savages,  733  ;  meaning  of  name,  757. 
Clayborne,  William,  his  explorations,   250  ;    at 
Kent  Island,  250,  253  ;  sent  to  England,  254,  668. 
Cleef,  Jan  van,  a  delegate  to  General  Assembly, 

729. 
Clergymen  in  New  Netherland,  183.223,281,342, 
4GS,  516,  537,  5S1,  613,  016  ;  more  required,  681. 
Clothing,  troops  supplied  with,  from  Van  Rens- 
selaer's ship,  390. 
Cock,  Sergeant,  at  Staten  Island,  386 ;  at  West 

Chester,  387. 
Coe,  John,  of  Middelburgh,  proceedings  of,  723. 
(Joe,  Robert,  magistrate  at  Middelburgli,  555  ;  a 

delegate  from,  at  Convention,  569,  571. 
Coentie's  (or  Conrad's)  Slip,  335. 
Cogswell,  Robert,  goes  from  New  Haven  to  the 
South  River,  321,  322;  breaks  his  promise  to 
Kieft,  337. 
Cohooes,  falls  of,  306. 
Coins,  first  Dutch,  20,  439. 
Coke,  Sir  Edward,  on  the  New  England  patent, 

139,  181. 
Coke,  Sir  John,  secretary  of  state,  215,  217. 
Colendonek,  or  Yonkers,  acquired  by  Van   der 

Donck,  421. 
("olriian,  John,  death  and  burial  of,  28. 
Colman's  Point,  28. 
Ccloiiists.  under  patroons,  195, 199 ;  new  class  of, 

established,  311,  313;  to  be  armed,  406,  415. 
Colonization  more  embarrassed  in  New  Nether- 
land than  in  New  England,  198. 
Combination  of  English  towns  on  Long  Island, 

726. 
Commerce  of  Holland,  19-24,  38,  60,  98,  134,  184, 
457,  45a 


Commerce  of  New  Netherland,  67,  89,  97,  99,  138, 
145,  155,  159,  168,  171,  182;  opened  with  New 
Plymouth,  180;  on  South  River,  170,  183;  with 
New  England,  269 ;  regulations  about,  277, 268, 
312,  314,  328  ;  new  arrangements  for,  406,  416  ; 
further  regulations,  489,  490 ;  to  make  Manhat- 
tan prosperous,  547  ;  regulation  of,  628,  629  ; 
opened  with  Canada,  646 ;  foreign,  656,  714. 

Commissioners  of  New  England,  361  (see  United 
Colonies) ;  royal,  to  New  England,  736. 

Commonalty,  the,  summoned  by  Kieft,  317 ;  choose 
Twelve  Men,  317;  demand  reforms,  326-328, 
summoned  again,  and  choose  Eight  Men,  364 ; 
choose  Nine  Men,  474  ;  propose  a  delegation  to 
Holland,  495  ;  memorial  and  remonstrance  of, 
504-507,  512. 

Communipa,  settlement  at,  642 ;  Quakers  at,  643  ; 
Esopus  sachem  at,  676 ;  village  formed  back  of, 
691  ;  see  Bergen. 

Conditions,  new,  offered  by  West  India  Company, 
688,  707,  708. 

Coney  Island,  derivation  of  name  of,  412,  note , 
salt-works  on,  694. 

Confederation,  the  Dutch,  19,  38,  445  ;  the  Iro- 
quois, 63-87  ;  of  New  England,  361,  362. 

Connecticut  River  explored  by  Block,  56,  57  ; 
Dutch  traders  at,  145  ;  Eelkens  imprisons  a 
chief  at,  146  ;  Dutch  fort  projected  at,  153  ;  Ba- 
rentsen  at,  168 ;  no  Dutch  colonies  established 
at,  207 ;  visited  by  Winslow,  210  ;  Lord  War- 
wick's grant  of,  211 ;  called  Connittecock,  232  ; 
no  Dutch  colonists  on,  233  ;  sachem  visits  Bos- 
ton, 210,  233  ;  Dutch  fort  Good  Hope,  built  on, 
235  ;  Winthrop's  bark  at  mouth  of,  239 ;  Weth- 
ersfield  and  Hartford  settled,  257  ;  John  Win 
throp  governor  of,  260 ;  exterminates  the  Pe- 
quods,  270-273  ;  progress  of  English  settlements 
in,  293-295,  322-324,  339-341  ;  commissioners 
of,  361  ;  complaints  of,  363  ;  temper  of,  370  ; 
correspondence  of,  with  Kieft,  429-430 ;  with 
Stuyvesant,  478-482,  496,  497,  499,  500 ;  treaty 
at  Hartford,  519,  520  ;  expedition  from,  to  South 
River,  527 :  feelings  of,  against  the  Dutch,  549, 
550-555,  558,  559,  565,  566;  sequesters  Fort 
Good  Hope,  583  ;  raises  forces,  585  ;  unfriend- 
liness of,  625 ;  Quakers  persecuted  in,  635  ;  an- 
nexes Long  Island  towns,  670,  671  ;  encroach- 
ments of,  674  ;  Winthrop  agent  of,  695 ;  obtains 
a  royal  charter,  702  ;  asserts  its  authority  over 
part  of  New  Netherland,  703  ;  enforces  it  at 
West  Chester,  709 ;  non-intercourse  regulations 
of,  710 ;  Dutch  commissioners  at,  720,  721 ;  ap- 
points commissioners  on  Long  Island,  726 ;  dis- 
regards letters  of  States  General,  733 ;  part  of, 
granted  to  Duke  of  York,  735  ;  alacrity  of,  to 
assist  against  New  Netherland,  737 ;  commis 
sioners  from,  742 ;  volunteers  from,  at  Breuck 
elen  ferry,  743  ;  see  Hartford  and  New  Haven. 

Conscience,  freedom  of,  allowed,  101  45S,  688 
enjoined,  707. 


INDEX. 


771 


Consistory,  in  Holland,  104  ;  at  iManhattan,  163, 
273,  336,  467,  516. 

Conventicles,  proclamation  against,  unauthor- 
ized, 617  ;  executed,  626,  635 ;  new  proclama- 
tion, 637  ;  opposition  of  Rustdorp  to,  689,  705 ; 
further  proclamation  against,  706 ;  restraints 
disapproved  of  in  Holland,  707. 

Convention  demanded  and  called,  570 ;  proceed- 
ings of,  570-574  ;  dissolved,  575  ;  disapproved 
of  in  Holland,  587  ;  another  called,  722  ;  remon- 
strance of,  to  Company,  722,  723  ;  General  Pro- 
vincial, meets  at  New  Amsterdam,  728 ;  pro- 
ceedings of,  729,  730,  731 ;  see  Landtdag. 

Copper  mine  at  Minnisinck,  662  ;  see  Minerals. 

Corlaer  "  the  Trumpeter,"  264. 

Corlaer's  Hook,  279 ;  Rockaway  and  Weckquaes- 
geek  savages  at,  349 ;  attacked  by  Adriaensen, 
351,  352. 

Corlaer,  Jacob,  teacher  at  New  Amsterdam,  640. 

Cornelissen,  Jan,  schoolmaster  at  New  Amster- 
dam, 516. 

Cornelissen,  Jan,  magistrate  of  Boswyck,  693. 

Corssen,  Arendt,  commissary  on  the  South  River, 
232;  succeeded  by  Jansen,  279;  sails  for  Hol- 
land with  specimens  of  minerals,  412  ;  is  lost 
at  sea,  413. 

Cortelyou,  Jacques,  declines  to  be  schout  of  New 
Amsterdam,  588  ;  surveys  the  city,  674  ;  at  New 
Utrecht,  693  ;  sent  to  the  Raritan,  724  ;  lays  out 
Schaenhechstede,  732. 

Cortlandt,  Oloff  Stevensen  van,  commissary,  292 ; 
chosen  one  of  the  Nine  Men,  495,  note  ;  signs 
memorial  to  States  General,  503 ;  appointed 
schepen  of  New  Amsterdam,  578  ;  burgomaster, 
sent  on  embassy  to  Hartford,  720,  721 ;  meets 
Scott  at  Jamaica,  727  ;  accompanies  Stuyvesant 
to  Hemstede,  728  ;  a  commissioner  on  the  Dutch 
side,  741,  763. 

Coster,  Lawrence,  inventor  of  printing,  461. 

Council  of  State,  the  Dutch,  450. 

Council  at  Plymouth,  95,  96  ;  complains  of  Dutch 
in  New  Netherland,  140;  dissolved,  259. 

Council,  Provincial,  of  New  Netherland,  Minuit's, 
163,  164;  Van  Twillcr's,  223;  KieR's,  275,  276  ; 
its  organization  complained  of  by  the  people,  387, 
400  ;  reorganization  proposed,  405 ;  new  instruc- 
tions for,  414,  415;  Stuyvesant's,  460;  Great 
Council  called,  502  ;  modification  of,  proposed, 
514  ;  government  affairs  left  in  charge  of,  597. 

Courts  and  Jurisprudence,  163  ;  see  Tribunals. 

Cousseau,  Schepen  Jacques,  sent  with  letter  to 
Nicolls,  741 ;  a  commissioner  on  the  Dutch  side, 
741,  763. 

(^oussen,  Pieter,  magistrate  of  New  Ilaerlem,  674. 

Couwenhoven,  Jacob  van,  223;  one  of  the  Nine 
Men,  475  ;  signs  memorial  to  States  General, 
505  ;  appointed  a  delegate  to  Holland,  507  ;  at 
the  Hague,  511,  512;  returns  to  New  Nether- 
land, 516. 

Couwenhoven,  Pieter  Wolfertse;i  van,  schepen  of 


New  Amsterdam,  548  signs  letter  to  New  En- 
gland agents,  353 ;  a  delegate  from  Amersfoon  to 
Convention  at  New  Amsterdam,  571  ;  serves  in 
Esopus  expedition,  712-714. 

Coxackie,  or  Kuxakee,  76. 

Crom  Elbow,  or  Krom  Elleboog,  75,  note 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  498  ;  his  jealousy  of  the  Dutch, 
499  ;  letters  from  New  Haven  to,  566 ;  protector 
of  England,  582  ;  sends  expedition  against  New 
Netherland,  582,  583  ;  makes  a  treaty  with  the 
Dutch  and  countermands  hostilities,  586 ;  his 
letter  to  Long  Island  towns,  634  ;  death  of,  653. 

Cromwell's  Bay,  on  Long  Island,  671. 

Croton,  or  Kitchawan,  74. 

Curacoa,  supplies  sent  to,  from  New  Netherland, 
370 ;  Stuyvesant,  director  of,  sends  soldiers 
from,  395  ;  placed  under  director  of  New  Neth- 
erland, 416,  432,  517 ;  Indian  prisoners  at  Eso- 
pus sent  to,  676,  710. 

Curler,  Arendt  van,  commissary  of  Rensselaers- 
wyck,  244,  266 ;  his  jurisdiction,  304-306  ;  ar- 
ranges a  church  and  kerck-buurte,  343  ;  visits 
the  Mohawk  country,  345,  346 ;  prohibits  illicit 
trading,  377  ;  opposed  by  Van  der  Donck,  377  ; 
advises  the  patroon  to  act  with  a  higher  hand, 
400  ;  quarrels  with  Van  der  Donck,  419  ;  goes  to 
Holland,  420 ;  revisits  the  Mohawks  at  Caugh- 
nawaga,  659,  660 :  at  Esopus,  678  ;  purchases 
great  flat  of  Schonowe,  691  ;  remonstrates 
against  Stuyvesant's  policy  there,  732. 

Curler,  Commissary  Jacob  van,  purchases  linds 
on  the  Fresh  or  Connecticut  River,  234 ;  com 
pletes  Fort  Good  Hope,  235;  protests  againsv 
Holmes,  241  ;  punishes  assassins  of  Stone,  242 ; 
buys  lands  on  Long  Island,  265 ;  appointed  to- 
bacco inspector,  292  ;  sent  to  Schout's  Bay,  299. 

Currency,  Sewan  the  provincial,  172, 180,  314, 4£7, 
694  ;  reformed,  314,  328,  329,  517. 

Curtius,  Alexander  Carolus,  Latin  schoolmaster 
at  New  Amsterdam,  656  ;  succeeded  by  Luyck, 
694. 

Dablon,  Father  Claude,  at  Onondaga,  612  ;  returns 
to  Canada,  643  ;  revisits  Onondaga,  644  ;  aban- 
dons it,  646. 

Dam,  Jan  Janssen,  244  ;  one  of  the  Twelve  Men, 
317;  a  church-master,  336;  urges  Kieft  to  at- 
tack the  savages,  349,  350 ;  chosen  one  of  the 
Eight  Men  and  expelled,  365  ;  church-master 
with  Stuyvesant,  407  ;  chosen  one  of  the  Nine 
Men,  475;  required  to  come  to  the  Hague.  514  ; 
father-in-law  of  Van  Tienhoven,  524. 

Dans-kamer,  De  Vries  at  the,  302,  306  ;  scnu:;ern 
limit  of  jurisdiction  of  Esopus,  739. 

Davenport,  John,  of  Rotterdam,  261  ;  settles  at 
New  Haven,  293,  294. 

Davis,  William,  sent  as  agent  to  New  Amslci- 
dam,  551-555. 

Davits,  Jan,  visits  Narrington,  733. 

Decker,  Johannes  de,  appointed  to  succeed  Dyck- 


772 


INDEX. 


man  as  vice-director  at  Fort  Orange,  599;  en- 
tiTlaiiis  Father  LeMoyne,  611  ;  publishes  prec- 
lamalion  against  conventicles,  617;  confirmed 
as  commissary,  622 ;  arrests  tapsters,  623  ;  re- 
turns to  Holland,  625  ;  counselor  of  New  Neth- 
erland,  visits  Fort  Orange,  711  ;  at  Esopus,712  ; 
at  Virginia,  734  ;  sent  with  message  to  NicoUs, 
73S,  sent  a  second  time,  740;  a  commissioner 
on  tl.e  Dutch  side,  741  ;  signs  capitulation,  742, 
703 ;  his  conduct  at  Fort  Orange,  743 ;  is  ban- 
ished by  Nicolls,  744. 

Declaration  of  Independence,  the  Dutch,  446,  761. 

Delavall,  Thomas,  sent  by  Nicolls  to  Fort  Amster- 
dam, 738. 

Delaware  Bay  discovered  by  Hudson,  26  ;  Argall 
a;,  51,  754;  explored  by  Ilendricksen,  79  ;  called 
New  Port  May,  97 ;  Godyn's  Bay,  207 ;  taken 
possession  of  by  the  Dutch,  150,  153  ;  see  Fort 
Nassau,  South  River,  Swaanendael,  New  Swe- 
den, Maryland. 

Delawarr,  Lord,  49,  50  ;  not  at  Delaware  Bay,  51  ; 
his  death,  754. 

Democracy,  Holland  a  school  of,  452. 

Denton,  Daniel,  town  cleric  of  Rustdorp,  619  ; 
draws  up  pledge  against  Quaker  conventicles, 
689;  a  commissioner  at  Heemstede,  728. 

Denton,  Nathaniel,  informs  against  Quakers  at 
Faisldorp,  689. 

Denton,  Richard,  clergyman  at  Heemstede,  615, 
619,  636. 

Dernier,  (i^aptain  Thomas,  sails  through  Long  Isl- 
and Sound,  92  ;  at  Manhattan,  93  ;  his  letter  to 
Gorges,  94,  133. 

Deutel  Bay,  origin  of  the  name,  292  ;  a  Dutchman 
murdered  near,  316. 

Dincklagen,  Lubbertus  van,  appointed  to  succeed 
Notelman  as  schout-fiscal  of  New  Nelherland, 
247  ;  sent  back  to  Holland  by  A'an  Twiller,  266  ; 
complaints  of  and  against,  in  Holland,  273  ;  ap- 
pointed, provisionally,  to  succeed  Kieft,  404  ; 
appointed  vice-director  under  Stuyvesant,  414  ; 
commissioned  and  sworn,  432  ;  a  counselor, 
466  ;  presiding  judge,  467  ;  at  the  South  River, 
485 ;  opposes  Stuyvesant's  treatment  of  Van  der 
Donck,  502  ;  acknowledges  his  error  in  Melyn's 
case,  503  ;  writes  to  Holland  in  favor  of  the  Nine 
Men,  507;  protests  against  Stuyvesant's  man- 
agement, 517  ;  is  slighted  by  the  Director,  521  ; 
buys  Raritan  lands  for  Van  de  Capellen,  525 ;  is 
e.xpelled  from  the  council,  525  ;  retires  to  Staten 
Island  and  writes  lo  Holland,  526  ;  repurchases 
lands  for  Van  de  Capellen,  641  ;  purchase  de- 
clared void,  642  ;  death  of,  642,  note. 

Diroksen,  Earent,  one  of  the  Eight  Men,  365  ;  pro- 
tests against  Kieft,  397. 

Dircksen,  Gerrit,  one  of  the  Twelve  Men,  317. 

Director  of  New  Netherland,  powers  and  duties 
of,  154,  159,  163,  197,  222,  275,  312,  327,  399,  414, 
432,  474,  504,  506. 

Distillery  established  on  Staten  Island.  313, 


Documentary  history  of  New  York,  759. 
Domine,  meaning  of  the  term,  in  Holland,  243. 
Donck,  Adriaen  van  der,  appointed  schout-fiscal 
of  Rensselaerswyck,341  ;  his  instructions,  342 
opposes  Van  Curler,  377  ;  is  prevented  from  ac 
quiring  Katskill,  378 ;  assists  Kieft  at  Fort 
Orange,  408 ;  marries  daughter  of  Doughty, 
419  ;  quarrels  with  Van  Curler,  419 ;  goes  down 
to  Manhattan,  420  ;  purchases  Colendonck  oi 
Yonkers,  421 ;  chosen  one  of  the  Nine  Men,  495, 
note ;  urges  a  delegation  to  Holland,  501  ;  his 
journal  seized  by  Stuyvesant,  and  harsh  pro- 
ceedings against,  502  ;  signs  memorial  to  the 
States  General,  504,  505  ;  draws  up  "  Vertoogh," 
and  is  appointed  a  delegate  to  Holland,  507 ;  at 
the  Hague,  511,  512;  arranges  for  more  emi 
grants,  513  ;  opposes  Van  Tienhoven  at  the 
Hague,  523  ;  procures  his  arrest,  524  ;  his  faith 
fulness  in  Holland,  527  ;  censures  Stuyvesant's 
conduct  again,  539  ;  favored  by  the  States  Gen- 
eral, 541  ;  statement  of  his  wife  respecting  the 
Mohawks,  555  ;  made  a  doctor  of  laws  at  Ley- 
den  University,  560 ;  returns  to  New  Nether- 
land, 561  ;  publication  of  his  "Description  of 
New  Netherland,"  561,  note. 
Dordrecht,  Synod  of,  109,  110;  conformity  to,  re- 

!      quired,  312,  342,  609,  617. 

I  Doughty,  Francis,  comes  to  Manhattan,  333;  ob- 
tains patent  for  Mespath,  333 ;  his  settlement 

I  destroyed  by  the  savages,  367  ;  preaches  at  Man- 
hattan, 368;  his  troubles  at  Mespath,  411  ;  is 
fined  by  Kieft,  411  ;  removes  to  Flushing,  411  , 
his  daughter  married  to  Van  der  Donck,  419; 
his  treatment  by  Stuyvesant,  472  ;   his  state- 

'      meiits  to  the  New  England  agents  at  Flushing, 

555;  goes  to  Virginia,  615;  in  Maryland,  666. 

Downing,  Sir  George,  British  ambassador  at  the 

I      Hague,  700  ;  his  menacing  language,  735 

,  Drisius,  Domine  Samuel,  becomes  a  colleague  ol 

!  Megapolensis  at  New  Amsterdam,  537  ;  sent  on 
a  mission  to  Virginia,  561  ;  preaches  at  Staten 
Island,  615;  jealous  of  the  Lutherans,  616; 
complains  of  conventicles,  617  ;  of  Goetwater 
and  the  Lutherans,  635 ;  recommends  a  Latin 
school  at  New  Amsterdam,  640  ;  explanations 
respecting  religious  affairs,  643  ;  instructed  by 
the  Company  to  be  more  moderate,  656  ;  success 
of  his  ministry,  681  ;  baptizes  at  Rustdorp,  689  , 
preaches  at  Staten  Island,  692. 
Dupuys,  Sieur,  at  Onondaga,  644 ;  abandons  it,  646. 
Dutch,  the,  name  of,  19;  maritime  destiny,  20 
early  voyages,  21  ;  in  North  America,  35  ;  their 
independence,  38-42, 434-447  ;  their  established 
church,  99-111,  312,  342,  614  ;  their  naval  suc- 
cesses, 39, 184,  447,  545  ;  their  political  system, 
191-193,  447-459  ;  characteristics  of,  460-464. 
747-750. 
Dutch  ship,  English  subjects  forbidden  to  go  in, 
'•to  the  Hollanders'  Plantation  in  Tludsnn's 
River,'  259.      , 


INDEX. 


/  /o 


Dutchman's  Island,  near  the  PiiiuoJ  or  Tnanies 
River,  268  ;  post  at,  270,  271. 

Duties,  high,  at  Manhattan,  312,  478,  4s0,  495, 
497 ;  reduced,  540. 

Duyckingk,  Evert,  wounded  at  Fort  Good  Hope, 
295. 

Duyster,  Dirck  Cornelissen,  under  coiriinissary  at 
Fort  Orange,  170. 

Dyck,  Gysbert  op,  commissary  at  Fort  Good  Hope, 
295  ;  obtains  patent  for  Coney  Island,  412,  note. 

Dyck,  Ensign  llendrick  van,  commands  expedi- 
tion against  the  Weckquaesgeeks,  329,  330  ; 
wounded  at  Manhattan,  309;  sent  to  Heem- 
stede,  389 ;  against  Connecticut  Indians,  390, 
391  ;  appointed  fiscal  in  place  of  Van  der  Huy- 
gens,  414 ;  embarks  for  New  Netherland,  432 ; 
his  treatment  by  Stuyvesant  on  the  voyage, 
433  ;  in  the  council,  406  ;  is  slighted  by  the  di- 
rector, 521 ;  joins  in  a  protest  against,  525 ;  is 
superseded  by  Stuyvesant,  and  Van  Tienhoven 
appointed  in  his  place,  532 ;  appeals  to  the 
States  General,  533  ;  kills  a  squaw,  606 ;  is  shot 
by  an  Indian,  607. 

Dyckman,  Johannes,  appointed  to  be  vice-director 
at  Fort  Orange  in  place  of  Labbatie,  530 ;  his 
difficulties  with  the  patroon's  officers,  533,  534  ; 
endeavors  to  levy  excises,  591  ;  becomes  insane, 
598  ;  is  succeeded  by  De  Decker,  599. 

Dyer,  William,  commissioned  by  Rhode  Island  to 
act  with  UmlerhiU  against  the  Dutch,  557. 

Earthquake  and  freshet  at  Fort  Orange,  709. 

Eastharnpton  annexed  to  Connecticut,  670. 

Eaton,  Theophilus,  293  ;  first  governor  of  New 
Haven,  294  ;  refuses  to  assist  New  Netherland, 
370;  his  correspondence  with  Kiefi,  428-431; 
protests  against  Stuyvesant,  479  ;  writes  him  a 
sharp  letter,  480  ;  proposes  prohibition  of  trade 
with  the  Dutch,  496 ;  proposes  a  conference  at 
Boston,  499  ;  warned  by  Stuyvesant,  528 ;  in- 
stigates Underhill,  555,  556 ;  urges  a  war  with 
the  Dutch,  559. 

Ebel,  Sergeant  Pieter,  sent  to  Esopus,  712. 

Economy  of  the  Dutch,  461,  462. 

Education,  state  of,  616 ;  see  Academy,  Schools. 

Eelkens,  Jacob,  at  Fort  Nassau,  55,  67  ;  imprisons 
the  Sequin  chief,  146  ;  dismissed  by  the  Com- 
pany, 152  ;  returns  in  the  English  slii])  William, 
229  ;  damages  the  Dutch  trade,  231,  246. 

Eendragt,  ship,  201  ;  arrested  at  Plymouth,  214; 
released,  217. 

"  Eendragt  maakt  magt,"  motto  of  the  Dutch  re- 
public, 445. 

Egyptians,  Dutchcolonistscailed,  by  Puritans,  295. 

Eight  Men  in  Holland,  453. 

Eight  Men  cho.sen  by  the  commonalty,  364  ;  au- 
thorize hostilities,  365  ;  recommendations  of,  to 
Kieft,  370  ;  letter  of,  to  West  India  Company, 
371-373  ;  oppose  an  excise,  393.  394  ;  represent 
the  popular  sentiment.  396:  tU    r  memorial  to 


the  West  India  Company,  397-400 ;  demand 
Kicft's  recall,  400  ;  members  of,  refuse  to  thank 
Kieft,  466  ;  their  memorial  pronounced  false 
by  Kiellt,  470,  471  ;  succeeded  by  Nine  Men. 
474. 

Elbertsen,  Elbert,  one  of  the  Nine  Men,  signs  me- 
morial to  the  States  General,  505 ;  a  delegate 
from  Midwout,  571 ;  a  delegate  to  General  A.s- 
sembly,  729. 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  lays  down  the  English  law 
respecting  colonial  possessions,  4 ;  Virginia 
named  after,  5  ;  her  doctrine  respecting  posses- 
sions confirmed  by  Parliament,  143. 

Elsland,  Claes  van,  marshal,  sent  to  West  Ches- 
ter, 598. 

Elswyck,  llendrick  van,  Swedish  factor,  594 ;  his 
ease,  595,  602,  605. 

Emigrants,  conditions  offered  to,  194,  288,  S91, 
312,  332,  388,  514,  630,  688,  696,  708. 

Emigrations,  large,  from  English  colonies  to  New 
Netherland,  290, 291,  332,  334, 335,  366,  374,  466, 
574,  595. 

Endicott,  John,  a  patentee  of  Massachusetts.  186  ; 
at  Salem,  189, 190;  complains  against  irregular 
traders,  209 ;  leads  expedition  against  Block 
Island,  270 ;  asks  Stuyvesant  to  deliver  up  regi 
cides,  695. 

England,  Church  of,  112-119. 

English  clergymen  at  Synod  of  Dort,  109,  117 

English  claim  to  New  Netherland,  5,  11,  93,  96, 
138,  141,  156,  214,  257,  324,  340,  582,  621,  633, 
725,  735  ;  subjects  forbidden  to  go  in  Dutch  ship 
to  the  Hollanders'  Plantation,  259  ;  jealousy  of 
the  Dutch,  140,  156,  543,  582,  685,  687,  701,  734. 

English  at  Manhattan,  291,  332 ;  Baxter  appointed 
secretary  for,  337  ;  enrollment  of,  306  ;  defection 
of,  495  ;  threaten  mutiny,  578. 

Engravers,  eminent,  in  Holland,  460. 

Episcopacy  in  Holland,  118. 

Episcopal  Church,  Protestant,  its  sympathy  with 
the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  119. 

Erasmus,  99,  100. 

Esopus,  76,  145, 151 ;  De  Vries  at,  302,  306  ;  callei 
Atkarkarton,  Chambers  settles  at,  536;  aban 
doned,  607  ;  religious  service  at,  616  ;  return 
of  settlers  to,  647 ;  redoubt  ordered  to  be  built  at, 
647 ;  Stuyvesant  at,  647 ;  village  formed  at,  648, 
649  ;  garrison  at,  651 ;  Domine  Blom  called  to, 
657 ;  attacked  by  the  savages,  656 ;  expedition 
sent  to,  660;  mediation  of  Mohawks  at,  661  ; 
garrison  destroys  Indian  fort  of  Wiltmeet,  675  ; 
Swartwout  commissioned  as  schout  of,  677 ; 
treaty  with  savages  at,  678,  679  ;  Domine  Blom 
settled  at,  660 ;  charter  for  Wiltwyck  at,  690 ; 
new  village  and  ronduit  at,  710 ;  outbreak  of 
savages  at,  711;  savages  defeated,  712-714, 
savages  encamp  among  the  Minnisincks,  717  ; 
treaty  of  peace  with  savages,  731  ;  Beeckman 
commissary  at,  732 ;  soldiers  ordered  doxvn 
from,  738  ;  Sager's,  or  Esopus  Kill,  75i!. 


774 


INDEX. 


Everett,  Richard,  informs  against  Quakers  at 
Rustdorp,  6S9. 

Excise  levied  at  New  Amsterdam,  394,  467 ;  dis- 
agreement about,  560,  567  ;  conditionally  sur- 
rendered to  the  city,  568 ;  resumed  by  Stuyve- 
sant,  590  ;  at  Fort  Orange,  591  ;  farming  of,  610 ; 
question  of,  at  Beverwyclv  settled,  649  ;  surren- 
dered to  New  Amsterdam,  727. 

Ever  Haven,  or  Egg  Harbor,  De  Vries  at,  228. 

Fairfield  blockaded  by  the  Dutch,  565. 

Fairs  established  at  Manhattan,  314,  489. 

Farrett,  James,  agent  for  Lord  Stirling,  297  ;  dis- 
poses of  lands  on  Long  Island,  297-300,  760 ; 
arrested  at  Manhattan,  298. 

Fiirrington,  Edward,  of  Flushing,  case  of,  637. 

Fasting  and  prayer,  day  of,  proclaimed,  356,  639. 

Fatherland,  the,  in  Holland,  464.    • 

Feake,  Robert,  settles  at  Greenwich,  294  ;  required 
to  submit  to  the  Dutch,  296,  330. 

Feake,  Tobias,  a  delegate  from  Flushing,  569,  571 ; 
schout  of,  637  ;  lined  and  banished,  638. 

Fence  ordered  to  be  built  at  Manhattan,  392  ;  see 
New  Amsterdam. 

Fendall,  Josias,  Governor  of  Maryland,  663  ;  let- 
ter of,  to  Alrichs,  664  ;  his  negotiations  with 
Heermaiis  and  Waldron,  666-669 ;  succeeded  by 
Philip  Calvert  as  governor,  697. 

FL'nn  and  Treat,  of  New  Haven,  visit  New  Am- 
sterdam, 696  ;  conditions  demanded  and  offered 
to,  as  colonists,  696 ;  concessions  to,  rejected, 
708. 

Ferry  to  Breuckelen,  422,  575 ;  regulation  of.  5S9 ; 
from  New  Haerlem  to  Long  Island,  641. 

Fei.dal  system  in  Holland,  191-194 ;  transferred 
to  New  Netherland,  198,  266,  305,  311,  531,  746. 

Fire  and  light,  traders  required  to  keep,  469,  628. 

Fire  department  in  New  Amsterdain,  487,  640. 

Fire  Island,  shipwreck  near,  632. 

F;rniness  of  the  Dutch,  464. 

Five  Dutch  towns,  the,  560,  693  ;  remonstrance 
of,  at  Midwout,  727. 

Five  Nations  of  Iroquois,  82-87  ;  see  Iroquois. 

Flag,  origin  of  the  Dutch,  19  ;  staff  on  Staten  Isl- 
and, 314  ;  for  burghers  of  New  Amsterdam,  516, 
517;  Orange,  229. 

F'.atbush,  settlement  at,  536  ;  see  Midwout 

Flatlands,  265 ;  see  Amersfoort. 

Flushing,  patent  for,  410 ;  Doughty  removes  to, 
411 ;  Forrester  at,  477  ;  New  England  agents  at, 
555 ;  sedition  at,  556 ;  delegates  from  Gravesend, 
Ileemstede,  and  Middelburgh  at,  569 ;  sends 
delegates  to  New  Amsterdam,  569  ;  represented 
in  Convention,  571;  Baptists  at,  persecuted, 
626  ;  remonstrates  against  persecution  of  Quak- 
ers, 637  ;  charter  of,  modified,  638 ;  orders  of 
Connecticut  to,  703  ;  magistrates  of,  inform 
against  Quakers,  705;  case  of  John  Bowne,  706, 
707;  Talcott  and  Christie  at,  719;  name  of, 
changed.  723  ;  party  from,  at  the  Raritan,  724  ; 


forms  combination,  726;  Letter  of  States  Gen- 
eral to,  730,  733. 

Fordham,  Robert,  at  Heemstede,  388 ;  imprisons 
savages,  389. 

Foreign  residents  at  New  Amsterdam,  291,  335, 
374,  489,  578,  628,  640. 

Foreigners  attracted  to  Holland,  102,  459. 

Forrester,  Andrew,  Lady  Stirling's  agent,  arrest 
ed,  477,  4S0. 

Fort  Albany,  Fort  Orange  so  named,  744. 

Fort  Amsterdam  commenced,  165 ;  murder  during 
its  progress,  166 ;  completed,  183 ;  repaired,  243 , 
condition  of,  369,  373  ;  Indian  prisoners  in,  389  , 
Indian  parties  around,  397  ;  Kieft  constantly 
within,  399  ;  proposed  to  be  repaired,  405 ;  gen- 
eral Indian  treaty  at,  409 ;  propositions  for  re- 
pair of,  473,  476  ;  no  goats  to  be  pastured  near, 
468  ;  question  about  its  repair,  549,  568;  condi- 
tion of,  741 ;  surrendered  to  the  English  and 
called  Fort  James,  743 ;  see  Manhattan  and  New 
Amsterdam. 

Fort  Auranea,  the  English  way  of  spelling  Fort 
Orange,  583,  note. 

Fort  Beversrede  built  on  the  Schuylkill,  483  ; 
Swedes  oppose  the  Dutch  at,  486,  487. 

Fort  Casimir  built  on  the  South  River,  529  ;  its 
building  disapproved  of  by  the  Amsterdam 
directors,  538  ;  embarrasses  the  Swedes,  576  ; 
captured  by  Rising,  and  called  "  Fort  Trinity," 
593  ;  orders  for  recovery  of,  601 ;  recaptured  by 
Stuyvesant,  604  ;  made  seat  of  the  Dutch  gov- 
ernment, 609  ;  religious  service  at,  616 ;  Swed- 
ish ship  at,  620  ;  transferred  to  the  city  of  Am- 
sterdam, 630-632  ;  named  New  Amstel,  632  , 
see  New  -\mstel. 

Fort  Christina  built  by  Minuit,  284  ;  situation  of 
Swedes  at,  319;  relieved,  320;  Printz  at,  379  , 
lands  around  purchased  by  the  Dutch,  529  ;  sur- 
rendered to  the  Dutch,  605 ;  named  Altona,  631, 
633  ;  see  Altona. 

Fort  Cralo,  at  Greenbush,  711. 

Fort  Elsingburg,  Dutch  vessel  stopped  at,  3S0 , 
in  ruins  and  deserted  by  the  Swedes,  604. 

Fort  Good  Hope  projected,  153,  234;  built,  235; 
Op  Dyck  commissary  at,  295 ;  Roesen  commis- 
sary at,  296 ;  vexatious  conduct  of  Hartford 
people  at.  322,  328;  Kieft  offers  to  lease  land 
around,  339 ;  Provoost  commissary  at,  429  ;  con- 
firmed to  the  Dutch  by  the  Hartford  treaty,  520 ; 
seized  by  Underbill,  558 ;  sequestrated  by  Hart- 
ford, 583  ;  see  Hartford  and  Connecticut. 

Fort  James,  Fort  Amsterdam  so  named,  743. 

Fort  Nassau  built  on  Mauritius  River,  55 ;  de- 
stroyed, 81. 

Fort  Nassau  built  on  South  River,  153 ;  position 
of,  758;  its  garrison  withdrawn,  170,  183;  De 
Vries  at,  225,  226  ;  seized  by  a  Virginian  party, 
254  ;  Jansen  commissary  at,  279,  337  ;  revisited 
by  De  Vries,  380  ;  Hudde  commissary  at,  424, 
482  ;    Dutch    commissioners   at,   4S5  ;    lands 


INDEX. 


770 


around  purchased  by  the  Dutch,  SIO,  511 ;  Stuy- 
vesant  at,  525  ;  demolished  by  Stuyvesant,  529. 
fort  New  Gotteiiburg,  379  ;  see  New  Gottenburg. 
Fort  Orange  projected  and  built  on  North  River, 
149,  151  ;  Indians  at,  152;  affairs  at,  168;  col- 
onists removed  from,  170, 183  ;  colonic  of  Rens- 
sclaerswyck  established  around,  201  ;  trade  at, 
212  ;  Eelkeiis  returns  to,  with  English  ship, 
229,  230 ;  visited  by  De  Vries,  302-306 ;  condi- 
tion of,  described  by  Father  Jogues,  374  ;  Kiefl's 
treaty  with  Indians  at,  408  ;  Stuyvesant's  claim 
of  jurisdiction  at,  491-494  ;  trade  at,  to  be  free, 
521 ;  Labbatie  commissary  at,  523 ;  Dyckman 
vice-director  at,  530 ;  Beverwyck  annexed  to, 
535 ;  views  of  Company  respecting,  562,  563 ; 
trading-house  above,  proposed,  563 ;  Father 
Poncet  at,  564  ;  Cromwell's  designs  against, 
583;  excises  at,  590,  591  ;  Ue  Decker  vice-di- 
rector at,  599  ;  Mohawks  at,  611,  612  ;  new  offi- 
cers at,  condition  of,  625 ;  Mohawks  at,  650 ; 
English  party  at,  655 ;  deserters  from,  murdered, 
657;  Mohawks  again  at,  658;  Stuyvesant  at, 
676  ;  conference  with  Senecas  at,  679 ;  Stuyve- 
sant again  at,  682 ;  frontier  post,  690 ;  Captain 
fireedon  at,  704 ;  Canadian  refugees  at,  705 ;  ar- 
tillery at,  711  ;  represented  in  General  Assem- 
bly, 729  ;  limit  of  its  jurisdiction,  732  ;  alarm 
at,  733  ;  Stuyvesant  at,  737  ;  De  Decker  at,  743  ; 
surrender  of,  744 ;  name  of,  changed  to  Fort  Al- 
bany, 744  ;  treaty  of  English  with  Iroquois  at, 
744 ;  see  Beverwyck. 

Fort  Paconthetuck,  Mohawks  murdered  at,  733. 

Fort  Trinity,  Fort  Casimir  so  named  by  Rising, 
593 ;  recaptured  by  Stuyvesant,  604. 

Fort  Wilhelmus,  152,  758. 

Fox,  George,  disciples  of,  called  Quakers,  635. 

Fox  Haven,  or  Boston  Harbor,  visited  by  Block, 
58,  756. 

Franchises,  people  demand,  326,  400,  505,  573. 

Franeker,  High  School  at,  413,  463. 

Frankness  of  the  Dutch,  461. 

Frederick  Henry,  Prince  of  Orange,  succeeds 
Maurice.  160  ;  death  of,  434. 

Frederycke,  Kryn,  engineer  of  Fort  Amsterdam, 
165. 

Free  schools  established  in  Holland,  462. 

Free  spirit  of  colonists  at  Manhattan,  325,  326, 
400,  505,  573,  749. 

Freedom  of  conscience  in  Holland,  101,  102,  103, 
458,  614,  707. 

Freedom  of  trade  in  Holland,  98,  456,  458;  why 
not  extended  to  colonies,  544,  545  ;  concessions 
of,  to  New  Nethcrland,  540,  656,  684. 

French,  their  discoveries  in  North  America,  2,  3, 
16-18,  67-72;  ship  at  North  and  South  Rivers, 
150,  153;  their  progress  in  Canada,  344-346; 
their  gratitude  toward  the  Dutch,  402;  discover 
Lake  Saint  Sacrement,  422  ;  call  upon  New  En- 
gland for  aid,  564  ;  among  the  Onondagas,  591, 
fil2  :  new,  viceroy  of  Canada,  705.  ! 


Frenchmen  enrolled,  607  ;  settle  at  Boswyck,  693 ; 
from  Rochelle,  on  Staten  Island,  692,  730,  734. 

Fresh  River  discovered  by  Block,  56  ;  see  Connec- 
ticut River. 

Fresh  Water,  167 ;  sec  Kolck. 

Freshet  destroys  Fort  Nassau,  80,  81  ;  inundates 
Fort  Orange,  302,  303 ;  damages  Beverwyck. 
420,  709;  at  Katskill,  531. 

Fries,  Captain  Jan  de,  arrives  from  Curacoa,  395  ; 
dispatched  on  expedition  to  the  North,  397. 

Frobisher's  voyages.  4. 

Frontenac,  Count,  69  ;  Street's  poem  of,  87. 

Frugality  of  the  Dutch,  461,  462. 

Fur  trade,  44,  67,  99,  155,  159,  171,  183,  194,  218, 
224,  231,  236,  248;  regulated  by  Kieft,  277  ;  on 
the  South  River,  284,  379 ;  regulated  by  Stuy- 
vesant, 467. 

Gamoenepa,  farmers  at,  642  ;  see  Communipa. 
Gardiner,  Lion,  builds  fort  at  Saybrook,  261  ;  at- 

i     tacked  by  the  Pequods.  270 ;  settles  at  Gardin- 
er's Island,  298. 
Gardiner's  Island,  or  Manchonack,  297,  737. 
Gates,  Sir  Thomas,  1 1,  49-53. 
Gecommiteerde  Raden,  or  councilmen  of  Holland, 

452. 
Genentaha  Lake,  in  Onondaga,  Jesuit  chapel  at, 
612  ;  Saint  Mary's  of,  644  ;  abandoned,  646. 

Gerritsen,  Martin,  counselor,  223, 244 ;  Bay  named 
after,  290,  388 ;  see  Heemstede. 

Gerritsen,  Wolfert,  overseer  at  Rensselaerswyck, 
201,  244  ;  on  Long  Island,  265. 

Gheel,  Maximilian  van,  one  of  the  first  schepens 
of  New  Amsterdam,  548. 

Ghent,  meeting  of  States  General  at,  437 ;  pacifi- 
cation of,  444. 

Gilbert,  Sir  Humphrey,  his  patent,  4;  at  New- 
foundland, 5. 

Glen,  Alexander,  arrested  at  Fort  Orange,  534. 

Goats  sent  to  Manhattan  from  Holland,  47 ;  from 
Virginia,  228. 

Godyn,  Samuel,  59,  148 ;  buys  land  on  the  South 
River,  200 ;  obtains  share  in  Rensselaerswyck. 
204  ;  dies,  249 ;  his  heirs  surrender  Swaanen- 
dael  to  the  company,  249. 

Goedenhuysen,  case  of,  479, 480 ;  seeWester'nouse. 

Goetwater,  John  Ernestus,  Lutheran  clergyman, 
634 ;  at  New  Amsterdam,  ordered  to  return,  635 : 
views  of  \V.  I.  Company  respecting  case  of,  642. 

Gold  mine,  supposed,  near  Fort  Orange,  408,  412 

Golden  Fleece,  the  motto  of  the,  191. 

Gomarists,  or  Contra-Remonstrants,  105-109. 

Gomarus,  of  Lcyden,  104-107. 

Gonwarrowc,  chief  of  the  Mattinnccocks,  392. 

Good  Hope.  Fort,  235  ;  see  Fort  Good  Hope. 

Goodyear,  deputy  governor  of  New  Haven,  Stuy- 
vesant's letter  to,  481. 

Gorges,  Sir  Ferdinando,  9,  10,  90,  91-96,  140. 

Gosnold,  BarthoUiniew,  Ills  voyage,  6  ;  at  Capo 
Cod.  7. 


776 


INDEX. 


Governor's  Island,  267  ;  see  Nutten  Island. 

Gowanus,  or  Gujanes,  Domine  Selyns  at,  681. 

Grasmeer,  Domine  Wrlhelmus,  sails  from  Hol- 
land, 516  ;  is  suspended,  522  ;  accompanies 
Stuyvesant  to  the  South  River,  528  ;  returns  to 
Holland,  537. 

Gravesend,  or  Gravesande,  Anthony  Jansen  at, 
292 ;  settlement  at,  attacked  by  the  savages, 
307  ;  patent  for,  411 ;  letter  from,  to  the  West  In- 
dia Company  in  favor  of  Stuyvesant,  509 ;  a  sec- 
ond letter  from,  518;  third  letter,  526;  Stuyve- 
sant's  confidence  in,  554  ;  disaffection  of  En- 
glish at,  568;  delegates  from,  at  Flushing,  568; 
sends  delegates  to  New  Amsterdam,  5C9 ;  rep- 
resented in  Convention,  571  ;  letter  from,  to 
Holland,  575, 576  ;  disaffection  at,  579  ;  sedition 
at,  585  ;  Stuyvesant  at,  596  ;  Fresh  troubles 
at,  597 ;  Baxter  and  Hubbard  arrested,  598  ; 
tranquillity  restored  at,  599  ;  attacked  by  sava- 
ges, 607:  Mennonists  at,  616;  memorial  of,  to 
Cromwellj  620  ;  Groyer  arrested  at,  634  ;  Quak- 
ers at,  638;  arrested  at,  689  ;  orders  of  Connec- 
ticut to,  703;  persecution  of  Quakers  at,  706  , 
Talcott  and  Christie  at,  719;  surrendered  to 
Connecticut,  723;  party  from,  at  the  Raritan, 
724  ;  forms  combination,  726  ;  letter  of  States 
General  to,  730,  733. 

Great  Charter  of  Holland,  437,  448. 

Great  Council  called  by  Stuyvesant,  502. 

Great  Falls  at  Trenton,  Hudde  prevented  from 
visiting,  425. 

Green  Mountains,  called  "  Winterberg,"  733. 

Greenbush,  colonists  at,  343  ;  alarm  at,  711 ;  cat- 
tle destroyed  at,  733. 

Greenwich,  English  settle  at,  294;  required  to 
submit  to  the  Dutch,  296 ;  submission  of,  331  ; 
Dutch  expedition  sent  to,  386 ;  murder  of  Cap- 
lain  Patrick  of,  387 ;  how  affected  by  Hartford 
'realy,  519,  520  ;  claimed  by  commissioners  of 
'he  United  Colonies,  626  ;  declared  annexed  lo 
t>)nnecticut,  703. 

Grievance,  the  New  England  patent  a,  139  ;  Kieft's 
council  a,  327  ;  the  government  of  New  Nether- 
land  a,  500. 

•"r-'ist,  Paulus  Leendertsen  van  der,  equipage  mas- 
ter, 466 ;  schepen  of  New  Amsterdam,  548 ; 
signs  letter  to  New  England  agents,  553 ;  a  dele- 
gate to  the  Convention,  569,  571  ;  assaulted  by 
a  savage,  607;  burgomaster,  sent  with  mes- 
sage to  NicoUs,  738. 

Grotius,  24,  107,  192,  193,  443,  452,  543. 

Grover,  James,  hoists  British  flag  at  Gravesend, 
597  ;  takes  memorial  from,  to  London,  620 ;  is 
arrested  at  Gravesend,  633,  634. 

Groves,  Captain,  sent  by  Nicolls  to  Fort  Amster- 
dam, 738. 

Guard  of  halberdiers,  Stuyvesant's,  525,  607. 

liueux,  origin  of  the,  440  ;  capture  the  Brielle, 
442. 

Guilds  in  Holland,  453. 


Guilliams,  William,  a  delegate  to  General  Assem- 
bly, 729. 

Gujanes,  or  Gowanus,  Domine  Selyns  at,  681. 

Guns,  trade  in,  89,  144, 169, 175, 188,  209,  212,  306, 
349;  regulated,  277,  293,  308,  376,  415,  478,  400, 
492,  504,  562,  659,  680,  710. 

Gustavus  Adolphus  favors  a  Swedish  West  India 
Company,  280. 

Hackinsack,  or  Achter  Cul,  colonic  at,  313  ;  Van 
Voorst  murdered  at,  347,  348 ;  Oritany,  sachem, 
at,  359  ;  attacked  and  ruined  by  the  savages, 
368  ;  new  purchases  near,  537  ;  block-house  pro- 
posed to  be  built  at,  610 ;  court  at  Hospating, 
near.  642. 

Ilackingsacks,  or  Hackinsacks,  position  of  the, 
73  ;  their  village,  313  ;  chiefs  of,  visit  De  Vries, 
347 ;  Kieft,  348 ;  strength  of,  349 ;  refugees 
among,  349 ;  enraged  against  the  Dutch,  354  ; 
Oritany,  chief  of,  359 ;  attack  Achter  Cul,  368  ; 
make  a  peace,  409 ;  again  at  war,  606 ;  Dutch 
prisoners  among  the,  608,  610;  their  rights  to 
Staten  Island  purchased,  641  ;  new  treaty  with, 
675  ;  mediation  of,  676,  678  ;  assist  at  last  treaty 
at  Fort  Amsterdam,  731. 

Hadson,  Domine  Wanierus,  734, 

Haerlem,  siege  of,  442. 

Haerlem,  New,  641  ;  see  New  Haerlern. 

Hague,  the,  origin  of  its  name,  61. 

Hakluyt,  Richard,  8,  10,  11. 

Half  Moon  sails  from  Holland,  25  ;  returns  and  la 
lost,  43. 

Hall,  Dean  and  Bishop,  at  Synod  of  Dort,  109,  117. 

Hall,  Thomas,  254  ;  at  New  Amersfuort,  265  ;  at 
Deutel  Bay,  on  Manhattan,  292;  one  of  the 
Eight  Men,  365  ;  insulted  by  Kieft,  394  ;  protests 
against  him,  397  ;  one  of  the  Nine  Men,  476  ;  a 
fire-warden  at  New  Amsterdam,  467 ;  informs 
against  Van  der  Donck,  502 ;  signs  memorial  to 
the  States  General,  505 ;  his  land  on  Manhattan, 
517. 

Hallett,  William,  sheriff  of  Flushing,  fined  and  re- 
moved from  office  for  holding  conventicles,  626. 

Hamel,  Hendrick,  148  ;  becomes  a  patroon,  205. 

Hamel's  Hooftden,  or  the  Narrows,  202. 

Hand-board  at  Capsey  Hook,  467,  490 ;  blown 
down,  500. 

Hardenburg,  Arnoldus  van,  denied  right  of  appeal 
by  Kieft,  417  ;  threatened  by  Stuyvesant,  472 ; 
one  of  the  Nine  Men,  475  ;  signs  memorial  and 
remonstrance  to  Stales  General,  505,  507. 

Harmenssen,  Reynert,  counselor,  164. 

Hart,  Edward,  town  clerk  of  Flushing,  637. 

Hartford,  settlement  at,  257  ;  expedition  against 
the  Pequods,  271  ;  people  of,  commit  aggressions 
around  the  Dutch  fort,  295 ;  continue  to  annoy 
the  Dutch,  322 ;  reproved  by  Massachusetts, 
.322  ;  Hopkins  and  Haynes  endeavor  to  arrange 
the  differences  with  the  Dutch,  323  :  commii=- 
sicns  Peters  to  negotiate  in  Holland,  324 ;  ad 


INDEX. 


/  / 


vice  of  Sir  William  Boswell  to,  324  ;  intercourse 
with,  forbidden  by  Kieft,  338 ;  sends  agents  to 
Manhattan,  339  ;  accedes  to  confederation,  361  ; 
Miantonomoh  in  jail  at,  363 ;  complains  of  tlie 
Dutch,  429  ;  treaty  at,  with  the  Dutch,  519, 520  ; 
Fort  Good  Hope  at,  seized,  558 ;  urges  Massa- 
chusetts to  make  war,  559 ;  feeling  at,  against 
the  Dutch,  565 ;  sequesters  Fort  Good  Hope, 
563  ;  zeal  of,  for  war,  585  ;  exploring  party  sails 
from,  655 ;  petitions  for  a  royal  charter,  and 
commissions  Winthrop  as  agent,  695  ;  obtains  a 
charter,  702;  proceedings  of  General  Court  at, 
703,  709  ;  Dutch  commissioners  at,  720,  721  ; 
see  Connecticut. 

Hartford  treaty  negotiated,  519,  520;  ratified  by 
the  States  General,  621  ;  its  ratification  by  En- 
gland required,  730. 

Hartgers,  Joost,  his  Beschryvinge  van  Nieuw 
Nederlandt,  527. 

Harvey,  Sir  John,  Governor  of  Virginia,  his  friend- 
ly treatment  of  De  Vries,  226,  227  ;  sends  goats 
to  Manhattan,  228  ;  commissions  Clayborne, 
250;  is  deposed  and  sent  to  England,  254 ;  re- 
turns to  Virginia,  279, 2»0  ;  declines  to  allow  the 
Swedes  a  free  trade,  2b2. 

Hattem,  Arendt  van,  a  patentee  of  Flatbush  or 
Midwout,536;  burgomasterof  New  Amsterdam, 
548 ;  sent  to  Virgin  ia,  559 ;  to  the  Conrention,  5T1. 

Haverstraw,  or  Kumochenack,  29,  75,  302,  757. 

Waynes,  .John,  Governor  of  Connecticut,  295  ;  his 
commission  to  Peters,  323  ;  confers  with  New 
Haven  about  hostilities  against  the  Dutch,  559. 

Hazard,  Thomas,  a  delegate  from  Middeiburgh, 
569,571. 

Heckewelder,  his  account  of  the  first  arrival  of 
Europeans  at  New  York,  751,  752,  753. 

Heemstede,  Kieft's  patent  for,  388  ;  expedition 
sent  to,  389 ;  Forrester  at,  477  ;  John  Moore 
preacher  at,  527  ;  letter  from,  to  the  West  India 
Company,  527  ;  disaflection  at,  552  ;  depositions 
against  the  Dutch  procured  at,  555  ;  sedition  at, 
556  ;  Thomas  Baxter  seizes  vessel  in  harbor  of, 
505  ;  delegates  from,  at  Flushing,  568 ;  sends 
delegates  to  New  Amsterdam,  569  ;  represented 
in  Convention,  571  ;  sedition  at,  565  ;  Richard 
Denton,  clergyman  at,  615  ;  petition  from,  for  a 
new  village  near,  619;  Hodgson  arrested  at, 
636  ;  orders  of  Connecticut  to,  703  ;  Talcott  and 
Christie  at,  719;  petitions  Connecticut,  719; 
surrendered  to  Connecticut,  723  ;  forms  combi- 
nation, 726  ;  letter  of  States  General  to,  730,  733. 

Hecrmans,  Augustine,  one  of  the  Nine  Men,  475 ; 
signs  memorial  to  States  General,  505  ;  case  of, 
511  ;  prosecuted  by  Stuyvesant,  526  ;  purchases 
Raritan  lands  for  Van  Werckhoven,  537  ;  sent 
by  Stuyvesant  to  Boston,  554;  draws  view  of 
New  Amsterdam,  501,  674  ;  on  embassy  to 
Maryland,  666-668;  goes  to  Virginia,  669;  his 
influence  there,  663. 

HegRtnan,  Adriaen,  succeeds  Tonneman  as  sehout 


I      ofBreuckelen,580,674, 693;  schoutof  the  "  Five 

Dutch  Towns,"  693. 
;  Heidelberg  Catechism,  103,  105,  106,  110,  342,463. 

Hellekers,  Jacob,  magistrate  of  New  Utrecht,  093. 
I  Hell-gate,  named  by  the  Dutch,  56,  168,  231. 
i  Hendricksen,  Cornells,  59  ;  explores  the  "  New'' 
j      or  Delaware  River,  79  ;  returns  to  Holland,  60. 
!  Hesse,  Jacob  Jansen,-  counselor,  223. 

Heyes,  Pieter,  sails  to  South  River,  205 ;  estab- 
I  lishcs  colony  at  Swaanendael,  206  ;  buys  Cape 
I      May  for  Godyn  and  Blommaert,  207. 

Heyn,  Peter  Petersen,  captures  the  Spanish  silver 
'      fleet,  184  ;  his  magnanimity,  184,  404  ;  his  death 
and  his  monument,  185. 

Hicks,  John,  a  delegate  from  Flushing,  569,  571. 

High  Scliool  at  Franeker,  413,  463 ;  at  New  Am- 
sterdam, 656  ;  reputation  of,  694  ;  scholars  from 
Virginia  sent  to  it,  694. 

Hinlopen,  Tliytneu  Jacobsen,  59;  cape  probably 
named  after,  79. 

Hinlopen,  Cape,  probable  origin  of  name  of,  79; 
the  southern  boundary  of  New  Netherland,  479  • 
lands  near,  ordered  to  be  purchased,  652 ;  pur 
chase  near,  663  ;  ceded  to  city  of  Amsterdam, 
715-717. 

Hinoyossa,  Alexander  de,  lieutenant  of  New  Am- 
stel,  631 ;  wrecked  near  Fire  Island,  632  ;  assists 
Beeckman  in  purchasing  the  Horekills,  663 ; 
succeeds  Alrichs,  670 ;  his  insolent  demeanor, 
682 ;  meets  Governor  Calvert  of  Maryland,  697  ; 
his  disagreements  with  Beeckman,  699;  visits 
Holland,  700 ;  his  representations  there,  715 ; 
returns  to  South  River  and  organizes  govern- 
ment, 717  ;  opposes  the  English  forces,  744. 

Hobokan-Hacking  purchased  by  Pauw,  202  ;  laid 
waste  by  the  savages,  607. 

Hoboken,  Harman  van,  schoolmaster  at  New  Am- 
sterdam, 023. 

Hodenosaunee,  or  Iroquois,  82. 

Hodgson,  Robert,  at  Heemstede,  636 ;  imprisoned 
at  Fort  Amsterdam,  636;  discharged,  637. 

Hoeks  and  Kabbeljaus  in  Holland,  461. 

Holland,  flag  of,  19  ;  first,  on  the  North  River,  30  ; 
provincial  states  of,  451  ;  aspect  of,  457  ;  docu- 
ments procured  in,  759  ;  see  Dutch. 

HoUcendare,  Peter,  on  the  South  River,  320,  321. 

Holmes,  George,  seizes  Fort  Nassau,  254  ;  taken 
prisoner,  and  sent  back  to  Virginia,  255  ;  at 
Deutel  Bay,  on  Manhattan,  292. 

Holmes,  Lieutenant  William,  at  Windsor,  240,241. 

Honesty  of  the  Dutch,  404. 

Ilooges,  Anthonie  de,  secretary  of  Rensselacrs 
wyck,  420. 

Hoogh  Moogende  Ileeren,  the  title  of  the  State's 
General,  450. 

Hoorn,  Cape,  name  of,  47;  discovered  by  Schou- 
ten,  80,  note. 

Hopkins,  Edward,  293  ;  governor  of  Connecticut, 
295  ;  goes  to  England,  324  ;  returns  with  lettw 
from  Boswell,  339. 


778 


INDEX. 


Ilorekill,  Swaanendael  on  the,  206,219,  228;  pur- 
chased by  the  Dutch,  663  ;  Dutch  soldiers  at, 
663,  670  ;  Mennonist  colon;-  at,  698,  699  ;  plun- 
dered by  the  English,  744. 

Ilorikans,  the,  56,  77. 

Horst,  Myndert  van  der,  establishes  a  colonic  at 
Achter  Cul,  313  ;  thinks  of  the  South  River,  319  ; 
one  of  his  colonists  at  Hackinsack  murdered, 
347  ;  his  colonic  attacked  and  ruined  by  the  sav- 
ages, 368 ;  written  to  by  Melyn,  397. 

Hospating,  near  Hackinsack,  court  at,  642. 

Hospitality  of  the  Dutch,  462. 

Hossett,  Gillis,  purchases  lands  for  Van  Rens- 
selaer, 201  ;  at  Swaanendael,  206  ;  killed  by  the 
savages,  220. 

Hotel  at  Manhattan  for  strangers,  335,  549. 

Houten,  Hans  Jorissen,  succeeds  Krol  at  Fort 
Orange,  223  ;  opposes  Eelkens,  230  ;  is  succeed- 
ed by  Van  de  Bogaerdt,  419. 

Houtman,  Cornelius,  in  the  East  Indies,  22. 

Howe,  Daniel,  on  Long  Island,  298,  300,  760. 

Howell,  Edward,  on  Long  Island,  298,  300. 

Hubbard,  Sergeant  James,  a  patentee  of  Graves- 
end,  411  ;  opposes  Stuyvesant,  568;  a  delegate 
at  New  Amsterdam,  569,  571 ;  removed  from  the 
•nagistracy,  596  ;  hoists  British  flag  at  Graves- 
end,  597;  is  arrested,  598;  released,  619;  car- 
ries petition  of  English  villages  to  Hartford, 
719. 

Hudde,  Andries,  counselor,  223  ;  buys  land  on 
Long  Island,  265  ;  near  Corlaer's  Hook,  279  ; 
draws  up  memorial  to  West  India  Company, 
398 ;  succeeds  Jansen  as  commissary  on  South 
River,  42-? ;  protests  against  Printz,  424  ;  is  pre- 
vented from  visiting  the  "  Great  Falls"  at  Tren- 
ton, 425;  purchases  site  of  Philadelphia,  426; 
replies  to  Printz's  protest,  427  ;  is  confirmed  as 
commissary  at  the  South  River,  482 ;  builds 
Fort  Beversrede,  483 ;  proposes  further  land 
purchases  around  Fort  Nassau,  510,  511 ;  secre- 
tary and  surveyor  on  the  South  River,  609  ; 
commandant  at  Altona,  633  ;  death  of,  718,  note. 
Hudden,  Ilendrick,  koopman  of  cargoes,  264. 

Hudson,  Henry,  in  the  Arctic  Ocean,  24;  sails  in 
the  Half  Moon  from  Holland,  25 ;  at  Cape  Cod 
and  Delaware  Bay,  26  ;  at  Sandy  Hook,  27  ;  dis- 
covers the  North  River,  27-34 ;  sails  from  En- 
gland, 42  ;  his  death,  43. 
Hudson's  River,  93,  130,  227 ;  see  North  River. 
Huguenots  in  Holland,  459,  715,  730 ;  on  Staten 

Island,  692,  734,  749. 
Hulft,  Peter  Evertsen,  148  ;   sends  colonists   to 

New  Netherland,  158. 
Huntington,  on  Long  Island,  settled,  671  ;  an- 
nexed to  Connecticut,  703. 
Hutchinson,  Anne,  banished  from  Massachusetts, 
332  ;  at  Annie's  Hoeck,  in  West  Chester,  334  ; 
ner  settlement  destroyed  by  the  savages,  366 ; 
her  captive  grand-daughter  recovered  and  re- 
■tored  by  the  Dutch,  409,  419. 


Iluyck,  Jan,  Krank-hesoecker  at  Manhattan,  163. 

Huygens,  Cornells  van  der,  appointed  schout-lis- 
cal,  292 ;  enjoined  to  diligence,  386  ;  protests 
against  Koorn,  401  ;  succeeded  by  Van  Dyck, 
414,  466  ;  sails  for  Holland  and  is  drowned,  472, 
473. 

Huygens,  Hendrick,  Swedish  commissary  on 
South  River.  424,  425  ;  at  Fort  Beversrede,  4S3. 

Hyde,  Captain,  commands  English  squadron,  740 ; 
his  farm  on  the  South  River,  744. 

Iconoclasts  in  Holland,  100,  440,  441. 

Ihpetonga,  or  Brooklyn  Heights,  73. 

Illustrious  men  of  Holland,  460. 

Imbroeck,  Surgeon  Gysbert  van,  his  wife  guides 
expedition  against  Esopus  savages,  712 ;  a  dele- 
gate to  General  Assembly  at  New  Amsterdam, 
729. 

Independence,  Dutch  declaration  of,  446,  761. 

Indians,  employment  of,  as  servants,  307,  488 ;  eo 
slaved  in  New  England,  429  ;  see  Savages. 

Industry  of  the  Dutch,  448,  452,  462. 

Inloopen,  Cape,  meaning  of  name,  79. 

Intoxication  of  savages  on  board  of  the  Half  Moon, 
31,  752. 

Iroquois,  the,  derivation  of  their  name,  67,  82; 
their  empire,  67  ;  first  treaty  of  the  Dutch  with, 
88 ;  supplied  with  fire-arms,  89,  169,  308 ;  at 
war  with  the  French,  345,  563,  647  ;  Kiett's 
treaty  with,  408, 409  ;  Stuyvesant  with  the,  492 , 
first  treaty  of  English  with,  81,  744;  see  Mo- 
hawks, Onondagas,  Stuyvesant. 

Jacobsen,  Jan,  of  Winngen,  sent  to  New  Plym- 
outh, 175. 

Jacobsen,  Rutger,  signs  letter  to  New  England 
agents,  553  ;  lays  corner-stone  of  church  at 
Beverwyck,  624  ;  his  descendants,  625,  note. 

Jacquet,  John  Paul,  vice-director  on  South  River, 
609  ;  ordered  to  prevent  landing  of  Swedes,  620  ; 
delivers  Fort  Casimir  to  Alrichs,  632 ;  succeed 
ed  by  Hudde,  633. 

Jamaica  incorporated,  619  ;  see  Rustdorp. 

James  I.,  his  accession,  7 ;  grants  Virginia  pa- 
tent, 11,  15  ;  dislikes  the  Dutch,  38,  39  ;  grants 
New  England  patent,  95,  96  ;  his  bigotry,  106, 
109,  115;  his  claim  to  New  Netherland,  140- 
144  ;  his  death,  156,  161. 

Jamestown  founded,  12  ;  May  at,  97 ;  De  Vries  at, 
226. 

Jan  de  Witt's  Island,  54. 

Jansen,  Andries,  schoolmaster  at  Beverwyck,  622. 

Jansen,  Annetje,  her  farm  on  Manhattan  Island, 
266 ;  marries  Domine  Bogardus,  266,  472  ;  her 
daughter  Sarah,  731. 

Jansen,  Anthony,  obtains  land  near  Coney  Island, 
291. 

Jansen,  Hendrick,  one  of  the  Twelve  Men,  317. 

Jansen,  Jan,  of  Ilpendam,  commissary  on  th« 
South  River,  279 ;  protests  against  Minuit,  283 ; 


INDEX. 


779 


breaks  up  New  Haven  setrlemenls,  338  ;  com-  [ 
plaints  of  English  against,  363,  note ;   forbids 
Boston  adventurers  to  trade  with  the  Indians,  i 
384  ;  superseded  by  Hudde's  appointment  and 
sent  to  Holland,  424. 

Jansen,  Michael,  one  of  the  Nine  Men,  476;  in- 
forms Stuyvesant  of  Van  der  Donck's  journal, 
592  ;  signs  memorial  to  States  General,  505 ;  a 
magistrate  of  Bergen,  691. 

Jansen,  Roelof,  244;  his  farm  at  Manhattan,  266; 
his  widow  marries  Domine  Bogardus,  266, 472. 

Jesuits  in  Acadia,  52,  53,  67  ;  in  Canada,  344-346; 
in  New  Nelherland,  373,  374,  402,  422,  423  ;  at 
Onondaga,  564,  591,  592,  612,  644,  704. 

Jews  in  Holland,  102,  459;  in  N.  Netherland,  604. 

Joachimi,  Albert,  Dutch  ambassador  at  London, 
214;  action  of,  in  the  case  of  the  "William," 
245,  246  ;  Lord  Say's  letter  to,  340  ;  dispatches 
to  the  States  General,  341  ;  ordered  to  leave  Lon- 
don, 499. 

Jochemsen,  David,  a  delegate  to  General  Assem- 
bly, 729. 

Jogues,  Father  Isaac,  captured  by  the  Mohawks, 
345 ;  visited  by  the  Dutch,  346  ;  escapes  and 
visits  Manhattan,  373  ;  embarks  for  Europe, 
374  ;  discovers  Lake  Saint  Sacrement,  422 ;  at 
Fort  Orange,  422  ;  at  Caughnawaga,  423  ;  his 
death,  423  ;  his  missal,  &c.,  recovered,  645. 

Joosten,  Rutger,  magistrate  of  New  Utrecht,  693. 

loris,  Adriaen,  accompanies  May,  150;  at  Jort 
Orange,  151,  152  ;  returns,  155,  169,  182. 

Jurisdiction  of  patroons,  194-199,  287,  304-3C6, 
311,  312;  see  Beverwyck,  Patroons. 

Kabbeljaus  and  Hoeks  in  Holland,  461. 

Kaghnuwage,  Mohawk  castle  at,  659  ;  see  Caugh- 
nawaga. 

Kallebacker,  Indian,  with  a  gun,  306. 

ICatskill,  or  Catskill,  derivation  of  name  of,  76; 
De  Vries  at,  302 ;  Van  der  Donck's  views  re- 
specting, 377  ;  Van  Rensselaer's,  378  ;  granted 
to  Van  Slyck,  421  ;  purchased  for  Van  Renssel- 
aer, 510  ;  his  claim  to,  denied  by  the  company, 
522 ;  farmers  at,  531  ;  purchases  at,  declared 
void,  536  ;  savages  at,  suspected,  713. 

Katskill  Mountains,  why  so  named,  76  ;  proposed 
exploration  of,  531 ;  height  of,  29,  note. 

Kattenberg,  631  ;  see  New  Gottenburg. 

Kekcsick,  purchase  of,  290;  see  Yonkers. 

Kermis,  or  Fair,  at  Manhattan,  314,  489,  748. 

Keyser,  Adriaen,  commi.ssary,  432 ;  one  of  Stuy- 
vcsant's  council,  466  ;  a  fire-warden,  467. 

Kiefi,  William,  appointed  director  general,  274  ; 
arrives  at  Manhattan  and  organizes  his  council, 
275,  270 ;  his  new  proclamations  and  regiila- 
tions,  277,  278;  protests  against  Minuit  on  the 
South  River,  2S3  ;  prohitiits  contraband  trade, 
293 ;  resolves  to  demand  tribute  from  the  sav- 
ages, 293  ;  protests  against  English  at  Hartford, 
995  ;  purchases  lands  in  West  Chester,  and  re- 


quires Greenwich  to  submit,  296 ;  secures  In- 
dian title  to  lands  on  Long  Island,  297  ;  arrests 
Farrett,  298 ;  dislodges  intruders  at  Schout's 
Bay,  and  writes  to  Boston,  299  ;  exacts  tribute 
from  the  Indians,  309 ;  attacks  the  Rarilans. 
310 ;  establishes  a  distillery  and  buckskin  manu- 
factory on  Staten  Island,  313  ;  reforms  the  cur- 
rency and  establishes  fairs,  314 ;  outlaws  the 
Raritans,  315 ;  demands  the  Weckquaesgeek 
assassin,  316  ;  summons  a  meeting  of  the  com- 
monalty, 317  ;  stops  New  Haven  expedition  to 
South  River,  321  ;  orders  force  to  Fort  Good 
Hope,  322;  convokes  the  Twelve  Men,  325; 
makes  concessions,  328 ;  dissolves  the  Twelve 
Men,  329  ;  sends  expedition  against  the  Weck- 
quaesgeeks,  329  ;  builds  a  stone  hotel  and  a  new 
church  at  Manhattan,  335-337  ;  breaks  up  New 
Haven  settlements  on  the  South  River,  337, 
338  ;  forbids  intercourse  with  Hartford,  338 ;  of- 
fers to  lease  the  land  at  Hartford,  339 ;  leceives 
present  from  Van  Rensselaer,  343  ;  demands  the 
murderer  of  Van  Voorst,  348  ;  resolves  to  attack 
the  savages,  350;  sends  expeditions  against 
them,  351,  352;  congratulates  the  troops,  353  ; 
public  clamor  against,  356  ;  his  deposition  pro- 
posed, 356  ;  proclaims  fast-day,  356 ;  attacked 
by  Adriaensen,  357 ;  makes  peace  with  Long  Isl- 
and and  River  savages,  359 ;  attempts  to  bribe 
a  chief,  360 ;  opens  correspondence  with  New- 
England  commissioners,  362,  363  ;  draws  bill 
on  West  India  Company,  385 ;  sends  expeditions 
to  Staten  Island  and  Greenwich,  386 ;  to  West 
Chester,  387  ;  grants  patent  for  Heemstede,  388 , 
witnesses  atrocities  against  Indian  prisoners  at 
Manhattan,  389  ;  seizes  Van  Rensselaer's  ship, 
390  ;  proclaims  day  of  thanksgiving,  391 ;  makes 
peace  with  Eastern  and  Long  Island  savages, 
392 ;  his  bill  of  exchange  dishonored,  393  ;  pro- 
poses an  excise  on  liquors  and  beaver,  393  ;  im- 
poses excise  on  beer,  394  ;  enforces  it,  and  pun- 
ishes the  refractory  brewers,  395,  396  ;  his  con- 
duct reviewed  by  the  Eight  Men,  398,  399 ;  his 
recall  demanded,  400  ;  relieves  Father  Bressani 
and  sends  him  to  Europe,  402  ;  the  West  India 
Company  resolve  to  recall  him,  404  ;  makes 
treaty  with  Long  Island  tribes,  407 ;  with  Iro- 
quois and  Mahicans  at  Fort  Orange,  408 ;  gen- 
eral treaty  at  Fort  Amsterdam,  409  ;  buys  lands 
on  Long  Island,  410 ;  grants  patent  to  Flushing, 
410;  fines  Doughty,  411;  grants  patent  foi 
Gravesend,  411  ;  threatened  by  the  people,  416  ; 
denounced  for  his  tyranny,  417  ;  quarrels  with 
Domine  Bogardus,  417,418,760  ;  restores  Anne 
Hutchinson's  grand-daughter,  419  ;  grants  pat- 
ents for  Colcndonck,  421 ;  for  Katskill,  421  ;  in- 
corporates Breuckelen,  421,  422;  grants  lands 
on  South  River,  425;  directs  purchase  of  the 
site  of  Philadelphia,  426  ;  protests  against  the 
New  Haven  trading-house  at  Paugussett,  428  : 
against  the  Hartford  people  and  the  commission- 


7  so 


LNDEX. 


ers  at  New  Haven,  429,  430;  instructed  by  the 
West  India  Company,  431  ;  is  succeeded  by 
Stuy  vesant,  433,  4C5  ;  the  people  refuse  to  thank 
him,  466  ,  his  controversy  with  Kuyter  and 
Melyn,  469-471  ;  embarks  for  Holland  in  the 
Princess  and  is  drowned,  472. 

Kierstede,  Surgeon  Hans,  406,  731,  748. 

Kierstede,  Sarah,  acts  as  Indian  interpreter,  731. 

Kievit's  Hook  purchased  by  the  Dutch,  234  ;  arms 
at,  torn  down,  260  ;  see  Saybrook. 

Kills,  the,  27,  28;  origin  of  name  of,  313,  note. 

Kinte-Kacye,  Indian  dance,  389. 

Kip,  Hendrick,  wishes  to  depose  Kieft,  356,  409  ; 
opposes  treaty  at  Fort  Amsterdam,  409  ;  one  of 
the  Nine  Men,  475;  signs  memorial  to  States 
General,  505  ;  one  of  the  schepens  of  New  Am- 
sterdam, 613  ;  Kip's  Bay,  166. 

Kip,  Jacob,  secretary  of  burgomasters  and  sche- 
pens of  New  Amsterdam,  548;  his  salary,  578. 

Kit  Davit's  Kill,  savages  attacked  at,  676. 

Klein,  Elmerhuysen,  counselor,  on  the  South 
River,  609. 

Kling,  Mounce,  damages  Dutch  post  on  the  Schuyl- 
kill, 464. 

Kolck,  or  Fresh  Water,  the,  166,  167,  315. 

Koorn,  Nicholas,  at  Rensselaerswyck,  378 ;  wacht- 
meester  at  Beeren  Island,  400 ;  attempts  to  stop 
Loockermans,  401  :  protests  against  provincial 
government,  401, 402 ;  succeeds  Van  der  Donck 
as  schout,  419. 

Koninck,  Frederick  de,  captain  of  flag-ship,  603  ; 
sent  to  West  Chester,  618 ;  surveys  New  Am- 
sterdam, 623. 

Konoshioni,  or  Iroquois,  67,  82. 

Korte  Verhael,  publication  of  the,  699. 

Kregier,  Martin,  a  fire-warden  at  New  Amster- 
dam, 467  ;  captain  lieutenant  of  the  city,  527  ; 
burgomaster,  548  ;  signs  letter  to  New  England 
agents,  553  ;  a  delegate  to  the  Convention,  569, 
571 ;  signs  letter  to  Amsterdam,  57C ;  visits  New 
Haven,  579  ;  seal  of  New  Amsterdam  delivered 
to,  596  ;  appointed  captain,  631  ;  wrecked  near 
Fire  Island,  632  ;  sent  with  re-enforcements  to 
the  South  River,  665  ;  blamed  by  Alrichs,  670 ; 
commands  Esopus  expedition,  712-714 ;  sent  to 
the  Raritan,  724  ;  his  son  insulted  by  Scott  at 
Breuckelen,  726  ;  meets  Scott  at  Jamaica,  727. 

Krieckebeeck,  Daniel  van,  commandant  at  Fort 
Orange,  152  ;  is  slain  by  the  Mohawks,  169. 

Krol,  Sebastian  Jansen,  Krank-besoecker  at  Man- 
hattan, 165  ;  commissary  at  Fort  Orange,  169, 
183  ;  buys  land  for  Van  Rensselaer,  201  ;  vice- 
director,  212  ;  succeeded  by  Houten,  223. 

'■vuyter,  Jochem  Pietersen,  comes  to  New  Nether- 
land,  269  ;  chosen  one  of  the  Twelve  Men,  317  ; 
appointed  a  church-master,  336  ;  chosen  one  of 
the  Eight  Men,  365 ;  captain,  sent  to  Staten  Isl- 
and, 366  ;  at  Heemstede,  389  ;  insulted  by  Kieft, 
394 ;  refuses  to  thank  him,  466  ;  complains 
jf  his  administration,  468,  469 ;    proceedings 


against,  470 ;  is  convicted  and  banished,  471 , 
sails  in  the  "  Princess,"  472  ;  escapes  from  her 
shipvvreck,  473  (see  Melyn)  ;  appointed  schepen 
of  New  Amsterdam,  578  ;  appointed  schout  of 
New  Amsterdam,  587  ;  murder  of,  568. 

Labbatie,  Jan,  244 ;  visits  the  Mohawk  country, 
345,  346  ;  succeeds  Van  Brugge  as  commissary 
at  Fort  Orange,  493,  523 ;  succeeded  by  Dyck- 
man,  530. 

Laet,  John  de,  148  ;  his  history,  157  ;  becomes  in- 
terested in  Rensselaerswyck,  204  ;  and  Swaan- 
endael,  205  ;  proposes  ne.w  articles  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  New  Netherland,  286. 

Lake  Champlain,  discovery  of,  18,  72  ;  called  Lake 
of  the  Iroquois,  77  ;  Caniaderi-Guarunte,  Indian 
name  of,  see  Map. 

Lake  Genentaha,  Jesuit  chapel  at,  612,  644 ;  see 
Lake  Onondaga. 

Lake  George,  why  so  called,  77,  note :  Andiata- 
rocte,  Indian  name  of,  422  ;  named  Saint  Sacre- 
ment  by  Father  Jogues,  422. 

Lake  Lyconnia,  Boston  expedition  sent  to,  383. 

Lake  Oneida,  Champlain  at,  69. 

Lake  Onondaga,  Champlain  at,  69,  72  ;  Le  Moyna 
at,  592  ;  Jesuit  chapel  at,  612,  644,  646. 

Lake  Ontario,  Champlain  on,  68,  71 ;  Father  Pon- 
cet  on,  564  ;  Father  Le  Moyne  on,  591,  592. 

Lake  Saint  Sacrement,  named  by  Jogues,  422. 

Lartiberton.  George,  sends  expedition  from  New 
Haven  to  South  River,  321,  322;  arrested  at 
Manhattan,  338;  his  treatment  by  Printz,  362; 
complaints  to  the  commissioners,  383 ;  case  of, 
519,  551. 

Lampo,  Jan,  schout,  164  ;  superseded,  213. 

Landtdag,  or  Convention,  at  New  Amsterdam, 
570-575;  another,  722;  a  third,  728-731. 

Latin  School  at  New  Amsterdam,  656,  694  ;  chil- 
dren sent  to  it  from  Virginia,  <fec.,  694;  seo 
Academy. 

Laud,  Archbishop,  his  intolerance,  257,  258 ;  his 
fall,  323 ;  joy  because  of  it  in  Massachusetts, 
331. 

Laurensen,  Sergeant  Andries,  sent  to  enlist  sol- 
diers on  the  South  River,  675. 

Lanrence,  John,  one  of  the  Dutch  commissioners 
al  Hartford,  720,  721 ;  at  Heemstede,  728. 

Lenapees,  73,  67,  88. 

Leveridge,  William,  settles  at  Oyster  Bay,  595. 

Leverett,  Captain  John,  sent  as  agent  to  New  Am- 
sterdam, 551-555. 

Leyden,  siege  of,  443 ;  university  of,  founded,  443 

Libel  against  the  Dutch,  publication  of,  in  Lon- 
don, 566. 

Liberality  of  Dutch  government  toward  strangers, 
291,  332,  335,  374,  368,  469,  573,  640,  688,  696, 
749. 

Licenses,  patroon's  trading,  at  Rensselaerswj'ck, 
370, 377  ;  disregarded  by  free  traders,  400 ;  abol- 
ished, 523. 


INDEX. 


781 


Light  and   fire,  the  keeping  of,  a  condition  of 

burghership,  469,  628,  604. 
Lindstrom,  Peter,  Swedish  engineer  on  South  Riv- 
er, 577  ;  rebuilds  Fort  Casimir,  or  Trinity,  593. 

Litschoe,  Sergeant,  at  Beverwyclj,  535. 

Lokenius,  Lawrence  Charles,  Lutheran  clergyman 
at  South  River,  577  ;  retained  there,  606 ;  con- 
ducts divine  service,  609;  leads  a  godless  life, 
616 ;  held  in  little  esteem,  734. 

London  Company,  11 ;  documents,  759. 

Long  Island,  Metowacks,  or  Sewan-hacky,  its  in- 
sularity discovered  by  Block,  57,  94;  first  set- 
tlers on,  154;  chief  manufactory  of  wampum, 
172 ;  conveyed  to  Lord  Stirling,  259  ;  progress  of 
settlements  on,  264,  290,  291 ;  extent  of  Dutch 
jurisdiction  over,  297;  English  settlements  on, 
298-301  ;  how  affected  by  Hartford  treaty,  519; 
first  Dutch  church  on,  581 ;  named  "Yorkshire" 
by  NicoUs,  745. 

Loockermans,  Covert,  223 ;  refuses  to  strike  his 
flag  at  Rensselaer's  Stein,  401  ;  one  of  the  Nine 
Men,  475  ;  ship  consigned  to,  seized,  490  ;  signs 
memorial  to  States  General,  505  ;  prosecuted  by 
Stuyvesaiit,  526  ;  proposed  as  a  commissioner, 
552;  accompanies  Stuyvesant  to  Esopus,  647; 
sent  to  the  Raritan,  724. 

Loockermans,  Jacob,  visits  Narrington,  733. 

Lord,  John,  a  magistrate  of  Oost-dorp,  619. 

Lords  Majors,  Amsterdam  directors  so  called,  402, 
492,  740. 

Lots,  vacant,  in  New  Amsterdam  to  be  improved, 
468. 

Lubbertsen,  Frederick,  one  of  the  Twelve  Men, 
317  ;  a  delegate  from  Breuckelen  to  the  Conven- 
tion, 571. 

Lupoid,  Ulrich,  appointed  schout-fiscal,  266 ;  co"h- 
tinued  by  Kiefl,  276  ;  succeeded  by  Van  der 
Ifuygens,  292. 

Lutherans  at  New  Amsterdam,  581  ;  illiberal  treat- 
ment of,  582  ;  proclamation  against  conventicles 
of,  617  ;  still  oppressed,  626  ;  Goetwater  sent  as 
clergyman  to,  634  ;  chief  reason  of  their  discon- 
tent, 642;  moderation  toward,  enjoined,  656; 
number  of,  at  Fort  Orange,  681. 

Luyck,  ^gidius,  succeeds  Curtius  as  rector  of 
Latin  School  at  New  Amsterdam,  694. 

Lynn,  in  Massachusetts,  intruders  from,  at 
Schout's  Bay,  298  ;  liberal  conditions  offered  to 
emigrants  from,  332. 

Mackarel,  Yacht,  at  the  North  River,  149,  158. 

Magdalen  Island,  in  North  River,  54,  428,  712. 

Mahicans,  54  ;  or  Mohegans,  72  ;  treaty  with,  68 ; 
at  Fort  Orange,  152 ;  overcome  by  the  Mohawks, 
163,  212;  in  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut,  £33  ; 
sachem  of,  visits  Boston,  210,  233  ;  Uncas,  chief 
of,  271,  363;  treaty  at  Fort  Orange  with,  408; 
sachems  of,  at  Fort  Amsterdam,  676  ;  attack  the 
Mohawks,  733. 

Mamaranack,  chief  of  the  Croton  savages,  392. 


Manchonack,  or  Gardiner's  Island,  297. 
Manhattan,  origin  of  name,  34,  73,  74,  note  ;  sec 
ond  ship  sent  to,  44  ;  Christiaensen  and  Block 
at,  45,  46  ;  condition  of  the  island,  47  ;  first  cab 

■  ins  at,  48;  alleged  visit  of  Argall  to,  54,  754 
first  vessel  built  at,  55,  65  ;  name  of,  74,  752 
Dermer  at,  93  ;  no  fort  there,  55,  94,  note,  755 
West  India  Company  takes  possession  of,  151 

1  purchase  of,  from  savages,  164  ;  condition  o'" 
165-168;  Fort  Amsterdam,  built  at,  105,  164 
population  o.'',  184 ;  the  emporium  of  New  Neth- 
erland,  194  ;  great  ship  New  Netherland  built 
at,  212,  219,  286  ;  goats  sent  to,  226  ;  Winthrop's 
bark  at,  239;  condition  of,  243;  invested  with 
"  Staple  right,"  243  ;  condition  of,  on  Kieft's  ar- 
rival, 276 ;  multifarious  population,  278  :  cherry 
and  peach  trees  at,  290;  foreigners  at,  291  ; 
municipal  regulations  at,  292 ;  Dc  Vries"  planta- 
tion at,  301  ;  masts  for  shipwrights  at,  whence 
procured,  302  ;  residents  ordered  to  be  armed, 
309  ;  commercial  regulations,  312  ;  Manhattan's 
sewan,  314;  fair  established  at,  314;  murder 
at,  316;  reforms  demanded  at,  327;  strangers 
at,  335;  church  at,  337;  savages  attacked  at, 
349,  352  ;  ravaged  by  the  Indians,  369  ;  described 
by  Father  Jogues,  373,  374  ;  military  forces  at, 
385,  386  ;  atrocities  against  Indian  prisoners  at, 
389  ;  condition  of,  described  by  the  Eight  Men, 
398;  Father  Bressani  at,  402;  measures  pro- 
posed in  Holland  respecting,  403-406 ;  general 
treaty  with  Indians  at,  409  ;  depopulation  of. 
410,465;  municipal  regulations  by  Stuyvesant, 
467  ;  represented  in  the  Nine  Men,  474 ;  muni- 
cipal affairs  at,  487,  488;  burgher  government 
demanded  for,  505;  proposed  in  Holland,  514; 
burgher  guard  at,  517;  political  troubles  at,  521, 
525,  532  ;  school  at,  537,  538  ;  concession  of 
burgher  government  to,  540,  541  ;  its  maritime 
superiority  predicted,  547 ;  its  population  in 
1652,  548 ;  organization  of  a  municipal  govern- 
ment in,  549  ;  see  New  Amsterdam. 

Manna-hata,  Hudson  at,  34. 

Manning,  Captain  John,  trades  between  New 
Haven  and  Manhattan,  579;  accompanies  Cart- 
wright  to  Fort  Orange,  743  ;  at  treaty  with  Iro- 
quois, 744. 

Manomet,  Dutch  traders  at,  115;  trading-house 
at,  176;  tratHc  at,  179,  180. 

Mantes,  or  Red  Hook,  on  tiie  South  River.  225 , 
lands  purchased  at,  511. 

Manufactures  in  Holland,  147, 192,459  ;  forbidden 
in  New  Netherland,  196  ;  prohibition  of,  abolish- 
ed, 312;  on  Staten  Island,  313;  on  Coney  Isl- 
and, 694. 

Manuscripts,  New  York  Colonial,  759. 

Maps  found  in  archives  at  the  Hague,  755,  757. 

Maquaas,  54,  77  ;  see  Mohawks. 

Marechkawieck,  292;  see  Breuckelen. 

Marechkawiecks,  rear  Breuckelen,  attpckcd.  353 
354. 


7S2 


INDEX. 


Marest,  David  de,  a  delegate  to  General  Assem- 
bly, 729. 

Marriages,  ordinance  respecting,  in  New  Nether- 
land,  639 

Martin  Gerrilscn's  Bay,  or  Martinnehouck,  290, 
3SS ;  see  Heenistede. 

Martin,  Henry,  accompanies  Mohawks  to  Canada 
and  is  lost,  650. 

Maryland,  royal  charter  for,  252 ;  colonists  sent 
to,  by  Lord  Baltimore,  253  ;  commerce  with  the 
Dutch  encouraged  by  Culvert,  260  ;  side  of,  on 
Delaware  Bay,  384  ;  Lord  Baltimore's  authority 
abrogated  in,  559  ;  designs  of,  against  the  Dutch 
on  South  River,  663 ;  Dutch  agents  at,  discuss 
title  of  Lord  Baltimore  to,  666-669  ;  Stuyvesant 
ordered  to  oppose  encroachments  of,  682  ;  trade 
of,  with  Dutch  on  South  River,  697  ;  new  treaty 
with  the  savages,  717  ;  navigation  law  evaded 
in,  724 ;  threatening  attitude  of,  734 ;  tobacco 
trade  in,  735;  Lord  Baltimore's  rights  in,  con- 
sidered doubtful  by  NicoUs,  744. 

Mason,  Captain  John,  complains  of  Dutch  in  New 
Netherland,  140;  his  letter  to  Sir  John  Coke, 
142,  143,  215,  755. 

Mason,  Captain  John,  commander-in-chief  against 
the  Pequods,  271,  272;  his  proposed  removal  to 
the  South  River  opposed  by  Connectieut,  530. 

Massachusetts  Bay  visited  by  Block,  58,  59,  756  ; 
by  Smith,  91  ;  English  grant  of  land  on,  188; 
royal  charter  for,  189;  intolerance  in,  190;  its 
religious  government,  208;  emigrations  from, 
to  Connecticut,  238,  255-257  ;  feeling  of,  toward 
Maryland  colonists,  253,  note  ;  religious  intoler- 
ance of,  and  emigrations  from,  331-335 ;  com- 
missioners of,  361  ;  sends  e.xploring  expedition 
to  the  South  River,  383 ;  bond  slavery  in,  429, 
note  ;  correspondence  of  Stuyvesant  with,  478 ; 
advises  New  Haven,  480  ;  Mohawks  a  terror  to 
savages  in,  490  ;  death  of  Winthrop  of,  499  ;  as- 
sents to  Hartford  treaty,  519  ;  at  variance  with 
the  commissioners,  557 ;  prevents  a  war  with 
New  Netherland,  558,  559  ;  maintains  her  posi- 
tion, 564,  565 ;  lukewarmness  of,  against  the 
Dutch,  585  ;  persecution  of  Quakers  in,  635 ; 
territorial  claims  of,  654  ;  an  exploring  party 
from,  at  Fort  Orange,  655  ;  complains  to  com- 
missioners, 671 ;  claims  of,  672  ;  asks  Stuyve- 
sant to  deliver  up  regicides,  695  ;  reluctance  of, 
to  assist  royal  commissioners,  737  ;  commis- 
sioners from,  at  New  Amsterdam,  742. 

Massasoit,  sachem  of  the  Narragansetts,  171. 

.Maats  for  ships,  where  procured,  302. 

Matouwacks,  or  Metowacks,  on  Long  Island,  57, 
73,  67. 

Matteawan,  29,  75. 

.Maurice,  John,  sheriff  of  Gravesend,  596. 

Maurice,  Prince,  of  Nassau,  39,  45,  107-111 ;  be- 
comes Prince  of  Orange.  109,  124-120,  133,  160, 
434,  440  ;  see  Orange,  Prince  of 

Mauritius  River,  45, 214, 229, 756;  sec  North  River. 


Maverick,  Samuel,  of  Boston,  in  London,  725 ;  a 
royal  commissioner,  736. 

May,  Cornells  Jacobsen,  47 ;  at  Martha's  Vineyard, 
54  ;  at  the  South  River  and  Virginia,  97  ;  returns 
to  Holland,  97  ;  returns  to  New  Netherland, 
150;  first  director  of  the  province,  154;  suc- 
ceeded by  William  Verhulst,  159. 

May-day  sports  in  New  Netherland  prohiuited, 
611. 

Mayano,  chief  of  the  Stamford  Indians,  386. 

Maytlower,  128;  at  Cape  Cod,  129-133. 

Mayo,  Samuel,  settles  at  Oyster  Bay,  595. 

Measures  and  weights  of  Amsterdam  required  to 
be  used  in  New  Netherland,  406,  412,  489. 

Meautinay  wins  the  Fresh  River,  233. 

Megapolensis,  Domine  Johannes,  his  agreement 
with  Van  Rensselaer,  342  ;  arrives  at  Rens- 
selaerswyck,  343  ;  his  influence  there,  344 ; 
shows  kindness  to  Father  Jogues,  373  ;  his 
zeal  as  a  missionary,  375,  376  ;  writes  tract  on 
Mohawk  Indians,  306,  376  ;  asks  permission  to 
return  to  Holland,  494 ;  succeeds  Backerus  at 
New  Amsterdam,  508  ;  a  patentee  of  Flatbush, 
536;  assists  to  organize  a  church  at  Midwout, 
580,  581 ;  illiberality  toward  the  Lutherans,  562 ; 
accompanies  Stuyvesant  to  the  South  River, 
604  ;  preaches  to  the  troops,  605  ;  thinks  terms 
allowed  the  Swedes  "  too  easy,"  606  ;  mission- 
ary spirit  of,  615 ;  jealous  of  the  Lutherans, 
616;  complains  of  conventicles,  617;  complains 
of  Goetwater  and  the  Lutherans,  635  ;  explana- 
tions respecting  religious  affairs,  643  ;  his  inti- 
macy with  Father  Le  Moyne,  645 ;  enjoined  by 
the  company  to  be  more  moderate,  656  ;  success 
of  his  ministry,  681  ;  sent  to  meet  Nicolls,  738 ; 
leads  Stuyvesant  from  rampart  of  Fort  Amster- 
dam, 740;  advises  surrender,  741. 

Megapolensis,  Samuel,  goes  to  Holland,  643  ;  re- 
turns to  New  Netherland,  730  ;  takes  Selyns' 
place,  734  ;  sent  to  meet  Nicolls,  738  ;  leads 
Stuyvesant  from  rampart  of  Fort  Amsterdam, 
740;  a  commissioner  on  the  Dutch  side,  741, 
763. 

Melyn,  Cornells,  comes  to  New  Netherland,  269 , 
a  patroon  on  Staten  Island,  313,  314;  chosen 
one  of  the  Eight  Men,  365  ;  president  of  the 
Eight  Men,  371  ;  insulted  by  Kieft,  394;  writes 
to  the  States  General,  397  ;  refuses  to  thans 
Kieft,  466  ;  complains  of  Kieft's  administration, 
468,  469  ;  proceedings  against,  470  ;  is  convict- 
ed and  sentenced  to  banishment,  471  ;  sails  in 
the  "  Princess,"  472  ;  escapes  from  the  ship- 
wreck, 473 ;  obtains  letters  in  Holland,  503  ;  re- 
turns to  Manhattan  and  is  refused  redress,  503 ; 
goes  back  to  Holland,  508  ;  his  efforts  there,  512 , 
returns  to  Staten  Island,  525 ;  accused  of  in- 
citing the  savages,  525 ;  goes  to  New  Haven, 
641 ;  surrenders  Staten  Island  and  returns  to 
New  Amsterdam,  692. 

Mennonists,  Anabaptists  so  called,  374,  616,  749. 


INDEX. 


783 


Mennonist  colony  at  the  Horekill,  singular  arti- 
cles of  association  (or,  698,  699  ;  plundered  by 
the  English,  745. 
Mercier,  Father  Le,  at  Onondaga,  644. 
Merry  Mount,  or  Mount  Wollaston,  188. 

Mespath  purchased  by  Kieft,  297  ;  patent  for,  333  ; 
destroyed  by  the  savages,  367  ;  savages  sur- 
prised at,  389  ;  Doughty's  troubles  at,  411  ;  new 
settlement  near,  536  ;  see  Middelburgh  or  New- 
town. 

Mespath  Kill,  family  murdered  at,  657. 

Messenger,  Andrew,  magistrate  of  Rustdorp,  689. 

Mey,  Peter,  assistant  commissary  on  South  Riv- 
er, 279,  282. 
Miantonomoh  assists  the  Engl  sh,  271  ,  accused 
by  Uncas,330  ;  visits  Greenwich,  347  ,  invades 
the  Mahicans,  253;  death,  364. 

Michaelius,  Domine  Jonas,  arrives,  163. 

Middelburgh,  or  Newtown,  settlement  at,  536 ; 
depositions  against  the  Dutch  taken  at,  555  ; 
delegates  from,  at  Flushing,  568 ;  sends  dele- 
gates to  New  Amsterdam,  569 ;  represented  in 
Convention,  571 ;  sedition  at,  585  ;  John  Moore 
the  preacher  at,  615 ;  asks  for  minister  in  place 
of,  690  ;  orders  of  Connecticut  to,  703  ;  petition 
from,  to  Connecticut,  719  ;  name  of,  changed, 
723  ;  forms  combination,  726 ;  letter  of  States 
General  to,  730,  733. 

Midwout,  or  Flalbush,  settlement  at,  536  ;  repre- 
sented in  Convention  at  New  Amsterdam,  571 
delegates  from,  forbidden  to  appear  again,  575 
loyalty  of,  579  ;  municipal  government  of,  580 
church  at,  581,  615;  Hegenian  schout  of,  693 
represented  in  Convention,  722 ;  Scott  at,  726 
remonstrance  of  Five  Dutch  towns  at,  727  ;  rep- 
resented in  General  Assembly,  729  ;  letter  of 
States  General  to,  730. 

Militia,  312,  327,  328,  351,  365,  453  ;  to  be  armed, 
4C6,  415 ;  enrollment  of,  in  Dutch  villages,  579. 

Military  force  asked  from  Holland,  161  ;  sent,  223. 

Mills,  saw  and  grist,  at  Manhattan,  184,  243. 

Mills,  Richard,  of  West  Cliesler,  imprisoned,  709. 

Minerals,  33,  34  ;  near  Fort  Orange,  408 ;  near 
Nevesinck,  412;  explorations  for,  encouraged, 
431  ;  found  at  Minnisinck,  662. 

Minnahonnonck  Island,  in  Ilell-gate  River,  267. 

Minnewit's  Island,  vessel  to  be  stationed  at,  579. 

Minnisinck,  minerals  found  at,  662. 

Minnisincks,  76  ;  Esopus  savages  among  the,  714, 
717  ;  trail  of  the,  757. 

Minquas,  73,  78,  226,  232,  424,  482,  680,  716,  757. 

Minquas'  Kill,  Minuit  at,  262;  named  Christina 
Creek,  284  ;  within  New  Sweden,  378  ;  called 
Settocnsocne,  529;  and  Suspencough,  632. 

Mint,  contemplated,  at  New  Amsterdam,  694. 

Minuit,  Peter,  appointed  director  general  of  New 
Neiherland,  162;  arrives  at  Manhattan,  163; 
purcliascs  the  island  from  the  Indians,  164  ;  his 
correspondence  with  Bradford,  173-161  ;  asks 
for  soldiers,  181  ;  Elder,  183;  recalled,  213:  at 


Plymouth,  213 ;  goes  to  Sweden  and  conducts 
expedition  to  South  River,  281  ;  at  Jamestown, 
262  ;  arrives  with  Swedes  at  South  River,  and 
purchases  land,  282, 699  ;  Kiefl's  protest  against, 
283  ;  builds  Fort  Christina,  284  ;  death  of,  321. 
Minute-men  enrolled  in  Dutch  villages,  679. 
Mission  of  the  Martyrs,  423. 
Missionary  zeal  of  Megapolensis,  375. 
Moderation,  religious,  enjoined,  642,  643. 
Mohawk  River,  83  ;  beautiful  land  on,  346. 
Mohawks,  54,  77  ;  called  Kayingeliaga,  62  ;  their 
pre-eminence,   66;    treaty   with,   86;    at    Fort 
Orange,  152  ;  subdue  the  Mahicans,  182,  212, 
232  ;  De  Vries  among  the,  306  ;  supplied  with 
fire-arms,  308  ;    capture   Father  Jogues,   345  ; 
visited  by  Dutch  from  Beverwyck,  346  ;  attacli 
the  River  Indians,  349;  preached  to  by  Mej;a- 
polensis,  375 ;  capture  Father  Bressani,  402 ; 
treaty  with,  at  Fort  Orange,  406  ;  at  Fort  Am- 
sterdam, 409  ;  murder  Jogues,  423  ;  •'  Wooden 
Leg,"  493  ;  a  "terror"  to  the  New  England  In- 
dians, 496 ;  alliance  with,  renewed,  522,  523  ; 
trading-house  among,  proposed  by  the  Dutch, 
563  ;  again  at  war  with  the  French,  564  ;  cap- 
ture Father  Poncet,  564  ;  jealous  of  the  Onon- 
dagas,  592  ;  Father  Lc  Moyne  among,  611  ;  new 
alliance  with  the  Dutch,  611,  612;   unfriendly 
to  the  French,  644  ;  visit  Fort  Orange,  650  ;  de- 
sire a  Dutch  interpreter  to  go  with  them  to  Can- 
ada, 650  ;  again  at  Fort  Orange,  658  ;  visited  by 
delegates  from  Beverwyck,  059;   promise  as- 
sistance against  Esopus  savages,  660  ;  media- 
tion of,  661  ;  employment  of,  opposed  by  Stuy- 
vesant,  677  ;  at  Esopus  treaty,  678 ;   complain 
of  bosch-loopers,  679  ;  hostile  to  the  Kennebeck 
savages,  662;  sell  Schenectady  Hats,  691 ;  attack 
English  on  the  Kennebeck,  704  ;  threaten  Mon- 
treal, 705  ;  obtain  release  of  Dutch  captives  at 
Esopus,  712;   complained  of  by  Temple,  732; 
attacked  by  the  Mahicans,  733;  first  treaty  of 
English  with,  744. 
Mohegans,  72  ;  see  Mahicans. 
Molemaecker,  Francois,  at  Manhattan,  165. 
Molenaar,  Abram,  one  of  the  Twelve  Men,  317. 
Monemins  Castle,  at  mouth  of  the  Mohawk,  201. 
Montague,  Johannes  la,  physician  and  counselor, 
275  ;   his  farm  on  Manhattan  279 ;   ordered  to 
Fort  Good  Hope,  322;  warns  Kieft  against  his 
rashness,  350,  351  ;   commands  expedition  to 
Staten  Island,  386  ;  sent  to  Ilecmstede,  389  ;  ar- 
gues in  favor  of  Kieft,  399  ;  goes  with  Kieft  to 
Fort  Orange,  408  ;  analyzes  minerals  there,  408, 
note  ;  retained  as  counselor  by  Stuy  vesant,  466 ; 
visits  the  South  River,  485  ;  appointed  school- 
master, 538  ;   a  delegate  at  New  Amsterdam, 
569 ;   appointed  vice-director  at  Fort  Orange, 
625  ;  writes  to  La  Potherie,  650 ;  entertains  ex- 
ploring parly  from  Massachusetts,  655  ;  arrests 
bosch-loopers,  679;  attests  purchase  of  Schenec 
tady  flats,  091  ;  his  daughter  Rachel,  wife  of 


784 


INDEX. 


Surgeon  Gysbert  van  Imbroeck,  712 ;  required 
by  NicoUs  to  surrender  to  Cartwright,  743. 

Montagne,  Rachel  la,  guides  expedition,  712. 

Montauk  Point,  or  Visscher's  Hoeck,  Block  at,  57. 

Monts,  the  Sieur  de,  his  patent,  16 ;  at  Saint  Croix, 
17;  at  Port  Royal,  17. 

Moody,  Lady  Deborah,  settles  at  Gravesend  and 
is  attacked  by  the  savages,  367  ;  obtains  a  pat- 
ent, 411  ;  Stuyve.sant  a  guest  of,  596;  allowed 
to  nominate  magistrates,  599  ;  her  house  again 
attacked,  607. 

Moody,  Sir  Henry,  a  patentee  of  Gravesend,  411  ; 
favors  disaffection  there,  579 ;  procures  release 
of  Hubbard,  619 ;  visits  New  Amsterdam  as  am- 
bassador from  Virginia,  683,  684. 

Moore,  John,  English  preacher  at  Heemstede,  527 ; 
at  Middelburgh,  615  ;  death  of,  690. 

Morley,  Captain,  obtains  a  farm  on  the  South  Riv- 
er, 744. 

Morton,  Nathaniel,  his  calumny  respecting  the 
Dutch,  129,  130. 

Mott,  Adam,  a  commissioner  at  Heemstede,  728. 

Moucheron,  Balthazar,  favors  voyages  to  North, 
22  ;  opposes  Hudson,  24. 

Mountains,  River  of  the,  35,  44. 

Moyne,  Father  Simon  le,  visits  the  Onondaga 
country,  591  ;  discovers  salt  springs  at,  592  ; 
visits  Beverwyck,  611  ;  among  the  Mohawks, 
611,  645  ;  visits  New  Amsterdam,  645  ;  his  in- 
timacy with  Megapolensis,  645  ;  obtains  com- 
mercial favors  for  the  Dutch  from  the  Governor 
of  Canada,  646  ;  revisits  the  Iroquois,  704. 

Municipal  governments  promised,  312. 

Municipal  system  of  Holland  desired  for  New 
Netherland,  326-328  ;  demanded  by  the  colo- 
nists, 400  ;  effects  of,  in  Holland,  453-456  ;  again 
demanded,  505  ;  conceded,  540,  548. 

Munster,  treaty  of,  435. 

Murderer's  Island,  152,  758. 

Nainde  Nummerus,  chief  of  the  Rockaways,  349. 

Narragansett  Bay,  Block  in,  57,  58  ;  Dutch  traders 
in,  145,  171, 174  ;  island  of  Quotenis,  in,  bought 
by  the  Dutch,  268;  boundary  of  New  Nether- 
land, 209,  479,  497. 

Narratikon,  or  Raccoon  Creek,  lands  bought  at, 
511  ;  lands  near,  purchased,  529 

Narrington,  treaty  at,  733. 

Narrows,  the,  in  N.  York  harbor,  2, 16, 28, 35,  202. 

Nassau  Bay,  Narragansett  Bay  so  called,  57. 

Nassau,  Fort,  55,  61, 153 ;  see  Fort  Nassau. 

Nations,  law  of,  respecting  title  to  unowned  ter- 
ritory, 143. 

Naval  war  between  Dutch  and  English,  545,  586. 

Navigation,  English  Act  of,  543  ;  revised  and  ex- 
tended, 685  ;  its  effects,  687,  701  ;  unpopular  in 
Virginia,  701,  702  ;  observed  in  New  England, 
719  i  enforcement  of,  enjoined,  724,  725,  735. 

fieale,  Captain  James,  Lord  Baltimore's  agent,  de- 
mands surrender  of  the  South  River,  685. 


NeedUam,  Captain,  sent  by  NicoUs  to  Fort  Am- 
sterdam, 738. 

Negroes,  colonists  promised  to  be  supplied  with, 
196,  197,  312  ;  on  Staten  Island,  309 ;  further 
arrangements  respecting,  406, 415  ;  more,  asked 
for  by  Gravesend,  526  ;  colonists  allowed  lo  pro- 
cure, from  Africa,  540,  656  ;  trade  in,  697  ,  con- 
dition of,  in  New  Netherland,  746,  748. 

Netherlands,  United  Provinces  of  the,  19,  42,  445. 

Nevesincks,  or  Navisincks,  73  ;  attack  the  Dutch, 
368 ;  minerals  found  in  country  of  the,  412 ; 
lands  purchased  by  the  Dutch,  724. 

Nevius,  Johannes,  schepen  of  New  Amsterdam, 
597. 

New  Albion,  patent  for,  381  ;  see  Plowden. 

New  Amersfoort  founded,  265  ;  see  Amersfoort. 

New  Amstel,  colony  of  the  city  of  Amsterdam,  on 
the  South  River,  630  ;  Fort  Casimir  so  named, 
632  ;  church  at,  633 ;  prosperity  of,  651  ;  smug- 
gling at,  651 ;  sickness  and  scarcity  at,  652 ; 
population  of,  653 ;  distress  at,  661  ;  desertions 
from,  662  ;  alarm  at,  about  designs  of  Maryland, 
663 ;  Utie  at,  664,  665  ;  disastrous  condition  of, 
670  ;  troubles  at,  682  ;  Charles  Calvert  at,  717  ; 
powder  demanded  from,  for  New  Amsterdam, 
736;  surrendered  to  the  English,  744. 

New  Amsterdam,  Manhattan  so  called,  467,  488 ; 
municipal  regulations  of,  467,  487, 488  ;  popular 
discontent  at,  495  ;  burgher  government  de- 
manded, 505  ;  public  school,  506  ;  burgher  gov- 
ernment proposed  for,  in  Holland,  514,  515  ; 
burgher  guard,  517  ;  concessions  of  Amsterdan* 
Chamber  to,  540,  541  ;  population  of,  548;  or- 
ganization of  municipal  governmentof,  548, 549, 
preparations  for  defense  of,  549 ;  first  public 
debt  of,  550 ;  New  England  agents  at,  552  ;  mu- 
nicipal affairs  of,  559,  560,  567,  568 ;  represented 
in  Convention,  569,  571  ;  agrees  to  a  remon- 
strance, 571-573 ;  more  power  asked  for,  575, 
576 ;  affairs  of,  578  ;  military  preparations  in, 
579;  Lutherans  at,  581,  582;  Cromwell's  de 
signs  against,  583 ;  put  in  a  state  of  defense 
564 ;  Kuyter  appointed  schout  of,  587 ;  City  Hal 
and  seal  of,  588 ;  ferry  regulated,  589 ;  e.xcise 
resumed  by  Stuyvesant,  590  ;  city  seal  and  coat 
of  arms,  596,  597  ;  new  burgomaster  and  sche- 
pen, 597 ;  City  Hall  ordered  to  be  repaired,  597  ; 
invaded  by  savages,  607 ;  measures  for  its  de- 
fense, 608  ;  contribution  assessed,  60S  ;  excise 
of,  farmed,  610  ;  affairs  of,  013  ;  survey  and  pop- 
ulation of,  623  ;  great  and  small  burgher  right  in, 
628,  629  ;  its  privileges  enlarged,  640 ;  munici- 
pal affairs  at,  640,  641  ;  Father  Le  Moyne  at, 
645  ;  commerce  opened  with  Canada,  646 ;  for- 
eign trade  of,  656  ;  Latin  schoolmaster  at,  656 ; 
volunteers  at,  forEsopus  expedition,  660;  Ton- 
neman  schout  of,  674 ;  burgher  right  extended, 
674 ;  second  survey  and  map  of,  674 ;  treaty 
with  savages  at,  675 ;  prosperity  of  church  at, 
681 ;  ambassador  from  Virginia  at,  663 ;  burgher 


INDEX. 


785 


right,  stone  wall,  mint,  and  Latin  school,  in, 
091 ;  Winthrop  at,  695  ;  New  Haven  agents  at,  ' 
690  ;  Canadian  refugees  at,  705  ;  Bowne  im- 
prisoned at,  706 ;  expedition  from,  to  Esopus, 
712  ;  Convention  at,  722  ;  loan  raised  at,  for  de- 
fenses, 727  ;  excise  at,  surrendered  by  Stuyve- 
sant,  727  ;  General  Provincial  Assembly  at,  728- 
731  ;  population  of,  734  ;  preparations  for  de- 
fense of,  736;  further  preparations,  738;  sum- 
moned to  surrender,  738  ;  discontent  of  citizens, 
739,  740  ;  condition  of,  741  ;  surrender  of,  742  ; 
named  New  York,  743  ;  Nicolls'  opinion  of,  743  ; 
see  Burgomasters  and  schepens. 

Hew  Amsterdam  records,  467,  488,  549,  701. 

New  England,  Block  in,  58,  59,  756  ;  Smith  in,  64, 
91  ;  named,  91  ;  patent  for,  95,  96,  138;  cotn- 
plained  of  in  Parliament,  139;  progress  of  col- 
onization of,  188  ;  arrival  of  Winthrop,  207  ;  en- 
croachments of,  on  New  Netherland,  255-262  ; 
patent  surrendered,  259;  scarcity  in,  269;  the 
Pequods  in,  270-273  ;  emigrations  from,  to  New 
Netherland,  291;  encroachments  of,  293-300; 
designs  of,  on  South  River,  321  ;  agents  sent  to 
England,  323  ;  advice  of  Boswell  to,  324  ;  relig- 
ious intolerance  in,  331-334  ;  emigrations  from, 
to  New  Netherland,  334,  335  ;  temper  of  friends 
of,  in  England,  340 ;  colonies  in,  form  a  union, 
361,  362  ;  see  United  Colonies. 

New  Gottenburg,  fort  built  by  Printz  at  Tinicum, 
379  ;  De  Vries  at,  380  ;  destroyed  by  fire,  423, 
424;  Printz's  conduct  at,  427;  called  Katten- 
bergby  the  Dutch,  631. 

New  Haerlem,  village  formed  at,  641  ;  incorpora- 
ted, 674  ;  represented  in  Convention,  722 ;  rep- 
resented in  General  Assembly,  729. 

New  Haven  founded,  294 ;  obtains  Yennecock,  on 
Long  Island,  300 ;  attempts  a  plantation  on  the 
Delaware,  321  ;  protests  against  Kieft's  pro- 
ceedings, 338  ;  commissioners  of,  301  ;  com- 
plains of  the  Dutch  and  Swedes  on  South  Riv- 
er, 363  ;  refuses  to  assist  New  Netherland,  370  ; 
builds  trading-house  at  Paugussett,  428 ;  first 
meeting  of  commissioners  at,  430  ;  ship  seized 
at,  by  Stuyvesant,479  ;  correspondence  of  Stuy- 
vesant  with,  480,  481,  496,  500,  519  ;  another  ex- 
pedition of,  to  South  River  defeated  by  Stuyve- 
sant,  527 ;  complains  to  the  commissioners,  530 ; 
agent  of,  sent  to  New  Amsterdam,  551  ;  urges  a 
war,  559;  feeling  at,  against  the  Dutch,  565, 
506;  zeal  of,  against  the  Dutch,  565;  colonists 
♦■rom,  at  We.st  Chester,  595  ;  persecution  of 
Quakers  in,  636  ;  Melyn  in,  041  ;  regicides  shel- 
tered at,  095;  magistrates  of,  visit  New  Am- 
sterdam, 090  ;  conditions  required  by,  ami  ofier- 
ed  to,  as  colonists,  690;  protests  against  (Jon- 
necticut,  709  ;  endeavors  to  engage  Scott,  725. 

New  Holland,  Cape  Cod  so  named  by  Hudson,  20  ; 
Block  at,  58. 

New  Jersey,  grant  of,  to  Berkeley  and  Carteret, 
736;  named  Albania  by  Nicolls,  745. 

D  DD 


New  Netherland  named  by  the  States  General.  69, 
03,  91 ;  included  within  charter  of  West  India 
Company,  136  ;  English  complain  of  Dutch  pos 
session  of,  140 ;  Dutch  title  to,  144 ;  made  a 
Dutch  province,  148;  taken  possession  of  by 
the  West  India  Company,  149;  cost  of,  186; 
commissaries  of,  187;  charter  for  patroons  in, 
187;  provisions  of  its  charter,  194-198;  en- 
croachments of  English,  255-202  ;  of  Swedes, 
282-284 ;  the  West  India  Company  declines  to 
surrender  it  to  the  States  General,  285  ;  trad^ 
in,  made  more  free,  288 ;  prosperity  of,  290 
further  encroachments  of  the  English,  293-301 
new  charter  for  patroons  in,  311;  Reformed 
Dutch  Church  established  in,  312 ;  Swedes  in, 
319,  320  ;  English  views  respecting,  323,  324 ; 
political  affairs  of,  327  ;  emigrations  from  New 
England  to,  331-335;  Jesiiits  in,  346,  374,  402, 
ravaged  by  the  Indians,  354,  364-372,  397-400 ; 
its  affairs  considered  in  Holland,  403  ;  cost  of, 
405;  condition  of,  at  end  of  Kieft's  war,  410; 
new  arrangements  for,  agreed  upon,  413-416; 
"  Mission  of  the  Martyr.s"  in,  423  ;  condition  of, 
on  Stuyvesant's  arrival,  405  ;  its  claims  defend- 
ed by  Stuyvesant,  479,  497  ;  memorial  and  re- 
monstrance of  commonalty  of,  504-507 ;  provi- 
sional order  for  government  of,  513-516  ;  treaty 
of,  with  New  England,  519  ;  maritime  superior- 
ity of,  predicted,  547;  critical  condition  of,  557, 
578,  582-585;  hostilities  against,  relinquished, 
586 ;  religious  affairs  in,  614-618  ;  English  claim 
of  title  to,  633,  634  ;  foreign  trade  of,  656 ;  ne- 
gotiations of,  with  Maryland,  606-609;  with 
Massachusetts,  673;  treaty  of,  with  Virginia, 
683;  new  conditions  offered  to  emigrants  to, 
688,  696  ;  part  of  its  territory  included  in  Con- 
necticut charter,  702;  action  of  Connecticut  re- 
specting, 703  ;  persecution  ceases  in,  707  ;  trade 
and  commerce  of,  715  ;  Dutch  title  to,  denied  by 
Connecticut,  720  ;  confirmed  and  asserted  by 
the  States  General,  730  ;  letter  of  States  Genera; 
to  towns  in,  730;  population  of,  734;  granted 
by  (;harlcs  II.  to  the  Duke  of  York,  735  ;  capitu- 
lation of,  742;  re-pamed  by  Nicolls,  745;  arti 
cles  of  capitulation,  702. 

New  Netherland,  ship,  150,  153;  great  ship,  built 
at  Manhattan,  212,  215,  219  ;  its  cost  complain- 
ed of,  280. 

New  Plymouth,  or  Crane  Bay,  Block  at,  58,  5'J. 
750;  Smith  and  Dcrmcr  at,  133;  landing  of  Pil- 
grims at,  133;  progress  of,  145,  171;  corre- 
spondence of,  with  New  Nctherla»d,  173-181  ; 
De  Rasieres  at,  177 ;  description  of,  178  ;  patent 
for,  208,  209 ;  conmiences  a  settlement  on  the 
Connecticut,  238,  240,  241 ;  troubled  by  Massa- 
chusetts emigrants,  200  ;  assists  Connecticut. 
271;  called  the  "Old  Colony,"  130,  301,  530; 
commissioners  of,  301  ;  assents  to  the  Hartford 
treaty,  519 ;  declines  to  assist  New  Haven 
against  tlie  Di'tch.  530  •  commissions  Standisli 


786 


lADEX, 


and  Willett  to  act  against  them,  565 ;  persecii-  j 
tion  of  Quakers  in,  635. 

New  Port  May,  97. 

New  style  introduced  into  Holland,  443,  note  ;  use 
of,  enjoined  in  New  Netherlaiid,  412. 

New  Sweden,  colony  of,  established  on  South 
River,  281-281  ;  progress  of,  319-321 ;  new  ar- 
rangements for  government  of,  378-380  ;  ships 
from,  arrested  in  Holland,  385  ;  progress  of, 
424-428  ;  officers  of,  oppose  the  Dutch,  482-487, 
510,  511 ;  visited  by  Stuyvesant,  528-530  ;  new 
arrangements  for  government  of,  577 ;  hostile 
proceedings  of  officers  of,  593,  594;  ordered  to 
be  reduced  under  the  Dutch,  601 ;  expedition 
from  New  Amsterdam  against,  603,  604  ;  reduc- 
tion of,  605,  606  ;  Dutch  title  to,  maintained, 
621,  622. 

New  Utrecht,  lands  purchased  at,  537  ;  one  of  the 
Five  Dutch  Towns,  560,  note  ;  settlement  of, 
693 ;  charter  for,  693  ;  represented  in  Conven- 
tion, 722 ;  Scott  at,  727  ;  represented  in  General 
Assembly,  729 ;  letter  of  States  General  to,  730  ; 
English  squadron  at,  738. 

New  Year,  sports  at,  prohibited,  611. 

New  York  harbor  visited  by  Verazzano,  2  ;  city 
of,  named,  743  ;  NicoUs'  opinion  of,  743. 

New  York  colonial  manuscripts,  759. 

New  York,  Province  of,  named,  745. 

New  World,  papal  donation  of  the,  to  Spain,  1. 

Newark  Bay  visited  by  Colman,  28;  called  Ach- 
ter  Cul,  313  ;  see  Hackinsack. 

Newfoundland  discovered  by  Cabot,  2  ;  visited  by 
Gilbert,  5. 

Newman,  Francis,  sent  as  agent  to  New  Amster- 
dam, 551-555. 

Newman,  Thomas,  a  magistrate  of  Oost-dorp,  619. 

Newton,  Captain  Bryan,  one  of  Stuyvesant's  coun- 
selors, 466  ;  arrests  Van  Dincklagen,  520  ;  signs 
letter  to  New  England  agents,  553 ;  sent  to 
West  Chester,  618  ;  sent  to  Oost-dori),  625,  626  ; 
goes  to  Virginia  and  negotiates  a  treaty  of  trade, 
683. 

Newtown,  297,  333,  307,  369,  411,  536  ;  see  Mes- 
path  and  Middclburgh. 

Nicolls,  Colonel  Richard,  appointed  deputy  gov- 
ernor for  the  Duke  of  York,  730 ;  a  royal  com- 
missioner, 736  ;  at  Boston,  737  ;  at  Nyack  Bay, 
738;  summons  Manhattan  to  surrender,  738; 
terms  offered  by,  739 ;  reply  of,  to  Dutch  mes- 
sengers, 740 ;  appoints  commissioners  and 
agrees  to  articles,  742  ;  enters  New  Amsterdam, 
and  is  proclaimed  governor,  743;  his  opinion  of 
the  city,  743  ;  re-names  New  Netlierland,  745. 

Niessen,  Ensign  Christiaen,  sent  to  Wiltwyck, 
712;  left  in  charge  of  garrison  at,  714. 

Nine  Men  in  Holland,  453  ;  chosen  in  New  Netli- 
erland, 474  ;  their  duties  and  term  of  office,  474, 
475  ;  first  meeting  and  action  of,  476  ;  propose 
measures  of  reform,  468,  489 ;  suggest  a  dele- 
gation to  Holland,  495 ;  new  election  of,  495  ; 


consult  the  commonalty,  501  ;  their  memorial  to 
the  States  General,  504  ;  reforms  demanded  by, 
505  ;  "  Vertoogh"  or  remonstrance  of,  506,  507  ; 
proceedings  in  Holland  respecting,  514,  515 , 
write  again  to  Holland,  518;  complain  again, 
521  ;  not  consulted  on  Van  Dyck's  supersedure, 
532. 

Nineteen,  College  of  the,  in  the  West  India  Com- 
pany, 135,  414. 

Ninigret,  his  account  of  Stuyvesant's  treatment 
of  him,  551 ;  Stuyvesant's  statement  about,  554. 

Noble,  William,  of  Flushing,  case  of,  637. 

Noblemen,  the  Dutch,  192,  193,  439,  440,  451,  454, 
455,461. 

Norman's  Kill,  near  Albany,  origin  of  name  of 
the,  61 ;  on  Long  Island,  693. 

North  River,  Verazzano  at  the  mouth  of,  2 ;  ex- 
ploration of,  by  Hudson,  27-34  ;  called  River  of 
the  Mountains,  35;  Mauritius  River,  45,  229; 
Cahohatatea  and  Shatemuc,  72 ;  called  North 
River,  79 ;  De  Vries'  opinion  of,  307  ;  declared 
to  be  free,  521  ;  English  refused  the  right  of  free 
navigation  of,  655,  673  ;  reaches  or  racks  in,  757. 

Northern  Company,  the  Dutch,  59,  65. 

Northern  passage,  attempts  of  the  Dutch  to  ex- 
plore, 22,  24,  45. 

Norwalk,  settlement  at,  294,  296. 

Notelman,  Conrad,  appointed  schout,  213;  Ills 
conduct,  236  ;  succeeded  by  Van  Dincklagen, 
247. 

Nutten,  or  Governor's  Island,  cattle  landed  at, 
159;  purchased  by  A'an  Twiller,  267;  savages 
at,  607  ;  English  squadron  at,  740. 

Nyack,  near  Gravesend,  lands  purchased  at,  537  • 
English  squadron  anchors  at  bay  of,  738. 

Ogden,  John,  builds  chftrch  at  Manhattan,  336;  a 
patentee  of  Hecmstede,  367,  368. 

Ogden,  Richard,  builds  church  at  Manhattan,  336. 

Ogehage,  or  Minquas,  73,  78,  757. 

Oiogut';,  Indian  name  for  the  Mauritius  River,  422. 

Old  Colony  of  New  England,  New  Plymouth  call- 
ed the,  130,  189,361,530. 

Old  Dominion,  Virginia  the,  of  United  States,  12. 

Oldham,  .lohn,  goes  from  Boston  overland  to  the 
Connecticut,  239  ;  is  murdered  by  the  Pequods, 
269. 

Olfertsen,  .Jacob,  accompanies  De  Vries  to  Rock- 
away,  358. 

Ompoge,  or  Amboy,  purchase  of,  537. 

Oneidas,  69,  S3  ;  desire  religious  instruction,  C44  , 
see  Iroquois. 

Oncugioure,  or  Caughnawaga,  Fatlier  Jogues  at, 
423  ;  see  Caughnawaga. 

Onondagas,  Champlain  among,  69-71  ;  Atotarho, 
chief  of,  83,  64 ;  friendly  toward  the  French, 
591  ;  visited  by  Father  Le  Moyne,  592 ;  salt 
springs  discovered,  592 ;  Chaumonot  and  Da 
blon  among,  612;  mission  at,  643-645;  aban- 
doned, 640  ;  revisited  by  Father  Le  Moyne,  704 


INDEX. 


787 


Ontario,  Lake,  Champlain  on,  68,  71  ;  Father  Pon- 
cet  on,  564  ;  Father  Le  Moyne  on,  591  ;  Chaumo- 
not  and  Dablon  on,  612,  644,  646. 

Oost-dorp  incorporated,  619  ;  affairs  at,  G26,  627  ; 
declared  to  be  annexed  to  Connecticut,  703  ;  au- 
thority of  Connecticut  enforced,  7U9  ;  surrender- 
ed by  Stuyvesant,  723,  724  ;  letter  of  States 
General  to,  730,  733  ;  see  West  Chester. 

Oothout,  Ffob,  signs  capitulation  of  New  Amstel 
to  the  English,  744. 

Orange,  William  I.,  Prince  of  Nassau  and,  19, 101, 
440, 442,  444,  445  ;  assassination  of,  446  ;  monu- 
ment to,  185;  Philip,  Prince  of,  109;  Maurice, 
Prince  of,  39,  107-111,  446;  memorial  of  Puri- 
tans to,  124-126,  133  ;  death  of,  160,  434  ;  Fred- 
ericli  Henry,  Prince  of,  stadtholder,  160;  death 
of,  434  ;  William  II.,  Prince  of.  434  ;  brother-in- 
law  of  Charles  II.,  498  ;  death  of,  542;  William 
III.,  Prince  of,  543  ;  King  of  England,  446. 

Orange,  Fort,  built,  149,  151 ;  see  Fort  Orange. 

Orange  Tree,  ship,  148  ;  arrested  at  Plymouth,  156. 

Ordinance,  general,  for  the  encouragement  of 
Dutch  discovery,  60. 

Oritany,  chief  of  the  Ilackinsacks,  359,  608;  me- 
diates with  the  Esopus  Indians,  077  ;  gives  land 
to  Mevrouw  Kierstede,  731,  note. 

Orson  and  Valentine,  46,  66. 

Oswego  River,  or  Osh-wah-kee,  83,  564. 

O.venstierna,  A.\el,  Count  of,  publishes  charter  of 
Swedish  West  India  Company,  284  ;  signs  com- 
missions for  New  Sweden,  319 ;  death  of,  622. 

Oyster  Bay,  on  Long  Island,  limit  of  Dutch  set- 
tlements, 297  ;  declared  to  be  the  boundary,  519  ; 
English  settlement  at,  595  ;  protest  of  the  Dutch 
against,  598;  fort  ordered  to  be  built  at,  622; 
annexed  to  Connecticut,  703  ;  name  of,  changed, 
723  ;  in  combination  with  English  villages,  726. 

Paanpaack,  or  Troy,  purchase  of,  534. 

Pacham,  chief  of  the  Ilaverstraws,  at  Manhattan, 
315  ;  required  to  surrender  the  murderer  of  Van 
Voorst,  348 ;  incites  the  River  Indians  against 
the  Dutch,  364  ;  his  surrender  demanded,  392. 

Pachami,  tribe  of,  74,  757. 

Paconthetuck,  Fort,  Mohawks  murdered  at,  733. 

Painters,  eminent,  in  Holland,  460. 

Panhoosic,  purchase  of,  534. 

Panton,  Richard,  threatens  Midwout,  719,  720. 

Papal  donation  of  New  World  to  Spain,  1,  4,  240. 

Papequanaehcn,  Esopus  chief,  killed,  713. 

Paper,  manufacture  of,  in  Holland,  459. 

Papirinemin,  or  Spyt  den  Duyvel,  421. 

Pappegoya,  John,  temporary  commander  of  New 
Sweden,  577  ;  relieved  by  Rising,  593  ;  his  con- 
duct on  the  South  River,  620. 

Parchment  figurative  map,  755,  750. 

Paris  documents,  759. 

Passachynon,  great  chief  of  the  Nevesincks,  724. 

Passayunk  sachems  invite  the  Dutch,  482. 

Patrick,  Captain  Daniel,  assists  in  the  Pcquod 


war,  272  ;  settles  at  Greenwich,  £94 ;  required 
to  submit  to  the  Dutch,  296  ;  submits,  331 ;  de- 
mands protection  against  the  savages,  36C  ;  is 
murdered  by  a  Dutch  soldier,  387. 

Patriotism  of  the  Dutch,  464. 

Patroons,  charter  of  privileges  for,  187,  194-199  ; 
buy  lands  in  New  Netherland,  200-205 ;  at  vari- 
ance with  the  directors,  213  ;  their  "  claim  and 
demand,"  247  ;  South  River,  surrender  Swaan- 
endael,  249 ;  Pauw  surrenders  Pavonia  and 
Staten  Island,  268 ;  consequences  of  patroons' 
charter,  286  ;  demand  new  privileges,  287 ;  juris- 
diction of,  304,  305  ;  new  charter  for,  311,  312  ; 
consequences  of,  313 ;  orders  of,  for  Rensselaers- 
wyck,  341  ;  mercantile  policy  of,  376,  377,  300  ; 
claim  staple  right,  400-402,  419;  quarrels  be- 
tween officers  of,  and  provincial  government, 
491-494,  510,  522,  528,  531  ;  further  disagree- 
ments, 533-536  ;  complaints  of,  to  the  States 
General,  562  ;  grant  licenses  to  sail  to  Florida, 
&c.,  563 ;  further  disagreements,  623,  624  ;  ar- 
rangement of  difliculty,  649  ;  the  company  tired 
of,  692  ;  sec  Beverwyck,  Fort  Orange,  Renssel- 
aerswyck. 

Paugussett,  New  Haven  trading-house  at,  426, 
480. 

Paulusen,  Michael,  commissary  at  Pavonia,  223, 
236. 

Paulus'  Hook,  203,  223  ;  conveyed  to  the  company, 
268;  Planck  buys  land  at,  279;  Van  der  Eilt 
killed  at,  509  ;  see  Pavonia. 

Pauw,  Michael,  148  ;  buys  Pavonia  and  Staten 
Island,  202,  203  ;  Paulusen  his  commissary  at 
Pavonia,  223,  236  ;  sends  out  Van  Voorst,  263  : 
conveys  his  rights  to  Staten  Island  and  Pavonia 
to  the  company,  268. 

Pavonia  purchased  by  Pauw,  203  ;  officers  at,  223, 
236,  263  ;  conveyed  to  the  company,  268 ;  Planck 
at,  279;  Bout  at,  351  ;  massacre  of  savages  at, 
352,  353  ;  surprised  by  the  savages,  368 ;  repre- 
sented in  the  Nine  Men,  474  ;  laid  waste  by  the 
savages,  607. 

Peddlers,  or  Scotch  merchants,  489,  628. 

Peelen,  Brandt,  244  ;  large  crops  raised  on  his  isl- 
and, 302,  341. 

Pelagius,  opposes  Saint  Augustine,  99. 

Pell,  Thomas,  at  West  Chester,  595,  618  ;  his  dis- 
agreement with  the  savages,  627  ;  authorized 
by  Connecticut  to  buy  land,  733. 

Pels,  Evert,  magistrate  of  Wiltwyck,  690. 

Peminenatta.  chief  on  the  South  River,  529. 

Penobscot,  8,  13;  Hudson  at,  26;  MohauUs  :il, 
and  on  the  Kennebeck,  87j  704,  733. 

Pensionary,  Grand,  of  Holland,  449,  451,  452. 

Pequods  convey  land  to  the  Dutch,  235 ;  treaty 
with  Massachusetts,  242,  256  ;  exasperated,  at- 
tack Saybrook  and  Wcthcrsfield,  270  ;  altai-ked 
and  exterminated  by  the  English,  271,  272. 

Persecution,  religious,  614,  617,  626,  6.35-639,  C80, 
705;  ceases,  707. 


788 


INDEX. 


Peters,  Hugh,  of  Rotterdam,  at  Boston,  260,  261  ; 
goes  to  England,  323  ;  commissioned  to  negoti- 
ate with  Dutch  West  India  Company,  324,  340  ; 
executed,  T02. 

Pftuquapaen,  296;  see  Greenwich. 

Philadelphia,  site  of,  occupied  by  the  Dutch,  426 ; 
difficulties  with  the  Swedes  in  consequence, 
427,  428. 

Philip,  Prince  of  Orange,  109;  see  Spain. 

Fietersen,  Abraham,  one  of  the  Eight  Men,  365. 

Pietersen,  Evert,  ZiecXen-trooster  at  New  Am- 
stel,  631  ;  deacon  of  church  at,  633. 

Pietersen,  Jan,  magistrate  of  New  Haerlem,  675. 

Pilgrims,  the,  sail  from  Plymouth,  128;  their  des- 
tination, 129;  at  Cape  Cod,  130;  compact  on 
board  the  Mayflower,  131,  132;  land  at  New 
Plymouth,  133;  see  Puritans. 

Pirates,  English,  in  Long  Island  Sound,  565,  578; 
measures  against,  579. 

Plancius,  Peter,  of  Amsterdam,  23,  45,  138. 

Planck,  or  Verplanck,  Abram,  buys  land  at  Pa- 
vonia,  279 ;  one  of  the  Twelve  Men,  317  ;  signs 
petition  to  Kiefl  urging  war,  350  ;  buys  land  on 
South  River,  425  ;  to  be  sent  to  the  Hague,  514. 

Planck,  Jacob  Albertsen,  schout  of  Rensselaers- 
wyck,  244. 

Plantagenet's  "New  Albion,"  140,  382,  485,  754. 

Plantations,  council  for,  at  London,  257,  686 ;  in- 
structions of,  respecting  colonial  trade,  702 ; 
views  of,  respecting  the  Dutch  province,  725 ; 
directs  enforcement  of  Navigation  Law,  735. 

Plocklioy,  Pieter  Cbrnelis,  leader  of  the  Mennon- 
ist  colony  on  the  Horekill,  698,  699 ;  colony  of, 
plundered  by  the  English,  745. 

Plowden,  Sir  Edmund,  his  patent  for  New  Albion, 
3S1  ;  visits  the  South  River  and  Manhattan,  381, 
382;  again  at  Manhattan,  484;  publication  of 
Plantagenet's  "  New  Albion,"  485,  754. 

Plymouth  Company,  11-15,  91  ;  New,  95,  96,  127, 
138,  140,  188,  208,  211 ;  dissolved,  259. 

Point  Judith,  or  Wapanoos'  Point,  Block  at,  58, 
756  ;  called  Cape  Cod  by  Stuyvesant,  497. 

Pokeepsie,  origin  of  its  name,  75. 

Polhemus,  Domine  Johannes  Theodorus,  at  Mid- 
wout,  Breuckelen,  and  Amersfoort,  581,  615; 
succeeded  at  Breuckelen  by  Selyns,  681. 

Police  regulations,  Kieft's,  277,  278,  292,  314,  335, 
386,  392  ;  Stuyvesant's,  466,  487^90,  517,  548  ; 
see  New  Amsterdam. 

Pollepel's  Island,  75,  758. 

Poncet,  Father  Joseph,  captured  by  the  Mohawks, 
and  relieved  by  the  Dutch,  564  ;  at  Onondaga, 
564. 

Pont  Grave  in  Canada,  16  ;  at  Port  Royal,  17. 

Popham,  Chief  Justice,  10,  12;  his  death,  14. 

Popham,  George,  at  Sagadahoc,  13  ;  his  death,  14. 

Popular  spirit  of  the  Twelve  Men,  326  ;  of  the 
Eight  Men,  396 ;  of  the  Nine  Men.  501,  505 ;  of 
the  conventions,  573,  575,  722,  729. 

Population  of  Holland,  19,  456,  457 


Population  of  Manhattan,  150,  151, 159, 170, 183 , 
of  New  Plymouth,  208 ;  of  Manhattan,  373  ;  of 
Beverwyck,  374  ;  of  New  England,  407 ;  of  Man- 
hattan, 410 ;  of  New  Netherland,  465  ;  of  New 
Amsterdam,  548,  623  ;  of  Staten  Island,  607  ;  of 
New  Amstel,  653  ;  of  Breuckelen,  680  ;  of  Staten 
Island,  692  ;  of  Boswyck,  693  ;  of  New  Amster- 
dam, 734  ;  of  New  Netherland,  734. 

Pory,  John,  his  explorations,  249. 

Pos,  Adriaen,  superintendent  at  Staten  Island, 
525 ;  captured  and  released,  607,  608. 

Pos,  Simon  Dircksen,  counselor,  164. 

Possession,  actual,  the  English  doctrine,  4,  5, 141, 
143,  144. 

Poutrincourt  at  Port  Royal,  16,  17. 

Powelson,  Jacob,  at  the  South  River,  319,  320. 

President  of  Long  Island  towns,  John  Scott  chos- 
en, 726. 

Press,  liberty  of  the,  in  Holland,  459. 

Preummaker,  Esopus  chief,  killed,  676. 

Princess,  loss  of  the  ship,  472,  473. 

Pring,  Martin,  on  coasts  of  Maine,  8. 

Printing,  invention  of,  in  Holland,  461. 

Printz,  John,  appointed  governor  of  New  Sweden, 
378  ;  arrives  at  Fort  Christina,  379  ;  entertains 
De  Vries,  380  ;  his  treatment  of  Plowden,  381  ; 
of  Lamberton,  382,  363  ;  of  the  English  adven- 
turers from  Boston,  384 ;  his  good  manage- 
ment of  the  fur  trade,  423;  his  negotiations 
with  Hudde,  424  ;  endeavors  to  set  the  In- 
dians against  the  Dutch,  425  ;  protests  against 
Hudde's  purchase  of  the  site  of  Philadelphia, 
426  ;  his  brutal  conduct,  427 ;  continues  to  an- 
noy the  Dutch,  482^87  ;  opposes  their  purchases 
of  lands,  510,  512  :  is  visited  by  Stuyvesant,  528  ; 
intrigues  with  the  savages,  529 ;  protests  against 
building  of  Fort  Casimir,  529 ;  returns  to  Swe- 
den, 576,  577. 

Prisoners,  Indian,  enslaved  in  New  England,  272  , 
taken  by  the  Dutch,  387  ;  atrocities  against,  389 ; 
sent  to  Bermuda,  396  ;  Dutch,  taken  by  the  sav- 
ages, at  Staten  Island,  607,  608 ;  at  Esopus, 
658 ;  release  of  some  of,  661 ;  taken  by  the 
Dutch  at  Esopus,  675 ;  sent  to  Curacoa,  677  ; 
remembered  by  their  brethren,  710 ;  Dutch  taken 
by  Esopus  savages,  711  ;  recovered,  713,  714, 
731. 

Privileges,  charter  of,  194,  311  ;  see  Patroons. 

Privy  Council,  letter  of,  to  Carleton,  140, 141, 216  , 
arrests  Dutch  ship,  156 ;  committees  of,  for 
foreign  plantations,  257,  259,  686,  702,  725,  735. 

Proclamations,  translation  of,  into  French  and 
English,  640. 

Prosperity  of  the  Dutch,  456. 

Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  America,  119 

Protestant  Reformed  Dutch  Church  in  America, 
119,  312,  374,  535,  C09,  614,  617,  706,  748. 

Provisional  order  for  the  government  of  New 
Netherland  proposed,  513,  514;  opposed  by  the 
Amsterdam  Chamber,  515  ;  disregarded  by  Stuj-- 


INDEX. 


789 


vesant,  517;  continued  opposition  lo,  of  Am- 
sterdam Chamber,  539;  assented  to,  540. 

Provoost,  David,  tobacco  inspector  at  Manhattan, 
292 ;  commissary  at  Fort  Good  Hope,  363 ;  his 
conduct  at,  complained  of  by  the  commissioners 
of  New  England,  429  ;  defended  by  Kieft,  430  ; 
proposed  as  a  commissioner  with  agents,  552 ; 
first  schout  of  Breuckelen,  580 ;  succeeded  by 
Tonneman,  560,  note. 

Provoost,  Johannes,  secretary  at  Fort  Orange,  625. 

Purchas,  Samuel,  his  "Pilgrims,"  157. 

Puritans,  English,  112-114;  in  Holland,  115,  116; 
dissatisfied  there,  120  ;  resolve  to  emigrate,  121 ; 
their  patent  from  the  Virginia  Company,  122  ; 
propose  to  go  to  New  Netlierland,  123,  124;  ap- 
plication to  Dutch  government,  125,  126;  leave 
Leyden,  127;  sail  from  Plymouth,  128;  their 
destination,  129;  at  Cape  Cod,  130;  compact 
on  board  the  Mayflower,  131,  132;  land  at  New 
Plymouth,  133 ;  settlers  at,  145 ;  first  inter- 
course of,  with  the  Dutch,  171-181  ;  at  Salem, 
188-190;  at  Boston,  208;  in  Connecticut,  241  ; 
at  New  Haven,  294  ;  in  New  Netlierland,  334, 
388,  411,  505,  553,  573,  595,  615,  627  ;  conditions 
offered  to,  668,  696,  708 ;  see  New  Plymouth, 
Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  Hartford,  New 
Haven. 

Pynchon,  John,  a  commissioner  on  the  English 
side,  742,  763. 

Pynchon,  William,  settles  at  Springfield,  261, 262 ; 
his  opinion  of  the  Mohawks,  496. 

Pye  Bay,  or  Nahant  Bay,  the  northern  limit  of 
New  Netherland,  58,  59. 

Quakers,  people  called,  in  England,  635;  perse- 
cuted in  New  England,  635  ;  come  to  New  Am- 
sterdam, 636;  proclamation  against,  637;  on 
Long  Island,  637,  639  ;  at  Communipa,  643  ; 
persecuted  again,  669  ;  progress  of,  on  Long 
Island,  705  ;  persecution  of,  ceases,  707. 

Quarantine  regulations  of  Connecticut,  710. 

Quebec  founded,  18  ;  missionary  college  at,  344. 

Quillipeage  River,  293  ;  see  New  Haven. 

Quotenis,  Island,  in  Narragansett  Bay,  2C8. 

Raccoon  Creek,  lands  near,  purchased,  511,  529. 

Racks,  or  reaches,  in  North  River,  759. 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  his  patent,  5  ;  his  execution, 
6  ;  his  observations  on  the  Dutch,  9S,  458. 

Raleigh,  city  of,  founded,  6. 

Rancocus  Creek,  lands  purchased  at,  511. 

Rapelje,  Joris,  or  George,  at  the  Waal-bogt,  154, 
267,  266  ;  one  of  the  Twelve  Men,  317. 

Rapelje,  Sarah,  first  child  born  in  New  Nether- 
land, 154,  268. 

Raritan,  minerals  found  at  the,  412,  431  ;  great 
meadows  bought,  537  ;  proposed  Puritan  colony 
at  the,  690,  707,  708  ;  English  party  at  the,  724. 

Raritan  savages,  73  ;  hostile  to  the  Dutch,  245 ; 
accused  of  excesses,  309  ;   expedition  against, 


310  ;  attack  Staten  Island,  315  ;  rewards  offered 
for  heads  of,  315  ;  at  war  with  the  Dutch,  354  ; 
minerals  found  near,  412,  431  ;  lands  bought 
from,  for  Van  de  Capellen,  525  ;  by  Van  WercK- 
hoven,  537  ;  murder  a  family  at  Mespath  Kill, 
657  ;  colony  near,  proposed,  707. 

Rasieres,  Isaac  de,  provincial  secretary,  104  , 
writes  to  Bradford,  173;  visits  New  Plymouth, 
176-180  ;  returns  to  Holland  and  writes  letter 
to  Blommaert,  186,  200. 

Rattle  watch  at  New  Amsterdam,  640. 

Reaches,  or  racks,  in  the  North  River,  759. 

Records,  Albany  colonial,  275,  759 

Records  of  New  Amsterdam,  488,  549,  761. 

Red  Mount,  or  New  Haven,  first  meeting  of  com- 
missioners at,  430. 

Reformation,  the,  in  Holland  and  England,  99-119. 

Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church,  100-119 
established  in  New  Netherland,  312,  374,  535 
609,  614,  617,  706,  748. 

Regicides,  Stuyvesant  asked  to  deliver  them  up 
695. 

Reintsen,  Jacob,  his  case,  490. 

Rekenkamer,  the  Dutch  National,  450. 

Rekenkamer,  or  Bureau  of  Accounts,  report  of  tne 
West  India  Company's,  on  New  Netherland  af- 
fairs, 404-406. 

Religions  and  languages,  diversity  of,  in  New 
Netherland,  374,  749. 

Remonstrance,  or  Vertoogh,  of  New  Netherland, 
506,  507,  512. 

Remund,  Jan  van,  succeeds  De  Rasieres  as  pro- 
vincial secretary,  212,  223,  236;  succeeded  by 
Van  Tienhoven,  276. 

Rensselaer,  Jeremias  van,  director  of  Rensselacrs- 
wyck,  649  ;  a  delegate  to  the  General  Provincial 
Assembly,  729  ;  required  by  Nicolls  to  produce 
his  papers  and  obey  Cartwright,  743. 

Rensselaer,  .lohannes  van,  patroon,  420,  491  ;  ac- 
quires Katskill  and  Claverack,  510;  his  claims 
denied  by  the  company,  521 ;  trading  licenses 
of,  523  ;  more  land  purchased  for,  534  ;  commis- 
sions Swart  as  schout,  535. 

Rensselaer,  John  Baptist  van,  takes  burgher's 
oath  at  Bevervvyck,  531  ;  succeeds  Van  Slcch- 
tenhorst  as  director,  535 ;  signs  letter  to  New 
England  agents,  553  ;  opposes  Stuyvesant,  591  ; 
protests  against  Stuyvesant's  conduct,  623  ;  is 
fined,  624  ;  succeeded  by  his  brother  Jeremias, 
649. 

Rensselaer,  Kiliaen  van,  148 ;  obtains  land  at  Fort 
Orange,  201  ;  shares  his  estate  with  other  di- 
rectors, 204  ;  buys  more  land,  267  ;  commissions 
Van  der  Doiick,  341  ;  agrees  withMegapolensis, 
342 ;  sends  present  to  Kieft,  343 ;  his  mercan- 
tile system,  376,  377  ;  anxious  to  acquire  Knls- 
kill,  378 ;  his  ship  seized  at  Manhattan  by  Kieft, 
390  ;  claims  staple  right  for  Rensselaer's  Stoin, 
400  ;  his  claim  denied,  401  ;  death  of,  420 ;  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son  Johannes,  420. 


-90 


INDEX. 


Rensselaer's  Stein.  400;  claim  of  staple  right  de- 
nied to,  401,402,  510,521. 

Reiisselaerswyck,  first  colonists  sent  to,  201  ;  its 
extent,  202  ;  estate  divided,  204  ;  progress  of, 
266  ;  addition  to,  267  ;  slow  progress  of,  279  ; 
abundance  in,  303;  government  and  jurispru- 
dence of,  304,  305;  colonists  supply  Mohawks 
with  fire-arms,  308  ;  church  planned  at,  343  ; 
built,  374 ;  patroons  trading  licenses,  376,  377  ; 
ship  for,  seized,  390 ;  free  traders  at,  400 ;  sta- 
ple right  claimed  for,  and  denied,  401,  402; 
escapes  the  eflTects  of  war,  410 ;  new  patroon  of, 
420;  trade  in  fire-arms  at,  491;  dispute  about 
jurisdiction  of,  492-494  ;  pretensions  of  patroons 
rebuked  by  West  India  Company,  521,  522; 
Beverwyck  declared  independent  of,  535;  John 
Baptist  van  Rensselaer  director,  and  Gerrit 
Swart  schout,  535  ;  Reformed  religion  to  be 
maintained  in,  535;  represented  at  Manhattan, 
552,  553  ;  affairs  of,  considered  in  Holland,  562, 
563;  excises  at,  591,  610,  623,  624;  Jeremias 
van  Rensselaer  director  of,  649  ;  jurisdiction  of 
West  India  Company  over,  679  ;  delegates  from, 
at  General  Assembly,  729  ;  surrender  of,  743, 
744  ;  see  Fort  Orange  and  Beverwyck. 

Representation,  principle  of,  132,  326,  473,  474. 

Republic,  the  Dutch,  435^47  ;  its  system  of  ad- 
ministration, 448-455  ;  results  of  system,  453- 
464,  750. 

Requesens  introduces  the  new  style  in  Holland, 
443. 

Residence  required  from  citizens,  489, 628,  G94, 749. 

Restless,  yacht,  built  at  Manhattan,  55  ;  explores 
Long  Island  Sound,  56-59 ;  in  the  Delaware, 
78,  79,  758. 

Revenue  of  New  Netherland,  186,  218,  224,  231  ; 
regulations  respecting,  196,  213,  218,  236,  277, 
28S,  293,  312;  not  equal  to  expenditures,  405, 
6S5,  729 ;  new  regulations,  406,  416,  466,  467, 
479,  490,  540,  656,  694. 

Rhode  Island,  the  Dutch  at,  58 ;  their  trade  at, 
145,  171,  174,  209  ;  Dutch  post  at,  268 ;  founded 
by  Roger  Williams,  332  ;  Anne  Hutchinson  re- 
moves from,  334  ;  not  included  in  New  England 
confederation,  361  ;  claimed  as  part  of  New 
Netherland,  479,  497 ;  Underbill  at,  556  ;  com- 
missions Dyer  and  Underbill  to  act  against  the 
Dutch,  557  ;  refuses  to  persecute  Quakers,  636. 

Rising.  John,  appointed  deputy  governor  of  New 
Sweden,  577  ;  at  the  South  River,  593  ;  captures 
Fort  Casimir,  593 ;  declines  to  visit  Stuyve- 
sant  at  New  Amsterdam,  594  ;  surrenders  Fort 
Christina,  605;  at  New  Amsterdam,  608;  re- 
turns to  Europe,  609. 

River  of  the  Mountains,  35,  37,  44. 

River  Indians,  the,  72-77  ;  offended  at  the  Dutch, 
308,309;  refuse  to  pay  tribute  to,  310;  attack- 
ed by  the  Mohawks,  349  ;  by  the  Dutch,  352  ; 
aroused  to  vengeance,  354  ;  attack  Dutch  boats, 
364  ;   -jontinued  hostility  of,  393 ;  peace  with. 


409,409;  invade  New  Amsterdam.  606-610;  sec 
Esopus. 

Roberval  in  Canada,  3. 

Robinson,  John,  115  ;  his  application  lo  the  Dutcn, 
125  ;  remains  at  Leyden,  127. 

Rochelle,  Frenchmen  from,  come  to  New  Nether- 
land, 730;  settle  on  Staten  Island,  734. 

Rockaway,  or  Rechqua-akie,  savages  from,  on 
Manhattan,  349  ;  De  Vries  and  Olfertsen  at,  358 , 
treaty  with  savages  of,  359,  407,  408. 

Rodolf,  Sergeant,  ordered  to  attack  savages  at 
Pavonia,  351 ;  e.xecutes  his  orders,  352. 

Roelandsen,  Adam,  first  schoolmaster,  223. 

Roelof  Jansen's  Kill,  77,  266,  note. 

Roesen,  Jan  Hendricksen,  commissary  at  Fort 
Good  Hope,  296. 

Roman  Catholics  in  Holland,  101,  102,  458;  mo 
lives  for  their  emigration  from  England,  251 , 
in  Maryland,  253  ;  in  New  Netherland,  345,  374, 
402,  423,  564,  592,  612,  616,  644-647,  749. 

Rondout,  or  Ronduit,  76,  302,  306,  647,  710,  756  ; 
arrangement  for  trade  at,  731  ;  garrison  left  at, 
738. 

Roodenberg,  56,  294  ;  see  New  Haven. 

Roose,  Elbert  Ileymans,  magistrate  of  Wiltwyck, 
690. 

Root,  Simon,  at  Jlast-maker's  Point,  486  ;  at  Ran- 
cocus,  511. 

Royal  commissioners  to  New  England,  736. 

Royalists,  intolerance  of,  at  restoration,  687. 

Russia,  trade  of  the  Dutch  with,  43,  99. 

Rustdorp,  or  Jamaica,  incorporated,  619 ;  Quak- 
ers at,  637,  639,  6S9  ;  new  magistrates  for,  689  ; 
Domine  Drisius  at,  689  ;  orders  of  Connecticut 
to,  703 ;  Talcott  and  Christie  at,  719  ;  petitions 
Connecticut,  719  ;  name  of,  changed,  723  ;  meet- 
ing-house at,  724  ;  party  from,  at  the  Raritan, 
724 ;  forms  combination,  726 ;  conditional  ar- 
rangement at,  727  ;  letter  of  States  General  to, 
730,  733. 

Ruyter,  Admiral  Michael  de,  546. 

Ruyter,  Kloes  de,  about  a  copper  mine  at  Minni 
sinck,  662  ;  Indian  interpreter,  677. 

Ruytergeld,  or  militia  rate  in  Holland,  436. 

Ruyven,  Cornells  van,  appointed  provincial  sec 
retary,  561  ;  sent  to  arrange  affairs  at  Oost 
dorp,  626, 627  ;  on  the  South  River,  666  ;  blame, 
by  Alrichs,  670 ;  sent  on  embassy  to  Hartford 
720, 721  ;  meets  Scott  at  Jamaica,  729 ;  sent  with 
letter  to  Nicolls,  740. 

Sabbath  breaking  forbidden,  466. 

Sachem's  Head,  origin  of  name  of,  272. 

Sagadahoc,  or  Kennebeck,  Weymouth  at  the,  9  • 
colony  at,  12;  vessel  built  at,  14;  abandoned, 
15,  64,  90,  144  ;  Mohawks  at,  082,  704. 

Sager's  Kill,  750  ;  party  sent  to,  713,  714. 

Saint  Augustine,  99. 

Saint  Beninio,  seizure  of  ship,  478,  479,  496,  500. 
519. 


INDEX. 


791 


Saint  Lawrence  discovereu  ana  named  by  Car- 
tier,  3  ;  French  on  the,  18,  345,  756  ;  vessel  from 
New  Amsterdam  wrecked  in  the,  646. 

Saint  Mary's  of  Genentaha,  044. 

Saint  Mary's,  in  Maryland,  253. 

Saint  Sacrement,  Lac  du,  18,  77;  named  by  Fa- 
ther Jogues,  422. 

Salem  founded,  188,  169;  intolerance  at,  190. 

Salt  springs  at  Onondaga  discovered  by  Father 
Le  Moyne,  592,  612,  644,  645. 

Salt  works  on  Coney  Island,  694. 

Sandy  Hook,  Hudson  at,  27  ;  called  Colman's 
Point,  28 ;  plum-trees  on,  237,  note. 

Sanhikans,  or  Sangicans,  74,  757. 

Sankikans,  or  Stankekans,  73,  378,  425,  757. 

Santickan,  or  Sankikan,  282,  378,  425. 

Sassacus,  his  scalp  sent  to  Boston,  272. 

Savages,  tribes  of,  in  New  Netherland,  72-78,  81- 
68  ;  intercourse  with,  168,  169,  170,  232,  307  ; 
supplied  with  fire-arms,  306,  308,  345,  349  ;  gen- 
eral rising  of,  against  the  Dutch  near  Manhat- 
tan, 354,  369 ;  number  of,  killed,  409  ;  no  fire- 
arms to  be  sold  to,  293,  406,  415,  490,  492 ;  nor 
liquors,  466,  488 ;  to  be  sparingly  supplied  with 
arnns,  503,  562  ;  employment  of,  suggested,  547, 
555,  677  ;  invade  New  Amsterdam,  607  ;  lay 
waste  Dutch  settlements,  607, 608 ;  Long  Island, 
profess  friendship,  610  ;  outrages  of,  at  Esopus, 
647  ;  of  the  Dutch  against,  658 ;  agree  that  the 
Dutch  should  instruct  their  children,  675  ;  pris- 
oners taken  at  Esopus  sent  to  Curacoa,  676 ; 
see  Esopus,  Mohawks. 

Say  and  Seal,  Lord,  a  grantee  of  Connecticut,  211, 
259,  261  ;  his  letter  to  Joachimi,  340  ;  on  Planta- 
tion Committee,  686. 

Saybrook,  fort  built  at,  261  ;  attacked  by  the  Pe- 
quods,  270 ;  fort  completed,  294  ;  Lion  Gardiner 
removes  from,  297. 

Sayre,  Job,  298,  299,  300. 

Schaats,  Domine  Gideon,  clergyman  at  Renssel- 
aerswyck,  538,  615  ;  new  church  built  for,  624, 
625  ;  annoyed  by  Lutherans,  681. 

Sehaenhechstede,  or  Schenectady,  purchase  of, 
691  ;  surveyed,  732. 

Schaick,  Colonel  Van,  his  expedition  to  Onondaga, 
69,  note. 

Schelluyne,  Dirck  van,  notary  public,  516  ;  op- 
pressed by  Stuyvesant,  526 ;  appointed  high 
constable  of  New  Amsterdam,  597 ;  secretary 
of  Rensselaerswyck,  729  ;  a  delegate  to  General 
Assembly  at  New  Amsterdam,  729. 

Schepens  in  Holland,  327,  453;  desired  for  New 
Netherland,  327,  400,  505 ;  granted,  514,  540, 
541,  548  ;  see  Rurgomasters. 

S(^hermerhorn,  Jacob,  his  case,  490. 

Scheyichbi,  Indian  name  for  New  Jersey,  89. 

Schonowe,  great  flat  of,  660,  691. 

Schools,  public,  established  in  Holland,  462,  463  ; 
in  New  Netherland,  196,  223,  313,  470,  .506,  508, 
514.  516.  538,  610,  632,  640,  641,  650,  694.  749. 


Schout  in  Holland,  453,  454. 

Schout  in  New  Netherland,  163,  213, 236, 266,  292, 
414,  532,  541,622. 

Schout  of  New  Amsterdam,  instructions  for,  S-il 
Van  Tienhoven  appointed  as,  548  ;  burghers  de^ 
mand  right  to  choose,  567  ;  Kuyter  appointed, 
587 ;  Van  Tienhoven  continued  as,  588 ;  De  Sille 
appointed  as,  623;  continued  as,  640;  Tonne- 
man  appointed,  674. 

Schout's  Bay,  or  Cow  Bay,  lands  near,  purchased, 
290  ;  emigrants  from  Lynn  at,  298,  299  ;  expedi- 
tion sent  to,  389 ;  sachem  of,  at  Manhattan,  392. 

Schute,  Swen,  conduct  of,  at  the  Schuylkill,  486  ; 
Swedish  commandant  at  Fort  Trinity,  593  ;  sur- 
renders to  Stuyvesant,  604. 

Schuyler,  Philip  Pietersen,  threatened  by  Dyck- 
man  at  Beverwyck,  533. 

Schuylkill,  Ilendricksen  at  the,  78,  757 ;  Arrnen 
veruis,  on,  purchased  by  Dutch,  232,  485 ;  En- 
glish settlement  at,  322  ;  broken  up,  338  ;  further 
purchase  at,  426  ;  the  Dutch  invited  to,  482  ; 
Fort  Beversrede  built  at,  463,  485,  487  ;  Mast- 
maker's  Point,  on  the,  486. 

Scotch  merchants,  or  peddlers,  at  New  Amster- 
dam, 489,  628. 

Scott,  John,  arrested  and  examined,  579  ;  his  con- 
duct on  Long  Island,  671  ;  at  London,  725 ;  re- 
turns to  Long  Island,  726  ;  president  of  com- 
bined towns,  726  ;  makes  conditional  arrange- 
ment at  Jamaica,  727  ;  his  agreement  at  Heeni- 
stede  with  Stuyvesant,  728 ;  imprisoned  by 
Connecticut,  733. 

Scott,  Joseph,  of  Heemstedc,  case  of,  639. 

Seal,  provincial,  of  New  Netherland,  148;  ^'.la! 
coat  of  arms  of  New  Amsterdam,  596,  597. 

Sectarianism  dreaded  by  Dutch  clergy,  643  ;  n^u 
proclamation  against,  706 ;  rebuked,  707. 

Self-government,  principle  of,  in  Holland,  I '..'2, 
326,  447-456. 

Selyns,  Domine  Henricus,  installed  at  Breuckelen, 
680 ;  at  the  director's  bouwery,  681  ;  revisits 
Holland,  734  ;  returns  to  N.  York,  734, 119.  note. 

Senecas,  tribe  of  the,  62,  83  ;  Chaumonot  among 
the,  644;  conference  of,  with  Stuyvesant,  t'd. 
680  ;  beaver  trade  of  the  Dutch  with,  7:f2. 

Sentences  of  provincial  courts  not  to  be  e.xecuted 
in  Holland,  478. 

Sequeen,  chief  of  Pyquaug,  or  Wethersfield,  233  ; 
assents  to  sale  of  land  to  the  Dutch,  235. 

Sequins  visited  by  Block,  56,  chief  of  the,  im- 
prisoned by  Eelkens,  146,  152,  108. 

Setauket,  on  Long  Island,  settled,  671  ;  annexed 
to  Connecticut,  703;  Scott  a  commissioner  at, 
726. 

Sewackcnamo,  chief  of  Esopus  savages,  731. 

Sewan,  or  wampum,  172, 180  ;  its  value  fixed  acid 
regulated,  314,  328,  329,  517. 

Sewan-hacky,  73,  172;  see  Long  Island. 

Sliackaniaxon,  I'enn's  treaty  al,  104. 

Sh;itetiiu.-,  Mahican  name  for  North  River,  72,  noto 


792 


INDEX. 


Shawan-gunk,  mountains,  75,  note  ;  Indian  forts 
at,  destroyed,  712,  713  ;  reded  to  the  Dutch,  731. 

Shawmut,  Indian  name  of  Hoston,  208. 

Ship,  great,  built  at  Manhattan,  212,  215,  219,  2S6. 

Sicktew-hacky,  or  Fire  Island  Bay,  290 ;  ship- 
wreck at,  032. 

Sille,  Nicasius  de,  appointed  first  counselor  of 
New  Netherland,  561  ;  superintends  expedition 
for  the  South  River,  603 ;  accompanies  Stuyve- 
sant  thither,  604 ;  appointed  schout-fiscal  in 
place  of  Van  Tienhoven,  622 ;  made  city  schout, 
023 ;  continued  as,  640  ;  succeeded  by  Tonne- 
man,  674  ;  a  proprietary  of  New  Utrecht,  693  ; 
sent  to  protect  the  Dutch  villages,  723. 

Silver  fleet,  Spanish,  taken  by  Heyn,  184. 

Silver  mine  supposed  to  be  at  Iloboken,  34,  note; 
in  KatskiU  Mountains,  531. 

Sint-Sings,  74  ;  treaty  with,  409. 

Skanektadt,  or  Albany,  81. 

Slavery  in  New  Netherland,  184,  I'Jfi,  312,  396, 
406,  415,  540,  656,  697,  746,  748;  in  New  En- 
gland, Virginia,  and  Maryland,  272,  362,  429. 

Slechtenhorst,  Brandt  van,  appointed  commissary 
of  Rensselaerswyck,  420  ;  stubbornness  of,  491  ; 
his  difficulties  with  Stuyvesant,  491-494  ;  ac- 
quires KatskiU  and  Claverack  for  his  patroon, 
510 ;  explains,  522  ;  is  arrested  and  detained  at 
New  Amsterdam,  528;  escapes,  531  ;  sends  to 
explore  KatskiU  Mountains,  531  ;  purchases 
Paanpaack  and  Panhoosic,  534 ;  is  succeeded 
by  John  Baptist  van  Rensselaer,  535. 

Slechtenhorst,  Gerrit  van,  his  adventures  at  Kats- 
kiU, 531  ;  is  assaulted  at  Beverwyck,  533 ;  a  dele- 
gate to  General  Assembly,  729. 

Sleght,  Cornells  Barentsen,  magistrate  of  Wilt- 
wyck,  690. 

Sioup  Bay,  the  western  entrance  of  Narragansett, 
or  Nassau  Bay,  57  ;  Magaritinne,  chief  of,  235  ; 
Miantonomoh,  great  sachem  of,  347. 

Sluys,  Hans  den,  purchases  the  Kievit's  Hook  for 
the  Dutch,  234. 

Slyck,  Cornclis  Antonissen  van,  306  ;  obtains  pat- 
ent for  KatskiU,  421. 

SmaU-pox  at  Beverwyck,  710. 

Smeeman,  Hermanus,  magistrate  of  Bergen,  691 ; 
a  delegate  to  General  Assembly,  729. 

Smid's,  or  Srnit's  Vleye,  ships  repaired  at,  263  ; 
hand-board  for  vessels  at,  490. 

Sinit,  Ensign  Dirck,  summons  Swedes  to  sur- 
render, 604  ;  left  in  command  on  South  River, 
606  ;  sent  again  with  re-enforcement,  621  ;  in 
command  of  garrison  at  Esopus,  651 ;  his  au- 
thority disregarded,  658 ;  captures  Indian  Fort 
WiltTiicet,  675;  defeats  savages  at  Kit  Davit's 
Kill,  676. 

Smith,  Richard,  an  associate  with  Doughty  at 
Mespath,  333  ;  complains  of  him,  411. 

Smith,  Captain  John,  in  Virginia,  12,  24  ;  returns 
to  England,  49;  in  New  England,  64,  91  ;  his 
book  and  map.  92. 


Smits,  Claes  (the  wheel-wright),  murdered  at  Deu- 

tel  Bay,  316. 
Snedekor,  Jan,  a  patentee  of  Flatbush,  536. 

Soldiers  asked  for  from  Holland,  181 ;  first  sent  to 
New  Netherland,  223. 

Somers,  John,  a  delegate  from  Heemstede,  571. 

Soquatucks,  at  the  head  of  the  Connecticut,  732. 

South,  or  Delaware  Bay,  Hudson  at,  26 ;  Argall 
at,  51,  754;  Ilendricksen  at,  79;  May  at,  97; 
called  New  Port  May,  97. 

South  River  explored  by  Hendricksen,  79,  757, 
758  ;  May  at,  97  ;  Dutch  colonists  sent  to,  153  ; 
mode  of  communication  with,  170 ;  colonists 
removed  from,  170,  183  ;  lands  bought  on,  200 ; 
S waanendael  established,  206,  207 ;  De  Vries  at, 
219;  whale-fishery  at,  225 ;  Corssen  commissary 
on,  232;  Virginian  party  at,  254;  Jansen  com- 
missary on,  279  ;  Swedes  on,  282,  283  ;  see  Fort 
Nassau,  Fort  Christina,  New  Sweden,  Fort 
Casimir,  New  Amstel,  Altona. 

Southampton,  treaty  of,  161  ;  its  provisions  ex- 
tended, 162. 

Southampton,  on  Long  Island,  settlement  at,  300 1 
annexed  to  Connecticut,  670  ;  Scott  at,  671. 

Southold,  settlement  at,  300,  301  ;  John  Young 
chosen  deputy  from,  to  Hartford,  703. 

Sovereignty  in  the  people  of  Holland,  452. 

Spain,  papal  donation  of  New  World  to,  1 ;  revolt 
of  the  United  Provinces  from,  21,  38-42,  101, 
438-448,  761 ;  recognizes  the  independence  and 
sovereignty  of  the  Dutch,  40,  42,  435. 

Spicer,  Michael,  a  quakerof  Gravesend,  banished 
706. 

Spicer,  Samuel,  of  Gravesend,  case  of,  689 ;  or- 
dered to  leave  the  province,  706. 

Spicer,  Thomas,  a  delegate  from  Midwout  to  Con- 
vention, 571. 

Springfield,  John  Oldham  in  neighborhood  of,  239 ; 
settlement  at,  by  Py nchon,  26] ,  262  ;  commands 
the  Connecticut  trade,  428 ;  Mohawks  a  terror 
to  savages  near,  49& 

Spyt  den  Duyvel,  or  Papirinemin,  421. 

Staats,  Abraham,  at  South  River,  530,  note;  his 
house  at  Claverack  destroyed,  733. 

Stadt  Huys  of  city  of  Amsterdam,  457. 

Stadt  Huys,  or  City  Hall,  of  New  Amsterdam,  the 
City  Tavern  so  called,  549  ;  delegates  meet  at, 
569,  571  ;  asked  for,  575  ;  granted,  568 ;  ordered 
to  be  repaired,  597. 

Stadtholder,  powers  and  duties  of,  450  ;  William 
I.,  Prince  of  Nassau  and  Orange,  chosen  to  be, 
19,  439,  442  ;  Maurice,  39,  160,  446  ;  Frederick 
Henry,  160,  434  ;  AVilliam  II.,  434,  498,  542  ; 
William  III.,  446,  450,  542. 

Stamford,  English  settlement  at,  294 ;  Dutch  ex- 
pedition against  Indians  near,  390,  391. 

Standish,  Captain  Miles,  appointed  by  New  Plym- 
outh to  command  forces  against  the  Dutch,  585 

Stankekans,  or  Sankikans,  73,  225,  378,  425,  757 

Staple  right  established  at  Manhattan,  243 ;  clain? 


INDEX. 


793 


«d  for  Rensselaerswyck,  400  ;  denieJ,  401,  510, 
521. 

State  Rights,  doctrine  of,  in  Holland  and  in  New 
England,  362,  455. 

Staten  Island,  called  Monacknong,  or  EgUquaous, 
73 ;  purchased  by  Pauw,  203 ;  De  Vries  enters 
land  on,  205 ;  surrendered  by  Pauw,  208 ;  De 
Vries'  colonie  at,  269,  301  ;  Raritans  charged 
with  misconduct  at,  309 ;  distillery  and  buck- 
skin manufactory  on,  313  ;  redoubt  and  flag- 
staff at,  314;  attacked  by  the  savages,  315; 
mines  on,  431 ;  colonists  sent  to,  by  Van  de  Ca- 
pellen,  524  ;  Melyn  at,  525 ;  Van  Dincklagen  at, 
526;  laid  waste  by  the  savages,  607,  608;  fresh 
colonists  sent  to,  041  ;  repurchased  by  the  West 
India  Company,  692 ;  Wuldenses  and  Hugue- 
nots at,  692  ;  village  at,  where  Domine  Drisius 
preaches,  692  ;  is  represented  in  General  As- 
sembly, 729 ;  Huguenots  from  Rocheile  at,  730, 
734  ;  block-house  at,  seized  by  the  English,  738. 

States  General,  the,  its  character  and  functions, 
437, 449,  454  ;  Incorporates  the  East  India  Com- 
pany, 23 ;  postpones  incorporating  a  West  India 
Company,  24 ;  proclaims  a  fast-day,  41 ;  ordi- 
nance of,  for  encouragement  of  discoveries,  60 ; 
its  palace  of  the  Binnenhof,  61, 111,449;  grants 
New  Netherland  charter,  03-65,  80,  91  ;  refuses 
application  for  the  Puritans,  125,  126  ;  charters 
the  West  India  Company,  134-137  ;  knows  little 
about  New  Netherland,  142  ;  interferes  for  De 
Vries,  155  ;  makes  treaty  with  Charles  I.,  161 ; 
maintains  right  of  the  West  India  Company  in 
New  Netherland,  216  ;  action  of,  respecting  En- 
glish complaints  in  case  of  the  William,  245, 
246 ;  respecting  the  patroons,  247,  248 ;  com- 
missions Kieft,  274  ;  inquires  into  condition  of 
New  Netherland,  265  ;  instructs  its  deputies  to 
arrange  the  company's  difficulties,  311  ;  action 
of,  respecting  Joachimi's  dispatches,  341 ;  letter 
of  the  Eight  Men  to,  372  ;  complained  to,  by  tbe 
Swedish  minister,  385 ;  again  appealed  to  from 
New  Netherland,  397  ;  approves  Stuyvesant's 
commission,  432;  receives  Spanish  ambassa- 
dor, 435 ;  refuses  audience  to  parliamentary 
minister,  498  ;  suspends  Stuyvesant's  sentence 
against  Melyn,  503 ;  memorial  and  remonstrance 
of  New  Netherland  to,  504-507  ;  action  of,  on 
Vertoogh,  511,  515  ;  orders  Van  Tienhoven  and 
Dam  to  come  to  the  Hague,  523,  524  ;  requires 
opinion  of  the  company  on  the  provisional  or- 
der, 539;  recalls  Stuyvesant,  541  ;  revokes  his 
recall,  542  ;  negotiations  of,  with  England,  542- 
544  ;  instructs  company  to  defend  New  Nether- 
land, 547;  postpones  boundary  question,  567; 
makes  treaty  of  peace  with  England,  586 ;  ne- 
gotiates respecting  the  boundary,  600,  601  ;  rati- 
fies Hartford  treaty,  021  ;  entertains  Charles  II., 
664;  action  of,  respecting  settlement  of  bound- 
ary, 686 ;  approves  new  conditions  offered  by 
Wfist  India  Company,  668  ;  makes  a  convention 


with  England,  701 ;  confirms  and  explains  char- 
ter of  West  India  Company,  730 ;  addresses  let- 
ters to  towns  in  New  Netherland,  730. 

Steen,  Corporal  Hans,  sent  to  Pavonia,  350. 

Steenhuysen,  Engelbert,  a  delegate  to  General 
Assembly  at  New  Amsterdam,  729. 

Steenwyck,  Burgomaster  Cornells,  a  delegate  from 
New  Amsterdam  to  General  Assembly,  728  ; 
sent  with  letter  to  Nicolls,  740  ;  a  commissioner 
on  the  Dutch  side,  741,  763. 

Stevensen,  Coert,  a  delegate  to  General  Assembly, 
729. 

Steynmets,  Casparus,  a  magistrate  of  Bergen,  691 

Stillwell,  Lieutenant  Nicholas,  sent  to  Esopus, 
712  ;  arrests  Christie  at  Gravesend,  719. 

Stirling,  Henry,  Earl  of,  petitions  Charles  II.,  701 ; 
part  of  his  claimed  territory  included  in  Con- 
necticut, 702 ;  his  claim  referred  to  Plantation 
Board,  725 ;  releases  his  title  to  the  Duke  of 
York,  735,  736. 

Stirling,  William  Alexander,  Earl  of,  250, 259, 760 ; 
Long  Island  conveyed  to,  259  ;  gives  power  of 
attorney  to  James  Farrett,  297  ;  his  claims  dis- 
regarded by  the  Dutch,  298-300;  death  of,  760. 

Stirling,  Dowager  Countess  of,  her  agent  Andrew 
Forrester  arrested  and  banished,  477,  480. 

Sioep,  or  steps,  in  front  of  houses,  533.  , 

Stoffelsen,  Jacob,  of  Pavonia,  one  of  the  Twelve 
Men,  317  ;  marries  widow  of  Cornells  Van 
Voorst  of  Pavonia,  368  ;  his  house  attacked, 
368. 

Stol,  Jacob  Janscn,  of  Esopus,  church  held  at  bis 
house,  647  ;  attacks  the  savages,  658. 

Stone,  Captain,  at  Manhattan,  237  ;  murdered  by 
the  Pequods,  242. 

Stone  wall  proposed  at  New  Amsterdam,  694. 

Stoughton,  Captain,  at  Saybrook,  272  ;  praises  the 
superiority  of  Connecticut,  293. 

Straatmaker,  Dirck,  killed  at  Pavonia,  353. 

Strangers  attracted  to  New  Netherland,  289 ;  obli- 
gations required  from,  291  ;  liberality  of  Dutch 
toward,  332,  335  ;  hotel  for,  built  at  Manhattan, 
335 ;  numbers  of,  at  New  Amsterdam,  374,  488, 
489,  579,  628,  640,  092,  734,  749. 

Stratford,  settlement  of,  294. 

Street,  A.  B.,  his  poem  of  Frontenac,  87. 

Strickland's  Plain,  inaccurate  accounts  of  battle 
on,  391,  note. 

Strycker,  Jan,  a  delegate  from  Amersfoort  to  Con- 
vention at  New  Amsterdam,  571  ;  to  General 
Assembly,  729. 

Stuyvesant,  Peter,  director  at  Curaijoa.  395 ;  re- 
turns to  Holland,  413;  his  early  life,  413  ;  ap- 
pointed director  of  New  Netherland,  414  ;  his 
departure  delayed,  416  ;  his  instructions  and 
commission  approved  by  the  Slates  General, 
432;  sails  from  the  Texel,  432;  incidents  on 
his  voyage,  433  ;  arrives  at  Manhattan,  433  ;  as 
sumes  the  government,  465 ;  his  haughtiness, 
465  ;  occurrences  at  his  inauguration,  466  ;  or- 


794 


INDEX. 


ganizes  his  council,  4C6  ;  regulates  the  court  of 
justice  and  the  Church,  467  ;  sides  with  Kieft, 
469  ;  his  severe  proceedings  against  Kuyter  and 
Melyn,  470-472  ;  denies  the  right  of  appeal,  472  ; 
organizes  board  of  ISine  Men,  474-476  ;  arrests 
Forrester,  Lady  Stirling's  agent,  477 ;  corre- 
spondence with  Winthrop,  478 ;  seizes  ship  at 
New  Haven,  479  ;  justifies  his  conduct,  460  ;  re- 
taliates, 461  ;  revokes  his  proclamation,  462 ; 
negotiates  with  Printz,  485  ;  regulates  munici- 
pal affairs  at  New  Amsterdam,  487-490;  en- 
deavors to  repress  contraband  trade,  490  ;  visits 
Fort  Orange,  491 ;  his  difficulties  with  Slechten- 
horst,  491-494  ;  called  "  Wooden  Leg"  by  the 
Mohawks,  493 ;  asks  for  another  clergyman  from 
Holland,  494 ;  his  correspondence  with  New 
England,  496  ;  explanation  of  the  Dutch  claims, 
497;  proposes  a  conference  with  the  commis- 
sioners and  with  Eaton,  499-300  ;  opposes  the 
Nine  Men,  501  ;  calls  a  great  council,  and  op- 
presses Van  der  Donck,  502  ;  action  in  Melyn's 
case,  503  ;  in  affair  of  Vastrick,  503  ;  his  "  Bou  w- 
ery,"  504  ;  forbids  Domine  Backerus  to  read  pa- 
pers from  the  pulpit,  504  ;  asks  for  a  school- 
master, 508 ;  sends  Van  Tienhoven  to  represent 
him  in  Holland,  509 ;  disregards  the  "  Provision- 
al Order,"  517  ;  deprives  the  Nine  Men  of  their 
pew  in  the  church,  518  ;  goes  to  Hartford  and 
negotiates  a  treaty,  519,  520  ;  omits  to  send  pa- 
pers to  Holland,  520 ;  prohibits  settlements  at 
Katskill  under  patroon,  522  ;  his  body-guard, 
525  ;  arrests  Van  Dincklagen,  526  ;  defeats  an- 
other expedition  to  the  South  River  from  New 
Haven,  527;  arrests  Van  Slechtenhorst,  528; 
visits  South  River,  528  ;  buys  more  territory, 
529 ;  demolishes  Fort  Nassau  and  builds  Fort 
Casimir,  529  ;  appoints  Dyckman  vice-director 
It  Fort  Orange,  530  ;  revisits  Fort  Orange,  and 
annexes  Beverwyck  to  its  jurisdiction,  535  ;  de- 
clares void  sales  at  Katskill  and  elsewhere,  536 ; 
irrants  patents  for  Middelburgh  or  Newtown,  and 
Midwout  or  Flatbush,  536 ;  postpones  half  the 
public  payments,  539  ;  recalled  by  the  States 
General,  541  ;  his  recall  revoked,  542  ;  organizes 
municipal  government  of  New  Amsterdam,  548 ; 
writes  to  New  England  and  Virginia,  549  ;  de- 
nies charges  of  the  New  England  commission- 
ers, 551  ;  his  overtures  to  the  New  England 
agents,  553  ;  answers  the  New  England  decla- 
ration, 554;  his  declarations  about  employing 
Indians,  555 ;  banishes  Underhill,  556 ;  sends 
agents  to  Virginia,  559 ;  disagreement  with  bur- 
gomasters of  New  Amsterdam,  560  ;  sends  Dom- 
ine Drisius  to  Virginia,  561  ;  blockades  Onke- 
way,  or  Fairfield,  565  ;  makes  concessions  to 
New  Amsterdam,  567,  568  ;  conduct  toward 
delegates  at  New  Amsterdam,  509  ;  calls  Landt- 
dag,  or  Convention,  570;  his  answer  to  its  re- 
monstrance, 573,  574  ;  orders  it  to  disperse,  575  ; 
receives  overtures  from  the  Swedes,  576  ;  gives 


a  letter  to  Printz  on  his  return,  577  ;  appoints 
new  city  officers,  578 ;  takes  measures  against 
pirates,  579  ;  incorporates  Dutch  villages  on 
Long  Island,  560 ;  encourages  a  church  at  Mid- 
wout, 581  ;  his  illiberal  treatment  of  the  Luther- 
ans, 561 ;  precautions  against  the  Eng  ish,  584  ; 
proclaims  thanksgiving  for  peace,  567  ;  reproved 
by  the  company,  567 ;  oflfers  to  make  Cortelyou 
city  schout,  588 ;  regulates  ferry  at  New  Am- 
sterdam, 589 ;  diflSculties  with  municipal  au- 
thorities, 589 ;  resumes  excise,  590 ;  at  Fort 
Orange,  590,  591  ;  reports  the  capture  of  Fort 
Casimir,  594 ;  seizes  Swedish  ship,  593 ;  pro- 
tests against  English  intruders  at  West  Chester 
and  Oyster  Bay,  595 ;  visits  Gravesend,  596 ; 
sails  for  the  West  Indies,  397 ;  returns  to  New 
Amsterdam,  603 ;  commands  expedition  against 
South  River,  604  ;  captures  Fort  Casimir  and 
Fort  Christina,  604,  605 ;  establishes  the  Dutch 
power  on  the  South  River,  606  ;  returns  to  New 
Amsterdam  and  takes  measures  for  its  defense, 
608 ;  ransoms  prisoners,  608  ;  organizes  govern- 
ment on  South  River,  609 ;  proposes  an  increase 
of  taxes,  610  ;  prohibits  New  Year  and  May-day 
sports,  611  ;  proclamation  to  form  villages,  613; 
appoints  new  schepens,  613;  his  proclamation 
against  conventicles,  617  ;  rebuked  by  the  com- 
pany, 618;  reduces  the  English  at  West  Ches- 
ter, 619  ;  incorporates  Oost-dorp  and  Rustdorp, 
619;  secures  Swedish  vessel  on  South  River, 
620,  621  ;  appoints  De  Sille  city  schout,  623  ; 
fines  Van  Rensselaer,  624  ;  correspondence  of, 
with  eomrriissioners,  625 ;  enforces  ordinance 
against  conventicles,  626;  regulates  affairs  at 
Oost-dorp,  627 ;  establishes  great  and  small 
burgherships  at  New  Amsterdam,  628,  629 ; 
transfers  Fort  Casimir  to  Alrichs,  632  ;  appoints 
Hudde  commandant  at  Altona,  633 ;  sends  Crom- 
well's letter  to  West  India  Company,  634 ;  or- 
ders Goetwater  back  to  Holland,  635 ;  his  se- 
verity toward  Hodgson,  636 ;  issues  proclama- 
tion against  Quakers,  637 ;  punishes  Flushing 
magistrates,  638 ;  proclaims  fast-day  on  account 
of  Quakers,  639 ;  allows  nomination  of  magis- 
trates to  New  Amsterdam,  640  ;  purchases  Ber- 
gen, 642  ;  refuses  to  send  Quakers  to  New  En- 
gland, 643  ;  negotiates  with  French  in  Canada, 
645,  646 ;  visits  Esopus,  647 ;  conference  with 
the  savages,  648 ;  lays  out  village  at  Esopus, 
649 ;  establishes  garrison  at,  650 ;  revisits  the 
South  River,  651  ;  appoints  Beeckman  vice-di- 
rector on  the  Soutli  River,  652;  refuses  Massa- 
chusetts permission  to  navigate  the  North  River, 
655  ;  proposes  a  Dutch  settlement  at  the  Wap- 
pinger's  Kill.  653;  revisits  Esopus,  660;  asks 
re-enforcements  from  Holland,  661  ;  complains 
of  AlricJis'  conduct,  663  ;  sends  re-enforcements 
to  the  South  River,  665  ;  reports  its  situation, 
669,  670  ;  again  refuses  to  allow  Massachusetts 
people  to  navigate  the  North  River,  672  ;  replies 


INDEX. 


795 


10  Massachusetts' claim,  673;  warns  West  In- 
dia Company  against  New  England,  C73,  674  ; 
requires  Indian  children  to  be  educated,  675  ; 
declares  war  against  the  Esopus  savages,  676 ; 
sends  Indian  prisoners  to  the  West  Indies,  676  ; 
refuses  to  organize  court  at  Esopus,  677 ;  op- 
poses employment  of  the  Mohawks,  677  ;  makes 
treaty  at  Esopus,  668  ;  confers  with  the  Senecas 
at  Fort  Orange,  679,  681) ;  contributes  to  church 
at  his  bouwery,  681  ;  urges  the  Mohawks  to  be 
at  peace  with  the  English  savages,  682  ;  nego- 
tiates a  treaty  with  Virginia,  683  ;  correspond- 
ence with  Governor  Berkeley,  684  ;  revives  per- 
secution against  Quakers,  689 ;  incorporates 
Wiltwyck,  and  installs  Swartwout,  690  ;  incor- 
porates Bergen,  691  ;  New  Utrecht  and  Bos- 
wyck,  693  ;  is  asked  to  deliver  up  regicides,  695  ; 
offers  of,  to  Puritan  colonists,  696  ;  his  dispatch 
10  Holland  about  Maryland,  697  ;  about  Gov- 
ernor Berkeley,  702 ;  his  letter  to  Connecticut, 
~03  ;  goes  witl'  Breedon  to  Fort  Orange,  and 
negotiates  with  the  Mohawks,  704  ;  arrests  and 
banishes  John  Bowne,  706;  is  rebuked  by  the 
West  India  Company,  707  ;  further  concessions 
of,  to  Puritan  colonists,  708 ;  forbids  West  Ches- 
ter to  obey  Connecticut,  709  ;  sends  re-enforce- 
ments to  Esopus,  711,  712;  surrenders  the  South 
River  to  Ilinoyossa,  717  ;  negotiates  with  com- 
missioners at  Boston,  718;  sends  commission- 
ers to  Hartford,  720;  security  required  for  his 
bill  on  the  company,  720  ;  summons  a  Conven- 
tion at  New  Amsterdam,  722 ;  his  dispatch  to 
the  company,  723  ;  surrenders  West  Chester 
and  Long  Island  towns,  724  ;  purchases  Neve- 
sinck  lands,  724 ;  makes  conditional  arrange- 
ment with  Scott,  727  ;  ratifies  it,  728 ;  calls  Gen- 
eral Provincial  Assembly,  728 ;  propositions  of, 
to,  729  ;  makes  treaty  with  Esopus  savages,  73 1 ; 
reinstates  Swartwout,  and  appoints  Beeckman 
commissary  at  Esopus,  731,  732  ;  his  action  re- 
specting Schaenhechstedc,  732  ;  his  interview 
with  Winthrop  on  Long  Island,  733,  734  ;  hope- 
ful about  New  Netherland,  734  ;  is  warned  of 
designs  of  the  English,  736  ;  deceived  by  dis- 
patch of  West  India  Company,  737  ;  visits  Fort 
Orange,  737  ;  hurries  back  to  New  Amsterdam, 
737  ;  sends  message  to  NicoUs,  738 ;  endeavors 
to  withhold  summons  to  surrender  from  the 
people,  739  ;  tears  Nicolls'  letter,  739  ;  last  dis- 
patch to  Amsterdam,  740 ;  appoints  commission- 
ers to  agree  to  articles,  741  ;  surrenders,  742. 

Stuyvesant,  Balthazar,  urges  surrender  of  New 
Netherland,  741. 

Survey  and  population  of  New  Amsterdam,  623  ; 
second  survey  and  map  of,  674. 

Swaanendael,  colony  planted  at,  206  ;  destroyed 
by  the  savages,  219-221  ;  deserted  by  the  Dutch, 
2i8  ;  surrendered  to  West  India  Company,  249. 

Svvannekens,  Dutch  so  called  by  ihe  Indians,  315, 
347.  352,  358,  360. 


Swart,  Gerrit,  schout  of  Rensselaerswyck,  535. 

Swartwout,  Roelof,  commissioned  as  schout  ol 
Esopus,  677 ;  installed  in  office,  690 ;  courageous 
behavior  of,  711  ;  discharged  from  olfice,  714  ; 
reinstated,  731. 

Swartwout,  Thomas,  a  delegate  from  Amersfoorl 
to  Convention  at  New  Amsterdam,  571. 

Swedish  West  India  Company,  260  ;  colony  estab- 
lished on  the  South  River,  281-284  ;  ship  seized 
in  Holland,  284  ;  progress  of  colony  on  South 
River,  319-321  ;  colonists  assist  the  Dutch 
against  the  English,  338,  382-384  ;  ships  arrest- 
ed in  Holland,  385 ;  officers  on  South  River  in 
suit  the  Dutch,  424-428 ;  oppose  them  further, 
482-487,  510,  511  ;  visited  by  Stuyvesant,  52b- 
530 ;  new  arrangements  for,  577  ;  officers,  hos- 
tile proceedings  of,  593,  594  ;  ship  seized  at  Man 
hattan,  594  ;  orders  of  company  for  reduction 
of,  601  ;  expedition  against,  603,  604 ;  reduction 
of,  under  the  Dutch,  605,  606;  ship  Mercury  ar- 
rested, 620;  Dutch  title  maintained  against, 
621,  622  ;  residents  not  to  be  appointed  to  office, 
663  ;  residents  able  to  bear  arm.'!,  number  of, 
675  ;  arguments  of  English  with,  744  ;  see  New 
Sweden,  New  Amstel,  Altona. 

Sweringen,  Gerrit  van,  supercargo  of  New  Am- 
stel expedition,  632;  blames  Alrichs,  670;  at 
Amsterdam,  697  ;  slioots  a  soldier  and  is  pro- 
tected by  Hinoyossa,  699  ;  renews  treaty  with 
the  savages,  717. 

Synod  of  Dordrecht,  109,  110,  117,  342,609,  617. 

Synods  and  classes  in  Holland,  104,  note,  118, 614. 

Tachkanic,  or  Taconick,  Mountains,  75  ;  Dutch 
soldiers  murdered  near  the,  657. 

Tack,  Arent  Pietersen,  of  Wiltwyck,  714. 

Talcott,  Captain  John,  enforces  submission  of 
West  Chester  to  Connecticut,  709  ;  opposes 
Stuyvesant  at  Boston,  718  ;  on  Long  Island, 
719;  confers  with  Dutch  agents  at  Hartfr^rd. 
730,721 ;  commissioners  of  Connecticut  on  Long 
Island,  726. 

Talpahockin,  vale  of,  69. 

Tankitekes,  or  Ilaverstraws,  315,  348,  364,  392. 

Tappan,  derivation  of  name,  74,  note,  757  ;  De 
Vries  at,  301,  307  ;  savages  at,  refuse  to  pay 
tribute,  310,  311  ;  Dc  Vries'  plantation  at,  313  ; 
savages  attacked  by  the  Mohawks,  349  ;  massa- 
cred at  Pavonia,  352  ;  attack  the  Dutch,  355, 
368  ;  peace  with,  409  ;  further  treaties  with.  675, 
731  ;  stone  procured  from,  for  wall  at  New  Am 
sterdam,  694. 

Tawasentha,  post  at,  81  ;  treaty  of,  68. 

Ta.xation  only  by  consent,  the  principle  in  Holland, 
192,  436,  437,  440,  442  ;  heavy,  in  Holland,  458 
462  ;  action  respecting,  in  New  Netherland,  47:i- 
476,  505,  550,  572,  575,  727  ;  views  of  the  Wesl 
India  Company,  588,  002,  746. 

Tftmi)le,  Colonel,  complains  of  the  Mohawks, 
732. 


79G 


INDEX. 


Tomple,  Sir  William,  on  the  Dutch,  455,  461,  4G2. 

Tenkenas  Island,  267. 

Terneur,  Daniel,  a  magistrate  of  New  Haerlem, 
675  ;  delegate  to  General  Assembly,  729. 

Tcunissen,  Cornelis,  244. 

Teunissen,  Gerrit,  244. 

Teunissen,  Gysbert,  a  delegate  to  General  Assem- 
bly, 729. 

Teunissen,  Jan,  first  schout  of  Breuckelen,  422. 

Texel,  Vlieland,  and  Zuyder  Zee,  named  by  the 
Dutch,  58,  141,  756. 

Thanksgiving  and  fast-days  in  the  Netherlands, 
41,  443,  747  ;  in  New  Netherland,  41,  note,  356, 
391,  409,  491,  587,  605,  639,  731,  747. 

Tharonhyjagon,  the  god  of  the  Iroquois,  83. 

The  Hague,  origin  of  its  name,  61. 

Tlie  Kills,  or  Kill  van  Cul,  27,  28,  313,  note. 

The  Reformed,  first  so  called  in  Holland,  100. 

Thomas,  Captain  Jelmer,  accompanies  Stuyve- 
sant,  432. 

Throgmorton,  John,  at  Throg's  Neck,  333  ;  settle- 
ment called  Vredeland,  334  ;  his  settlement  de- 
stroyed by  the  savages,  366. 

Thurloe,  Secretary,  583  ;  his  collection  of  papers, 
586  ;  negotiates  with  Nieuport,  601. 

Tienhoven,  Adriaen  van,  clerk  of  court  on  South 
River,  486  ;  informs  Stuyvesant  of  conduct  of 
Swedes,  487  ;  appointed  receiver  general,  532  ; 
at  surrender  of  Fort  Casimir,  593 ;  dismissed 
from  the  public  service,  622  ;  leaves  New  Neth- 
erland, 623. 

Tienhoven,  Cornelis  van,  book-keeper  at  Fort  Am- 
sterdam, 223  ;  made  provincial  secretary  and 
schout-fiscal,  275 ;  purchases  lands  in  West 
('hester,  296 ;  breaks  up  settlement  at  Schout's 
Bay,  299 ;  leads  expedition  against  the  Rari- 
tans,  310  ;  makes  the  treaty  at  the  Bronx  River, 
330 ;  urges  Kieft  to  attack  the  savages,  349 ;  sent 
to  reconnoitre  at  Pavonia,  350  ;  retained  as  pro- 
vincial secretary  by  Stuyvesant,  466 ;  visits 
New  Haven  and  discovers  a  Dutch  vessel  there. 
476,  479 ;  sent  to  Holland  as  Stuyvesant's  rep- 
resentative, 509;  at  the  Hague,  511,  512;  pre- 
pares papers  about  New  Netherland  aflfairs, 
513  ;  prepares  reply  to  the  Vertoogh,  523  ;  son- 
in-law  of  Dam,  524 ;  returns  to  New  Nether- 
land, 524  ;  appointed  schout-fiscal  in  place  of 
Van  Dyck,  532;  charged  with  plotting,  by  Un- 
ilerliill,  556 ;  sent  to  negotiate  with  Virginia, 
5o9  ;  sent  to  New  Haven,  579;  continued  as 
City  schout,  5S8  ;  sent  to  warn  intruders  at 
West  Chester,  595  ;  at  Gravesend,  597  ;  super- 
intends South  River  expedition,  603;  in  favor 
of  a  wai  against  the  savages,  610  ;  sent  to  West 
Chester,  618  ;  dismissed  from  the  public  service, 
622  ;  leaves  New  Netherland,  623. 
Tilje,  Jan,  magistrate  of  Boswyck,  693. 
I'llion,  John,  town  clerk  of  Gravesend,  596;  per- 
.secuted  as  a  Quakci,  638,  689  ;  ordered  to  leave 
the  province.  7(16. 


TiTimer  Kill,  or  Timber  Creek,  Fort  Nassau  bci. 
on,  157,  758. 

Tinicum,  Fort  New  Gottenburg  built  on,  379. 

Title,  Dutch  and  English,  to  New  Netherland,  35, 
96, 129, 141, 143  ;  Dutch  urged  to  clear  their,  180; 
to  Connecticut,  211 ;  questioned  and  defended, 
214-217,  239,  240 ;  see  West  India  Company. 

Tobacco  subjected  to  excise,  277  ;  Virginian  im- 
provements in  cultivating,  290  ;  inspectors  of, 
292 ;  export  duty  taken  off,  540 ;  trade  in,  697, 
715,  735. 

Toleration  in  Holland,  101-103,  458,  459,  707  •  in 
New  Netherland,  335,  374,  582,  614,  707,  749. 

Tomasse,  Jan,  magistrate  of  New  Utrecht,  693. 

Tonneman,  Pieter,  schout  of  Breuckelen,  580; 
summons  Non-conformists,  639  ;  accompanies 
Stuyvesant  to  South  River,  651  ;  appointed 
schout  of  New  Amsterdam,  674  ;  succeeded  by 
Hegeman,  693. 

Torkillus,  Reorus,  first  Lutheran  clergyman  on 
the  South  River,  281  ;  death  of,  379,  note. 

Totems,  or  symbols,  of  the  Iroquois,  84,  85. 

Towns,  rise  of  Dutch,  192,  437,  448,  453  ;  in  New 
Netherland,  312,  332,  388, 415,  540,  571, 722,  729  ; 
combination  of,  on  Long  Island,  726. 

Townsend,  Henry,  of  Rustdorp,  proceedings 
against,  637,  638,  689. 

Townsend,  John,  of  Rustdorp,  case  of,  637,  669. 

Tracy,  Marquis  de,  viceroy  of  Canada,  705. 

Trade,  freedom  of,  in  Holland,  98,  415,  456,  458 
543  ;  restrained  in  New  Netherland,  135,  155, 
196,  197  ;  regulated,  277 ;  made  more  free,  288  ; 
consequences,  289,  307,  308 ;  again  regulated, 
293,  312,  377,  400,  406,  415,  416,  466,  489,  495; 
freedom  of,  demanded,  505,  507  ;  concessions 
respecting,  540 ;  to  make  Manhattan  flourish, 
547 ;  confined  to  residents,  628,  629 ;  opened 
with  Canada,  646;  foreign,  415,  656;  with  Vir- 
ginia, 684 ;  with  Maryland,  697  ;  on  South  Riv 
er,  715;  in  tobacco,  735  ;  see  Commerce. 

Traders,  itinerant,  at  New  Amsterdam,  489  ;  reg- 
ulated, 628. 

Traitors  not  found  in  Holland,  464. 

Treaty  of  the  Tawasentha,  81, 88 ;  at  Fort  Orange, 
152;  of  Southampton,  161;  at  Manhattan,  1(34; 
at  Swaanendael,  221 ;  at  Fort  Amsterdam,  359 ; 
at  Fort  Orange,  408 ;  general,  at  Fort  Amster- 
dam, 409;  of  Westphalia,  435;  at  Hartford,  519, 
520,  539 ;  on  South  River,  529 ;  of  the  Dutch 
with  Cromwell,  566 ;  at  New  Amsterdam,  675 ; 
at  Esop':s,  678  ;  with  Virginia,  682,  684  ;  of  the 
Dutch  with  Charles  II.,  701  ;  at  fort  Amster- 
dam, 731  ;  at  Fort  Albany,  744. 

Tribunals,  or  courts  of  justice,  In  New  Netner 
land,  135,  151,  163,  195,  197,  276,  288,  304,  312, 
327,  405,  414,  467,  599;  see  Council,  Patroons. 

Tribute,  attempted  exaction  of,  from  River  In- 
dians, 309  ;  payment  of  refused,  310.  350. 

Trinity  Church,  first  rector  of,  in  New  York,  119 
note  ;  estate  of,  266. 


INDEX. 


797 


Tromp,  Admiral  Marten  Ilarpertsen,  545  ;  vul- 
gar error  in  calling  him  Van  Tromp,  545,  note  ; 
sweeps  the  channel  clear  of  English  ships,  546. 

Troy,  or  Paanpaack,  purchase  of,  534. 

Turkeys,  large  wild,  226,  303. 

Turtle  Bay,  292  ;  see  Deutel  Bay. 

Tuscaroras,  83,  64. 

Tweenhuysen,  Lambrecht  van,  46,  47,  59,  65. 

Twelve  Men  chosen,  317  ;  oppose  a  war,  318, 319 ; 
assent  to  hostilities,  325  ;  demand  reforms,  326- 
328  ;  are  dissolved  by  Kieft,  329. 

Twiller,  Wouter  van,  appointed  director  general, 
222 ;  arrives  at  Manhattan,  223  ;  character  of 
his  administration,  224,  225  ;  conduct  respect- 
ing English  ship  William,  229,  230  ;  toward  De 
Vries,  231;  replies  to  Winthrop,  240;  under- 
takes costly  works,  243,  244 ;  reprimanded  by 
Domine  Bogardus,  245 ;  attempts  to  dislodge 
English  from  the  Kievit's  Hook,  261 ;  visits  Pa- 
vonia,  263 ;  irregularities  in  his  government, 
265 ;  sends  Van  Dincklagen  back  to  Holland, 
266  ;  purchases  lands,  265,  267  ;  rescues  two 
Wcthersfield  prisoners,  271  ;  complained  of  in 
Holland,  273 ;  superseded  by  the  appointment 
of  Kieft,  274  ;  his  large  estate,  276  ;  an  executor 
of  Kilian  van  Rensselaer,  420;  sides  witliMelyn 
and  Van  der  Donck  in  Holland,  512  ;  disliked  by 
the  West  India  Company,  521. 

Uncas,  chief  of  the  Mahicans,  assists  the  English, 
271 ;  accuses  Miantonomoh,  330 ;  puts  him  to 
death,  364  ;  spreads  reports  against  Stuyve- 
sant,  550. 

Underbill,  Captain  John,  sent  to  Saybrook,  270  ; 
attacks  the  Pequod  village,  271,  272  ;  proposes 
to  settle  in  New  Netherlaiid,  2U1  ;  at  Stamford, 
366 ;  taken  into  the  service  of  the  Dutch,  306  ; 
sent  to  ask  assistance  from  New  Haven,  370  ; 
Patrick  murdered  at  his  house  at  Stamford,  387  ; 
is  sent  to  Heemstede,  389 ;  commands  expedi- 
tion against  Indians  near  Stamford,  390,  391  ; 
arranges  a  peace,  392,  397  ;  his  seditious  con- 
duct on  Long  Island,  552,  555 ;  is  banished,  556 ; 
commissioned  by  Rhode  Island,  557  ;  seizes  Fort 
Good  Hope,  558 ;  at  Setauket,  on  Long  Island, 
671  ;  a  commissioner  at  Heemstede,  728. 

Union  of  Utrecht,  the,  19,  38,  132,  362,  445,  750. 

United  Colonies  of  New  England,  commissioners 
of  the,  361,  302;  Kieft's  correspondence  with, 
362,  363  ;  meet  at  New  Haven,  429 :  claim  In- 
dian captives  as  slaves,  429 ;  reply  to  Kieft's 
protest,  430 ;  complain  of  high  duties  at  Man- 
hattan, 478 ;  correspondence  of,  with  Stuyve- 
sant,  496,  497  ;  forbid  foreigners  to  trade  with 
New  England  savages,  500,  501  ;  Stuyvesant's 
interview  with,  518  ;  treaty  with  the  Dutch  ne- 
gotiated at  Hartford,  519,  520 ;  protest  against 
Stuyvesant's  hostility  to  Now  Haven  adven- 
turers, 530;  suspicious  of  his  plotting  with  the 
savages  against  'hem,  550 ;  their  declaration  of 


complaints  against  the  Dutch,  551  ;  send  agents 
to  New  Amsterdam,  551-554  ;  at  variance  with 
Massachusetts,  557,  558 ;  decline  to  aid  tht 
French  in  Canada,  564  ;  express  sympathy  for 
the  Dutch,  608  ;  correspondence  with  Stuyve 
sant,625;  support  claim  ofMassuchusetts,  671  ; 
Stuyvesant's  answer,  673  ;  measures  of,  against 
the  Mohawks,  704  ;  negotiate  with  StuyvcisaTit 
at  Boston,  718,  719. 

Upland,  the  Swedes  at,  483. 

Usselincx,  William,  proposes  Dutch  West  India 
Company,  21,  23, 134  ;  plans  Swedish  West  In- 
dia Company,  280. 

Utie,  Colonel  Nathaniel,  agent  of  Maryland  at  the 
South  River,  664 ;  his  conduct  toward  tlie 
Dutch  officers,  665 ;  reproved  by  Heermans, 
667  ;  his  conduct  justified  by  Maryland,  669. 

Valentine  and  Orson,  46,  66. 

Valentine's  Manual  of  the  Corporation,  761. 

Varcken's  Kill,  or  Salem,  in  New  Jeisey,  Englisli 
settlement  at,  322  ;  broken  up,  338  ;  Fort  Elsing 
burg  built  near,  380. 

Varlett,  Judith,  case  of,  at  Hartford,  703,  note 

Varlett,  Nicholas,  goes  to  Virginia  and  negotiates 
a  treaty,  683  ;  at  Hartford,  703  ;  a  commissioner 
on  the  Dutch  side,  741,  763. 

Vastrick,  Gerrit,  case  of,  503,  504. 

Verazzano  at  New  York  harbor,  2, 16, 35 ;  at  Block 
Island,  57,  note. 

Verbeck,  Jan,  a  delegate  to  General  Assembly,  72y. 

Verdrietig  Hook,  29,  74. 

Verhulst,  Williain,  succeeds  May  as  director,  159  ; 
succeeded  by  Peter  Minuit,  102. 

Verhulsten  Island,  near  the  falls  of  the  South  Riv- 
er, 159;  colonists  at,  IfiO;  deserted,  170,  183. 

Verplanck,  or  Planck,  Abram,  buys  land  at  Pa- 
vonia,  279;  one  of  the  Twelve  Men,  317;  see 
Planck. 

Vertoogh,  or  Remonstrance,  of  New  Netherland, 
506,  507  ;  presented  to  the  States  General,  511  , 
printed  and  circulated  in  Holland,  512. 

Verveeler,  Johannes,  a  delegiite  to  General  As- 
sembly, 729. 

Vestens,  William,  Siecken-troosfi-r  and  school- 
master at  Manhattan,  516. 

Virginia  named,  5 ;  colonization  of,  attempted  by 
Raleigh,  6;  new  charter  for,  11;  the  "Old 
Dominion"  of  the  United  States,  12 ;  Jamestown 
founded  in,  12  ;  second  charter  for,  15  ;  proposi- 
tion of  the  Dutch  to  join  in  colony  of,  44,  45  ; 
progress  of,  49-53 ;  visited  by  Dermer,  93 ;  by 
May,  97;  patent  for  the  Puritans  to  settle  in, 
122,  128,  129;  English  title  to,  admitted  by  the 
Dutch,  143,  215 ;  Walloons  desire  to  go  to,  147  ; 
.De  Vries  at,  226 ;  Governor  Harvey's  friendly 
bearing,  227  ;  ship  from,  at  Manhattan,  237  ; 
explorations  by  authority  of,  249,  250 ;  jealous 
of  Maryland,  253  ;  party  from,  at  Fort  Nassau, 
254  ;  dis^idged  and  sent  back,  255  ;  scarcity  in. 


798 


INDEX. 


2G9 ;  Ilarvey  returns  to,  279 ;  Minuit  at,  282  ; 
emigrants  from,  to  New  Netherland,  290,  292  ; 
English  in,  considered  Egyptians  hy  the  Hart- 
ford people,  295 ;  fugitives  from,  335 ;  Inter- 
course with,  335 ;  De  Vries  in,  381  ;  Plowden 
at,  382;  Dutch  commerce  with,  415,  466,  479; 
Cromwell  not  favored  in,  499 ;  the  Dutch  pro- 
pose free  trade  with,  544 ;  trade  of  Manhattan 
with,  to  be  encouraged,  547;  Stuyvesant  pro- 
poses commercial  friendship  with,  549 ;  Dutch 
send  agents  to  negotiate  with,  559 ;  Domine 
Drisius  sent  to,  561  ;  Doughty  goes  from  Flush- 
ing to,  615,  66G ;  apprehended  intrusion  of,  at 
Cape  llinlopen,  651 ;  letters  from,  to  Swedes  on 
South  River,  663  ;  Heermans  in,  669,  683  ;  pro- 
posed enlistment  of  soldiers  for  the  Dutch  in, 
675;  treaty  of  commerce  with,  683,  684;  chil- 
dren sent  from,  to  Latin  school  at  New  Amster- 
dam, 694;  Berkeley  agent  of,  in  England,  701, 
702;  Navigation  Law  evaded  in,  724;  threat- 
ening attitude  of,  734  ;  ordered  to  enforce  Navi- 
gation Law,  735. 

Visschcr,  Schipper,  ordered  to  be  ready  for  de- 
fense of  New  Amsterdam,  549. 

Visscher's  Hook,  or  Montauk  Point,  54  ;  Block  at, 
57,  756. 

V'leeck,  Tielman  van,  magistrate  of  Bergen,  691. 

Vlie-boat,  or  Fly-boat,  origin  of  name  of,  25,  note. 

Vlissingen,  patent  for,  410  ;  see  Flushing. 

Volckertsen,  Captain  Thys,  46. 

V'oorst,  Cornells  van,  Pauw's  commander  at  Pa- 
vonia,  263,  317,  note,  368. 

Voorst,  Gerrit  Jansen  van,  murdered  at  Ilackin- 
sack,  347,  348,  350. 

Voyages  of  David  Pietersen  de  Vries,  156,  381. 

Vries,  David  Pietersen  de,  his  ship  arrested  at 
Hoorn,  155;  becomes  a  patroon,  205;  sails  to 
Svvaanendael,  219;  makes  peace  with  the  sav- 
ages, 221  ;  visits  Fort  Nassau,  225  ;  goes  to 
Virginia,  226 ;  his  pleasant  interview  with  Gov- 
ernor Ilarvey,  227  ;  arrives  at  Manhattan,  228  ; 
his  advice  to  Van  Twiller,  230  ;  returns  to  Hol- 
land, 237,  247  ;  revisits  Manhattan  and  Virginia, 
255  ;  repairs  his  ship  at  the  Smid's  Vleye,  263  ; 
arranges  for  colonic  on  Staten  Island,  and  sails 
for  Holland,  265  ;  returns  with  colonists  to  New 
Netherland,  289 ;  visits  Connecticut,  294 ;  his 
plantations  on  Staten  Island  and  Manhattan, 
301  ;  buys  at  Tappan,  301 ;  at  Esopus  and  Cas- 
tle Island,  302-306;  his  opinion  of  the  North 
River,  307;  his  plantation  on  Staten  Island 
plundered  and  destroyed,  309,  315;  establishes 
colonie  at  Vriesendael,  313  ;  chosen  one  of  the 
Twelve  Men,  317  ;  opposes  hostilities,  318 ;  pro- 
poses the  building  of  a  new  church,  335;  visits 
Ilackinsack,  347  ;  visits  Kicft  at  Fort  Amster- 
dam, 348,  349  ;  warns  Kieft  against  attacking 
the  savages,  351  ;  spends  night  of  anxiety  at 
Fort  Amsterdam,  352;  besieged  at  Vriesendael, 
355  ;  interview  with  Indians  at  Rockaway,  35S ; 


procures  release  of  son  of  Van  Voorst,  368 ;  his 
parting  prophesy  to  Kieft,  371  ;  on  the  South 
River,  380;  returns  to  Holland,  381  :  publishes 
his  voyages,  156,  381,  note. 

Vriesendael,  De  Vries' colonie  at,  313  ;  its  distance 
from  Ilackinsack,  347  ;  savages  seek  refuge  at, 
349  ;  besieged  by  the  savages,  355  ;  visited  by 
friendly  sachern,  360  ;  abandoned  by  De  Vries, 
370. 

A'roedschap  in  Holland,  453. 

Waal-bogt,  Walloons  settled  at,  153,  154  ;  first 
child  born  at,  268  ;  Domine  Selyns  at,  681. 

Waerkimin's-Connie,  court  at,  642. 

Wahamanessing,  or  Wappinger's  Kill,  75. 

Waldenses  at  Amsterdam,  629,  631,  715;  emigra- 
tion of,  to  New  Netherland,  632,  692,  749. 

Waldron,  Resolved,  under  sellout  of  New  Amster- 
dam, sent  on  embassy  to  Maryland,  666-669 ; 
sent  to  Rustdorp,  689 ;  at  West  Chester,  709. 

Walker,  Zachariah,  preacher  at  Jamaica,  724. 

Wall  Street,  fence  built  on  site  of,  392,  549,  741. 

Walloons  in  Holland,  146  ;  desire  to  go  to  Virginia, 
147 ;  favored  by  the  States,  148 ;  emigrate  to 
New  Netherland,  150;  at  the  Waal-bogt,  153, 
154,  749;  on  South  River,  160,  170,  162. 

Walvis,  ship,  at  South  River,  205-207;  island 
near  the  Cohooes,  420,  note. 

Wampum,  172;  Sunday  contributions  made  in, 
314 ;  see  Sewan. 

Wantenaar,  Albert  Cornelis,  a  delegate  to  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  729. 

Wappang-zewan  presents  lands  on  South  River 
to  the  Dutch,  529. 

Wappingers,  tribe  of,  74  ;  attack  the  Dutch,  364  ; 
among  the  Stamford  Indians,  391  ;  peace  with. 
409  ;  settlements  among,  proposed,  655,  672  ; 
mediate  for  the  Esopus  savages,  675, 678 ;  friend- 
ly to  the  Dutch,  713;  tampered  with  by  Con- 
necticut people,  731. 

Wappinger's  Kill,  or  Wahamanessing,  74,  75; 
proposed  Dutch  settlement  at,  655  ;  approved 
by  the  company,  672,  681. 

War,  end  of  Kied's  Indian,  407  ;  see  Esopus. 

Waranowankongs,  75,  757. 

Washburn,  William,  a  delegate  from  Heemstede, 
571. 

Wassenaar,  Historische  Verhael,  46,  157. 

Waters,  Anthony,  of  Heemstede,  proceedings  of, 
723. 

Waugh,  Dorothy,  imprisoned  for  preaching  in 
streets  at  New  Amsterdam,  636. 

Wayandanck,  sachem  of  Montauk,  670,  671. 

Weckquaesgeeks,  tribe  of,  74 ;  murder  of  one  of, 
at  the  Kolck,  166  ;  Kicfl  purchases  lands  of,  296 ; 
De  Vries  at  country  of,  301  ;  masts  procured 
from,  302 ;  one  of,  murders  Claes  Smits,  316 ; 
refuse  to  surrender  murderer,  316  ;  e.xpediticn 
against,  proposed,  318,  319;  authorized,  325, 
dispatched,  329;   treaty  with,  330;  Mohawks 


INDEX. 


799 


demand  tribute  from,  349 :  attacked  at  Corlaer's 
Hook,  352 ;  lay  waste  West  Chester,  366, 367  ;  ex- 
pedition against,  387 ;  prisoners  at  Fort  Amster- 
dam, 389  ;  peace  with,  392,  409  ;  Van  der  Donck 
purchases  land  from,  421 ;  English  buy  land 
from,  595,  598 ;  again  provoked,  606 ;  Dutch 
prisoners  among,  610  ;  treaty  with,  675. 
Weeks,  Francis,  of  Heemstede,  case  of,  639. 
Weights  and  measures  of  Amsterdam  required  to 

be  used  in  New  Netherland,  406,  412,  489. 
Wclius,  Domine  Everardus,  at  New  Amstel,  G33  ; 

death  of,  670. 
Werckhoven,   Cornelia   van,   his   purchases   on 
Long  Island  and  in  New  Jersey,  537  ;  signs  let- 
ter to  New  England  agents,  553  ;  a  delegate  at 
New  Amsterdam,  569;  death  of,  537,  693;  see 
New  Utrecht. 
Werk-baas,  meaning  of  the  phrase,  261,  note. 
West  Chester,  English  settle  at,  595 ;  protest  of 
the  Dutch  against,  598 ;  Puritan  Independents 
at,  616;  Dutch  e.xpedition  against,  618;  Oost- 
dorp  incorporated,  619  ;  affairs  at,  626,  627 ;  de- 
clared to  be  annexed  to  Connecticut,  703 ;  au- 
thority of  Connecticut  enforced,  709  ;  negotia- 
tions at  Boston  respecting,  718  ;   at  Hartford, 
721  ;  act  of  Connecticut  respecting,  722 ;  sur- 
rendered by   Stuyvesant,  723,  724  ;   letter  of 
States  General  to,  730,  733  ;  spies  sent  to  obtain 
intelligence  at,  737 ;  see  Weckquaesgeeks. 
West  India  Company,  Dutch,  proposed,  24,  97, 
125;  chartered  by  the  States  General,  134;  its 
powers  and  duties,  135-137;    organization  of, 
148 ;  assigns  New  Netherland  to  care  of  Am- 
sterdam Chamber,  148  ;  takes  possession  of  New 
Netherland,   149 ;    arrests   De  Vries*  ship   at 
Hoorn,  155;  its  conquests,  185  ;  its  charter  for 
patroons,  187,  194-199;   jealousies  among  its 
directors,  203 ;  at  variance  with  the  patroons, 
213;  defends  its  title  to  New  Netherland,  215; 
its  policy  respecting  New  Netherland,  223,  224  ; 
answer  of,  in  the  case  of  the  ship  William,  246; 
to  the  "  claim  and  demand"  of  the  patroons,  248 ; 
declines  to  surrender  New  Netherland  to  the 
Slates  General,  285 ;  its  unsuccessful  manage- 
ment, 286  ;  proclaims  a  freer  trade,  288 ;  its  new 
charter  for  patroons,  311,  312;  establishes  the 
Reformed  Dutch  Church  in  New  Netherland, 
312 ;  Hugh  Peters  commissioned  to  negotiate 
with,  323  ;  asserts  right  to  approve  calls  of  min- 
isters, 342,  343  ;  letter  of  the  Eight  Men  to,  371- 
373 ;  seizes  Swedish  ships  from  the  South  Riv- 
er, 385  ;  Kicft  draws  a  hill  on,  387  ;  bankruptcy 
of,  393  ;  memorial  of  Eight  Men  to,  397-400 ; 
asks  assistance  from  the  States  General,  403  ; 
considers  measures  for  the  relief  of  New  Neth- 
erland, 404-400 ;  commissions  new  officers,  414- 
416, 432  ;  willing  to  promote  education,  476  ;  or- 
ders criminals  to  be  punished  in  New  Nether- 
land, 478  ;  allows  ammunition  to  savages,  503  ; 
reproves  Stuyvesant's  indiscretion,  504  ;  letter 


from  Gravesend  to,  509 ;  avoided  by  Van  der 
Donck,  511 ;  letter  of,  to  Stuyvesant,  512;  en- 
courages emigration  513;  Amsterdam  Chamber 
opposes  provisional  order,  515,  516 ;  another  loi- 
ter from  Gravesend  to,  518 ;  rebukes  pretensions 
of  patroons  of  Rensselacrswyck,  521,  522;  de- 
clares the  North  River  to  be  free,  522 ;  instruc- 
tions of,  about  South  River,  528  ;  disapproves 
of  Stuyvesant's  conduct  there,  538,  539;  its  ac- 
tion on  the  provisional  order,  539,  540 ;  recom- 
mendations of,  to  States  General,  546 ;  instruc- 
tions of,  to  Stuyvesant,  546,  547 ;  action  respect- 
ing Van  der  Donck's  application  to  see  records, 
560,  561 ;  answers  complaints  of  patroons,  562, 
563  ;  proposes  a  trading-house  above  Fort  Or- 
ange, 563  ;  sends  an  English  libel  to  Stuyvesant, 
566;  applies  to  States  General  to  arrange  the 
boundary,  567  ;  conduct  of,  toward  the  Luther- 
ans, 582  ;  instructions  of,  587  ;  orders  Stuyve- 
sant to  avoid  employing  foreigners,  600;  sub- 
mits boundary  papers  to  States  General,  600, 
orders  the  recovery  of  Fort  Casimir,  601  ;  di- 
rects taxation  to  be  enforced,  602 ;  rebukes  Stuy- 
vesant's bigotry,  617,  618 ;  procures  ratification 
of  Hartford  treaty  by  the  States  General,  621 ; 
orders  fort  to  be  built  at  Oyster  Bay,  622 ;  ap- 
proves South  River  expedition,  622  ;  dismisses 
Van  Tienhoven,  622;  losses  of,  in  Brazil  and 
Guinea,  629  ;  conveys  territory  on  South  River 
to  city  of  Amsterdam,  630-632 ;  enjoins  religious 
moderation,  642,  643 ;  instructs  Stuyvesant  to 
be  on  his  guard  against  the  Jesuits,  644  ;  orders 
redoubt  to  be  built  at  Esopus,  647  ;  instructs 
Stuyvesant  respecting  the  South  River,  652  ; 
grants  a  foreign  trade  to  New  Netherland,  and 
sends  a  Latin  schoolmaster,  656  ;  enjoins  more 
liberality  in  religion,  656  ;  instructs  Stuyvesant 
not  to  employ  Swedes,  663  ;   declines  to  take 
back  New  Amstel,  670  ;  approves  of  a  settlement 
on  Wappinger's  Kill,  and  orders  Stuyvesant  to 
oppose  English  intruders,  672 ;  appoints  Tonne- 
man  sellout  of  New  Amsterdam,  674 ;   orders 
Stuyvesant  to  erect  a  court  at  Esopus,  677  ;  to 
oppose  encroachments  of  Maryland,  662  ;    ap- 
proves free  trade  with  Virginia,  684 ;   answer 
of,  to  Lord  Baltimore's  claims,  685 ;  memorial 
of,  to  the  States  General,  685,  680  ;  new  condi- 
tions offered  by,  688;  rebukes  Stuyvesant's  big- 
,otry  and  enjoins  toleration,  707  ;   concessions 
of,  to  Puritans  proposing  to  settle  on  the  Rari- 
tan,  707,  708 ;  cedes  the  whole  South  River  to 
the  city  of  Amsterdam,  714  ,  instructs  Stuyve- 
sant on  the  subject,  716 ;  suspicious  of  Win- 
throp,  718;  security  required  for  Stuyvesant's 
bill  on,  720  ;  charter  of,  denied  by  Connecticut, 
721  ;  remonstrance  of  Convention  and  Stuyve- 
sant's dispatch  to,  723  ;    held  responsible  for 
disorders  on  Long  Island,  728 ;  expenditure  of, 
for  New  Netherland,  729  ;  charter  of,  explained 
by  the  States  General,  730  ;  instructions  of,  to 


500 


INDEX. 


Stuyvesant,  730;  desires  a  cession  of  Mohawk 
lands,  732  ;  last  dispatch  of,  to  Stuyvesant,  737  ; 
last  dispatch  of  Stuyvesant  to,  740 ;  general 
scope  of  its  policy,  746. 

Westerhouse,  case  of,  479,  480,  496,  500,  519. 

Westphalia,  general  treaty  of,  435  ;  proclaimed  in 
New  Is'etherland,  517. 

Wethersfield,  settlement  at.  257  ;  attacked  by  Pe- 
quods,  270 ;  captives  from,  rescued  by  the  Dutch, 
271. 

Wethouders  in  Holland,  453. 

Weymouth,  George,  at  the  Sagadahoc,  9. 

Whale-fishery  at  Swaanendael,  205,  207,  225, 
228. 

Whales  up  the  North  River,  420,  note. 

Wheeler,  Thomas,  opposes  Dutch  at  West  Ches- 
ter, 618 ;  submits,  and  is  made  magistrate,  619. 

Whiting,  William,  sent  from  Hartford  to  Manhat- 
tan, 339;  his  enmity  to  the  Dutch,  431,  note. 

Whiteneywen,  sachem  of  the  Mockgonecocks,  407, 
408. 

Wickendam,  William,  persecuted  at  Flushing,  620. 

SViehackan,  purchase  near,  by  Stuyvesant,  042  ; 
see  Bergen. 

■  Wilhelnius  van  Nassauwen,"  origin  of  the 
Dutch  national  song,  442,  note. 

Wilkins,  William,  commissary  of  Gravesend,  596. 

Willett,  Captain  Thomas,  appointed  an  arbitrator 
at  Hartford,  519;  purchases  a  confiscated  ship 
at  Manhattan,  525  ;  appointed  by  New  Plym- 
outh to  act  against  the  Dutch,  585 ;  warns 
Stuyvesant  of  English  expedition,  736  ;  retracts, 
737;  accompanies  Cartwright  to  Fort  Orange, 
743  ;  at  treaty  with  the  Iroquois,  744. 

William  I.,  Prince  of  Orange,  19,  101,  185,  440, 
442-146  ;  William  II.,  434,  498,  542  ;  William 
III.,  446,  543. 

William,  English  ship,  at  Manhattan,  229-231, 
245,  246. 

Williams,  Jean,  elder  of  church  at  New  Anistel, 
633. 

Williams,  Roger,  e.xiled  from  Massachusetts,  331 ; 
founds  Rhode  Island,  332;  sails  from  Manhat- 
tan, 354,  355,  359. 

Willys,  Samuel,  a  commissioner  on  the  English 
side,  742,  763. 

Wilmerdonck,  Abraham,  of  Amsterdam,  visits 
New  Netherland,  730  ;  assists  at  Indian  treaty, 
731  ;  urges  surrender  of  New  Netherland,  741. 

Wiltmeet,  Indian  fort  of,  675. 

Wiltwyck,  charter  of,  690  ;  Roelof  Swartwout  in- 
stalled as  schout  of,  690  ;  new  village  at,  710; 
attacked  by  the  savages,  711  ;  re-enforcements 
sent  to,  712  ;  palisaded  anew,  714  ;  is  represent- 
ed in  General  Assembly,  729 ;  Swartwout  rein- 
stated as  schout  at,  731 ;  soldiers  ordered  from, 
738. 

Windsor,  New  Plymouth  settlement  at,  241,  242, 
257,  260. 

Winslow,  Edward,  sent  to  visit  Dutch  at  Narra- 


gansett  Bay,  171 ;  visits  Connecticut,  210,  233, 
at  Boston,  238  ;  imprisoned  in  London,  257,  258 , 
again  in  London,  530. 

Winterberg,  Dutch  name  for  the  Green  Mount 
ains,  733. 

Winthrop,  John,  a  patentee  of  Massachusetts,  188, 
189  ;  founds  Boston,  208 ;  visited  by  a  Connec- 
ticut sachem,  210,  233  ;  by  Winslow  and  Brad- 
ford, 238 ;  writes  to  Van  Twiller  and  claims 
Connectictit  for  the  English,  239 ;  reply  of  Van 
Twiller  to,  240  ;  Stoughton's  letter  to,  aboul 
Connecticut,  293  ;  authorizes  Peters  to  negotiate 
with  West  India  Company,  323,  324  ;  president 
of  the  New  England  Commissioners,  362  ;  cor- 
respondence with  Kieft,  363  ;  with  Stuyvesant, 
478 ;  his  "  Indians,"  429,  note  ;  death  of,  499. 

Winthrop,  John  (the  younger).  Governor  of  Con- 
necticut, 260  ;  returns  to  England,  323  ;  gives 
passport  to  Ninigret,  551,  554  ;  draws  up  ad- 
dress to  Charles  II.,  695 ;  commissioned  as 
agent  of  Connecticut,  695;  embarks  from  New 
Amsterdam,  695 ;  his  success  in  England,  702 ; 
at  Amsterdam — is  suspected  by  the  West  India 
Company,  718  ;  opposes  Stuyvesant  at  Boston, 
718  ;  administers  oath  to  Long  Island  commis- 
sioners, 726  ;  visits  Long  Island  towns,  733  ;  in- 
terview with  Stuyvesant — insists  on  English 
title,  734 ;  desired  to  meet  royal  commissioners, 
737;  takes  letter  from  Nicolls  to  Stuyvesant, 
739;  a  commissioner  on  the  English  side,  742, 
763. 

Winwood,  Sir  Ralph,  41,  45,  106,  108. 

Wissinck,  Jacob  Elbertsen,  counselor,  164. 

Witherhead,  Mary,  imprisoned  for  preaching  in 
streets  of  New  Amsterdam,  636. 

Witsen,  Gerrit  Jacobsen,  46,  63,  138,  note. 

Witt,  Captain  John  de,  on  the  Mauritius  River, 
46,  54. 

Witt,  John  de,  grand  pensionary  of  Holland,  567 ; 
negotiates  treaty  with  Cromwell,  586 ;  his  ob- 
servations on  the  Dutch,  103,  457,  458. 

Witt,  Pieter  Jansen  de,  magistrate  of  Boswyck, 
693. 

Wolf,  Dirck  de,  establishes  salt-works  on  Coney- 
Island,  694. 

Wolfertsen,  Gerrit,  one  of  the  Eight  Men,  365. 

Women,  influence  of  the  Dutch,  463. 

"  Wooden  Leg,"  Stuyvesant  called  the,  by  the  Mo- 
hawks, 493. 

WoodhuU,  Richard,  at  Huntington,  on  Long  Isl- 
and, 671,  703  ;  a  magistrate  under  Connecticut, 
726. 

Woolsey,  George,  a  fire-wanlen  at  New  Amster- 
dam, 487. 

Writings  to  be  attested,  277,  504. 

Wright,  Anthony,  settles  at  Oyster  Bay,  595. 

Wynkoop,  P»ter,  supercargc  of  Van  Rensselaer's 
ship,  390. 

Yennecock,  on  Long  Island,  land  bought  at,  300. 


INDEX. 


SOI 


Vor.kers,  or  Kekcsick,  purcliased  by  Kiell,  290  ; 
acquired  by  Van  der  Donck,  and  called  Colea- 
donck, 421. 

Vork  and  Albany,  James,  Duke  of,  in  Holland, 
498  .  grant  of  Charles  H.  to,  726,  735  ;  appoints 
Colonel  Richard  NicoUs  his  deputy  governor, 
730  ;  grants  New  Jersey  to  Berkely  and  Car- 
teret, 736 ;  New  Netherland  rc-named  after 
titles  of,  743,  745. 

Yorkshire,  Long  Island  so  named  by  NicoIIs,  745. 

i'oung.  Captain  John,  of  Southold,  commission- 
ers complain  of  Stuy vesant's  treatment  of,  625, 
6C6 ;  a  deputy  from  Southold  to  Connecticut 
Court,  703  ,  a  commissioner  of  Connecticut  on 
Lops  Island,  726. 


Youngs,  John,  at  Southold,  300 

Zealand,  Province  of— legend  on  its  early  coin, 
20,  note,  439,  note ;  expeditions  sent  from, 
to  e.vplore  passage  to  China.  22  ;  East  India 
Chamber  at,  opposes  Hudson's  propositions, 
24 ,  Chamber  of  West  India  Company  in, 
135;  meeting  of  the  Nineteen  at,  415;  Cham- 
ber at,  opposes  Amsterdam  Chamber,  539, 
540. 

Zieken-troosters,  or  Krank-bcsoeckcrs,  105, 
note. 

Zuyder  Zee,  waters  north  of  Nantucket  so  called, 
5S,  141,  756. 


END    OF   VOL.    I. 


HISTORY 

OF   THE 

STATE    OF    NEW    YORK. 

By  JOHN  ROMEYN  BRODHEAD. 
First  Period,  1609 — 1664.     8vo,  Muslin,  $3  00;  Half  Calf,  $4  00. 


Albany,  June,  1~!,  1S53. 
At  a  meertng  of  the  Kegcnts  of  the  L'liivejsity 
lield  J\\\\%  17,  1S53,  oil  motion  of  the  Secretary  of 
State, 

Kesolved  iiiiaiiiinnusly,  tliat  ritoniiEAD' s  II13- 
TOET  OF  TUB  State  op  New  Voek  he  phiceil  011 
the  list  of  boolis  rccuiii mended  for  pureluibe  by 
academies. 

(A  true  copy  ) 
(Signed)  T.  Komevn  Beck 

sec. 

"We  have  read  tliis  noble  volume  witli  un- 
mixed satisfaction,  and  witli  an  interest  that  in- 
creased steadily  to  the  end.  We  esteem  it  an  in- 
valu.ible  contribution  to  tlie  literature  of  the  coun- 
try, filling  very  accepta))ly  a  hitherto  vacant  space 
in  our  domestic  history.  *  *  As  a  writer  of  liis- 
tory,  Mr.  Beodhead  possesses  many  and  great 
exoellences,  whicli  entitle  him  to  a  place  anionij 
the  very  first  clas-i  of  our  native  historians — with 
Bancboitt,  Pkesoott,  and  Hiloketii.  With  the 
first  and  last  ot  these,  as  writers  of  domestic  his- 
tories, he  is  necessarily  brought  into  comparison  ; 
nor  need  he  dread  the  orJeal.  In  patient  and 
thormgh  rose  ircii,  and  in  large  and  comprehen- 
sive views  of  his  whole  subject,  he  is  perhaps 
equal  to  any  historical  writer  of  ancient  or  moil- 
eru  times.  *  *  *  The  stylo  of  composition  is  emi- 
nently pure,  chaste,  and  si.uplo. —  ^Cttract  fnmi 
thi  Methodist  Quarterly  lievivvfor  Of.tnber,  IS51. 

The  late  Itev.  Dr.  Alexandee  Young  of  l!o«- 
tin  thus  expressed  his  opinion  of  Lkodiiead's 
History  of  New  York. 

"  It  is  a  vioiel  history  of  a  State.  No  other 
Stite  in  the  l-nion  has  a  volume  of  its  early  his- 
tory that  can  be  compared  with  this.  It  is  worthy 
of  the  Emjiire  State,  with  iti  three  millions  of  in- 
habitants. •  *  It  seems  to  me  the  style  could  not 
be  improved.  I  do  not  sie  how  it  can  ever  be 
cnpersedO'I.  It  is,  and  must  continue  to  be,  the 
History  of  New  York." 

Evinces  great  industry,  the  most  ca"cful  sifting 
of  traditions,  good  judgment,  and  more  than  or- 
diniry  skill  in  conducting  the  nairativo.  The 
style  is  clear,  full,  s  ifTiciently  compact,  and  often 
eloquent.  The  arrangement  is  admiraMe.  No 
labor  has  hem  spared  in  preparing  it  for  the 
press,  an  I  it  is  issued  in  a  style  higlily  creditable 
to  the  publishers.  It  will  take  its  place  among 
the  groat  historical  productions  of  the  country. — 
Uirtjord  Timei. 

Be  irs  marks  throughout  of  care  and  labor;  and 
the  style  is  evidence  of  high  ability  in  the  au- 
tlior,  who  has  manifestly  special  qualifications 
and  a  proper  taste  for  the  ta^k  he  has  performed. 
— Baltimore  Patriot. 

It  is  lucid,  full,  and  able. — Albmvj  Kvcning 
Journal. 

The  work  is  marked  throughout  by  a  clear  and 
vigorous  conception  of  all  the  main  points  of  in- 
terest in  its  extensive  subject,  and  is  executed 
with  copious  learning,  siiund  jiid;;mcnt  and  good 
taste. —  Wanhinqton  I'niun. 

An  •'  admirable  and  valuable"  work. — Albati'j 
Daily  Ui'jid.'r. 


We  are  thankful  to  the  author  for  this  work. 
It  is  marked  by  learning,  candor,  careful  re- 
search, and  a  clear  style.  It  must  become  a  class- 
ic in  its  way. — A'tio  York  Recorder. 

This  book  has  been  prepared  with  much  care 
and  labor.  Jlauy  of  its  materials  are  now  em- 
ployed tor  the  first  time;  the  numerous  references 
to  <>{li(-rs  show  the  extended  resources  whicli,  un- 
dei-  he  recent  impulse  to  American  historical  in- 
VI  .-tit;atiou,  have  been  brought  within  reacli. 
The  i(ualitications  and  facilities  which  Mr.  Ueod- 
iiEAiv  lias  brought  to  his  task  are  of  an  unusual 
cluiracter.  His  long  residence  abroad  as  agent 
of  this  State,  for  procuring  historical  documents 
ill  Holland — his  complete  success  in  his  mission 
— a  success  to  which  his  knowledge  of  the  Dutcli 
language  contributed  not  a  little — the  advantages 
fir  research  which  l.c  enjoyed  as  Secretary  of  Le- 
gation, under  Mr.  1'anckoft,  at  London — all  this 
cuinbi'HMl  wi'h  his  acknowledged  abilities  spe- 
cully  ti  ti'd  him  foiMlie  nndertakingof  this  work. 
.Mr.  rr.ODliEAi>,  in  his  History  of  the  first  period 
of  Nrw  \  ork  exi.stenco,  tells  far  too  interesting 
and  imiiortaiit  a  .-tory  to  lack  listeners.  On  read- 
ing his  well  filled  and  cleverly  written  volume, 
we  have  been  imiressed  throughout  by  the  novel- 
ty of  the  .'•■tory,  its  separation  from  any  other  class 
of  our  records  from  east  to  south,  its  varii  ty,  ]iic- 
turesqiieness,  its  study  of  character,  and  its  wise 
exhibition  and  discussion  of  political  elements. — 
.\.  }'.  Li'friivji  World. 

.Mr.  1  KODiiEAii  writes  like  a  man  whose  object 
is  to  exhibit  the  truth.  His  judgment  is  equally 
conspicuous  in  the  use  of  his  materials  and  the 
severity  of  his  ftyle. — Journal  of  Commerce. 

It  opens  to  us  new  sources  of  Information,  and 
spreads  before  us  the  narrative  of  the  early  set- 
tlement of  this  portion  of  the  country  in  a  light 
that  gives  a  new  feature  to  American  History, 
which  it  totally  revolutionizes.—^.  1'.  Chitrch- 
man. 

The  style  of  the  author  i-i,  perhap.c.  precisely 
the  best  suited  to  history. — S.  Y.  Christian  Ad- 
vocate. 

His  style  is  clear  and  vigorous,  breathing  a 
true  American  tone  of  inde.  endence. —  M'estinin- 
Ster  lievieir. 

Mr.  1  eodiieap  writes  in  n  stylo  which,  in  its 
Poric  plainness  ami  vi'jor,  shows  the  finish  of 
the  arti.-t.  The  infrequent  embellishments  with 
which  he  wdorns  his  narrative  are  appropriate 
and  graci'fnl.  We  shall  eagerly  look  for  Blr. 
lEOPriEAn's  continuation  of  this  masterly  work, 
whicli  firms  a  genuine  addition  to  the  classical 
school  of  .\nierlcan  History,  and  places  its  author 
on  the  meninrable  roll  that  contains  the  names 
of  Bancroft,  Ievino,  and  I'besoott, — .V.  1'. 
Qtiarterli/. 

This  very  elaborate,  learned,  and  thorough 
work  possesses  almost  as  deep  an  interest  for  the 
citizens  of  the  neigh  boring  States  as  for  ourselves. 
It  will,  not  only  be  read  with  pleasure,  but  will 
bo  carefully  preserved  in  public  and  private  li- 
braries, through  all  time,  as  n  standard  book  of 
reference. — A'cw  York  Commercial  Adverti.ter. 


Critical  Notices  of  Brodhead's  History  of  New  York. 


A  most  important  and  acceptable  addition  to 
tlio  great  Ijod}'  of  our  national  history.  It  may 
conniete  with  any  state  history  that  lias  yet  been 
written.  To  the  citizen  of  New  York  the  work 
must  be  indispensable;  and  for  the  New  England 
States  it  also  possesses  a  high  interest  fioni  the 
old  historical  relations  between  the  Colonies. — 
Boston  Courier. 

The  author  of  this  work  is  a  thorough  and  ac- 
complished scholar,  and  has  executed  a  ta.'^k  high- 
ly creditable  to  himself  and  beneficial  to  New 
York. — Christian  Chronicle. 

It  contains  every  thing  worthy  of  record  that 
the  most  diligent  research  could  recover  during 
the  period  of  whicli  it  treats.  The  style  is  char- 
acterized by  simplicity,  perspicuity,  and  elegance. 
The  work  must  bring  honor  to  the  author,  to  the 
State,  and  to  the  country. — Alh.  Aryus. 

Mr.  Bkodhead  has,  by  this  effort,  nobly  won  a 
position  by  the  side  of  Peescott,  Banceoft, 
HiLDEETii,  and  Paekman.  His  reputation  is  es- 
tablished, and  we  congratulate  him  upon  it.  The 
typographical  arrangements  are  in  tlie  best  style 
of  tlie  HAErEES,  which  is  eaying  all  that  can  be 
sai d. — A  Ibany  Knickerbocker. 

In  every  possible  charm  of  a  great  hi-stoi-r,  or 
the  history  of  a  great  people,  BIr.  l!Kor>ira:AD  com- 
mends himself'to  the  favor  of  every  lover  of  his- 
torical writing.  The  graces  of  a  pure,  clear,  and 
dignified  style  throw  a  charm  over  every  depart- 
ment of  his  labors.  AVe  cordially  commend  this 
volume  to  all  who  delight  in  works  of  permanent 
interest. — Louismlle  Journal. 

Mr.  BkddhBuUJ  exhibits  as  much  literary  as  na- 
tiquarian  fitness  for  his  task.  Hi.s  volume  will  be 
an  important  addition  to  every  historical  collec- 
tion.— N.  Y.  Daily  Times. 

We  believe  it  is  conceded  that,  in  the  volume 
which  has  appeared,  Mr.  Beouiiead  has  fully 
justified  the  expectations  of  his  friends.  He  has 
given  us  not  only  the  fullest,  but,  we  may  fairly 
say,  the  only  history  of  the  early  settlement  of 
New  Y'ork.  The  Thirteenth  Chapter  of  this  vol- 
ume is  the  most  instructive  and  satisfactory  sur- 
vey of  the  social  and  political  condition  of  Hol- 
land in  her  greatest  glory  that  we  know  of. — 
Sew  York  Evening  Post. 

The  work  will  rank  withBiV-NCEOFTS  and  HiL- 
PEETU"8  Histories  rs  one  of  national  importance 
and  value. — Xeimrk  Daily  Advertiser. 

If  perspicuity  of  style,  graceful  narrative,  and 
historic  research  may  impart  a  foretaste  of  tlie 
periods  yet  to  come,  we  hazard  but  little  in  pre- 
dicting that  they  will  be  found  worthy  of  all  ac- 
ceptation.— Xational  ItUelligencer. 

Among  the  histories  of  the  States  it  has  no  su- 
perior, if  it  is  equaled,  in  those  qualities  which 
are  the  best  recommendation  of  local  annals,  per- 
spicuity of  arrangement,  correctness  in  details, 
and  deduction  from  established  facts,  and  a  style 
combining  precision  with  ease. — Xcwark  Mer- 
cury. 

The  present  volume  contains  abundant  proof 
of  the  vigilance,  acuteness,  and  lucid  judgment 
with  which  its  materials  have  been  wrought.  A 
more  truly  scholar-like  finish  has  seldom  been 
given  to  a  historical  production. — X.  Y.  Tribune. 
■\Ve  have  read  it  through,  with  increased  ad- 
miration as  we  read,  of  the  patient  research,  the 
artistic  grouping  of  facts,  the  simplicity  and  force 
of  the  style,  and  last  (but  by  no  means  least  in  es- 
timating the  merits  of  an  historian)  the  avnidance 
of  unimportant  and  bare  detail. — Knickerbocker 
Magazine. 


Every  thingabout  it  indicates  a  master's  hand, 
and,  if  we  mistake  not,  it  will  stand  high  as  a 
work  of  literary  merit,  and  as  reliable  authority 
in  Historj'. — Country  Gentleman.  , 

The  work  is  perfect  in  every  respect. — Luther- 
an Observer. 

The  best,  most  classical,  and  beautiful  Ameri- 
can history  we  have  ever  iea.d.—Bingham7Jton 
Gazette. 

An  authentic  history  of  the  beginnings  of  the 
Empire  State,  well  written,  well  vouched,  and  en- 
tirely superior  to  any  other  now  in  existence.  No 
true  student  of  history  can  aflTord  to  do  without 
it. — Boston  Congrcyationalist. 

The  book  is  an  excellent  specimen  of  modem 
historical  literature,  and  one  of  the  most  valuable 
w  orks  that  has  ever  been  published  on  the  rise 
and  progressof  American  institutions.  Moreover, 
it  is  so  intimately  connected  with  the  history  of 
Canada,  as  to  render  it  equally  valuable  to  the 
reader  on  this  side  of  the  Lakes. — Uarnilton  Ga- 
zette (Canada  West). 

A  valuable  addition  to  (he  standard  literature 

of  the  country,  and  a  source  of  just  pride  to  every 

son  of  the  "  Empire  State." — Milwaukee  Sentinel 

Mr.  BEonnBAD's  elaborate  and  erudite  History 

of  New  Y»rk. — Eclectic  Magazine. 

The  author  of  the  work  is  a  gentleman  most 
intimately  acquainted  with  the  history  of  our 
State,  and  master  of  a  clear  and  vigorous  style. — 
Xew  York  Home  Joxirnal. 

Thero  is  hardly  a  State  whose  early  records  ore 
more  abundant  or  more  varied  in  interest.  The 
jiresent  volume  is  the  result  of  great  research  and 
I  discrimination.  Mr.  Eeodiiead  follows  along  the 
I  carerr  of  events  ■with  great  diligence  and  method, 
and  his  narrative  is  every  where  perspicuous,  and, 
I  in  a  good  degree,  concise.  The  book  is  a  valu- 
I  able  addition  to  our  historical  litei-ature. — Xcw 
York  Courier  and  Enquirer. 

Mr.  Brobijead  has  discharged  his  duty  most 
admirably,  and  shows  that  he -possesses  many  of 
the  most  valuable  qualifications  of  an  liistorian. 
He  is  impartial  and  painstaking,  and  has  explored 
a  wide  field  in  search  of  facts.  His  style,  too,  is 
easy  and  ilowing,  while  the  occasional  incorpora- 
tion of  the  language  of  the  .old  writers  gives  a 
quaintness  and  raciness  to  his  narrative.  AVe 
congratulate  him  on  the  success  of  this  work, 
which  is  indeed  a  most  important  addition  to  our 
historical  libraries. — Albany  Transcnpt. 

AVe  recommend  the  work  anxiously  to  English- 
men— we  need  not  recommend  it  to  Americans — 
as  one  conducive  to  that  haraiony  between  the 
two  great  nations  which  promises  to  be  the  great 
instrument  in  the  regeneration  of  the  world. — 
London  Standard. 

In  this  volume  Mr.  Eeodiiead  has  vindicated 
a  claim  to  high  distinction  among  American  his- 
torians. He  unites  many  qualities  useful  and 
admirable  in  a  historical  writer;  patience  of  re- 
search, with  the  power  of  graceful  and  memora- 
ble expression  ;  enthusiasm  as  a  collector  of  facts, 
with  the  ability  to  illustrate  facts  by  principles, 
and  to  embellish  them  with  the  ornaments  of 
fancy  and  of  scholarship.  His  opportunities  for 
thorough  preparation  for  this  his  chosen  and  loy- 
al labor  have  been  unsurpassed,  his  long  foreign 
residence  having  opened  to  him  many  sources  of 
information  which  are  inaccessible  on  this  side 
of  the  Atlantic;  and  the  mature  result  of  his  la- 
bors is  eminently  creditable  to  his  patience,  his 
literary  skill,  and  his  capacity  for  large  and  wise 
thought. — Xew  York  Independent. 


Published  hy  HARPER  &  BROTHERS, 

FranTcUn  Square,  New  York. 

l^^°  IlAr.rEE  it  rEOTHEns  will  send  the  above  AVork  by  Mail,  postage  paid,  to  any  part  of  the 
United  States  on  receipt  of  the  Money. 


:K 


31 

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